OK I am not looking for anybodys secrets here but I am trying to determine what 2-3 word keywords are worth pursuing. I have a term that is 1. high advertiser competition. 2. search volume is 4,400 for Feb. 3. vs. 1. very high advertise competiton 2. search volume is 49,500 Am I better off in terms of getting on page 1 of going with the first or second choice and since it seems to turn out this way on all the keywords is there anything that approaches a sure thing? I know there are no sure things but where do you draw the line? I have literally hundreds of 3 word keywords that I could choose from but would like to improve my chance of getting 1st page listings and seeing some traffic as a result.
You could likely get to the first page for the 4,400 search volume with good on-page SEO and perhaps a backlink or two. The others are going to require a lot more work with backlinks. On page SEO will be of minimal help with competitive keywords. If your site is new, go for the 4,400. The other keywords require more a detailed analysis of what sites are currently ranking in the the top 10. How strong the other sites are will help determine the difficultly in getting to the first page. If you can't get into the top 10, forget about that keyword.
Is it then a better strategy to go after the very low, low, average and high competition keywords and avoid the very high in general. I know there are no hard and fast rules in this game but your advice helps in general. Is there a bottom in terms of how many searches per month a keyword is worth pursuing? I read one forum member looks for anything over 100 searches. Or is it like most things- it depends? I am finding so many ok to good to a few very good keywords - 2-3 keywords - that I would, like most of us, like to use my time as wisely as is possible. A good bit of trial and error is expected. Thanks.
It really depends on the niche and what your goal is.... Is it is merchandise sale? An adsense click? I personally wouldn't spend time on a keyword phrase that only gets 100 searches. A ranking of #4 through #10 is only going to bring you 3 - 6 visitors a month. Now if you were talking about a $1,000 sale, then it might be a different story. If you're relatively new to SEO, start with less competitive searches. I have top rankings for quite a few keywords in the 50K range, but I've been doing this for a long time. Competitive keywords are all about getting quality backlinks from trusted authority sites (sites that already rank well for the keyword) and this requires a lot of work. Start with the low hanging fruit and then expand.