The results aren't quite as important as the number of Backlinks and some other important factors. #1 - Content - How much quality content do the sites within the first 3 pages of google have? If they all have a lot of quality content, then you are also going to need lots of quality, keyword rich content. #2 - Backlinks and IBL's - How many backlinks and inbound links do the top sites have for this term or phrase. If the average # of backlinks for your phrase is above 250 - 300, and you're only sitting at 50 - 100, then it's fairly competitive and you have some work to do. If the average # of backlinks is 1000, then you've got a sh%^ ton of work to do. #3 - Quality of anchor text used in backlinks and IBL's - the more effectively these top sites use anchor text in their IBL's improves the quality of their hold in the rankings for these terms. #4 - Quality of backlinks and IBL's. You could probably put this up to #1 or #2, but the quality and relevancy of the competing sites IBL's is huge for figuring out the competitive nature of a term or phrase. That's it out of me. Good luck.