To figure out what it will take to get on the first page of Google? For example, if a keyword I'm competing for has 300,000 in competition, how can I go about trying to figure out how many backlinks and articles I would need with that keyword in it to get on the top of Google for that keyword? Thanks!
It's not going to be that simple. For instance, there may in theory be 300,000 'competitors', but in reality the actual competition are the results on the first few pages, of sites that are actually optimising and targetting that term. You need to analyse how many backlinks they have, the strength of those links, and the age of them.
Actually a fab question, and there probably is a page somewhere that can help you 'make a guess'. Try search google.
A keyword with 300,000 competition is not a competitive one. It would be easy for you to rank on that keyword. Just do proper optimization on-page and off-page, then wait for your site to get listed.
Dudes, the number of results has very little to do with how difficult it will be to rank for. It's better to take an average backlink count of the top 3 to 5 results for your keyword. That should give you a much better perspective.
Knowing how to get to the first page and rank well is easy, the execution of it is what gets most people. Ranking Formula: (On Page SEO + Keyword Density + Relevancy) * Off Page SEO As you can see, your on-site SEO is your base, the Off Page SEO stuff is a multiplier that actually gets Exponentially harder to do as you move up the rankings.