Comments on: Why you should target the most competitive keywords

By: ubaidullah

ubaidullah — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 09:28:31 +0000

I do agree with you. But I think searching for niche to start our website is the hardest part of all. Sometimes, we will feel that we want to change the niche after 1 or 2 months of running the website….pity on me because I felt that way. Can you give tips on finding the best niche whether competitive or less competitive niches..

By: henrywilter

henrywilter — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 22:44:59 +0000

A good approach here. I too decided to first target long tail keywords, but had the ultimate goal of the main ones. Great info here.

By: jobucks

jobucks — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 12:18:43 +0000

We should to target the more competitive keyword because those keyword was used by thousand people who are looking for an information about those keyword” examples” make money online”. When you rank on that keyword your blog will be visited by more people everyday..

Lastly, there is no sense if you rank number on google when nobody used that keyword.

By: Andy F

Andy F — Sat, 03 May 2008 11:52:11 +0000

Like most people new to this business, I followed conventional ‘wisdom’ and went for the thin end of the long tail.

I was surpsrised to find that I could rank really well for those keywords within a relatively short space of time, but then realised why they’re not competitive!

Since then, I’ve been hedging around and trying for more competitive two word phrases, with some success. But this post has given me the courage to just go with what I wanted to do, but was put off from doing.

Do you think those ‘in the know’ in certain markets are actually spreading this point of view to preserve their high rankings? Perish the thought!

PS I’ve only just come across this blog, so I’ve got many hours of reading ahead of me. But I can’t wait!

By: Sante

Sante — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 20:13:51 +0000

There are a number of good points here … I too gave up a very comfortable job to become an entrepreneur in ‘94 at the dawn of the commercial Internet and I’m very happy that I did it back then.

Getting back to the main focus of your post I’d say that the decision to tackling the head or tail of search is one that the Customer must take and, in the very beginning, may not be ready to invest enough to tackle the big players of their field, hence the decision (and recommendation) to go the other way around, i.e. from the tail.

In my experience, this happens all the time – especially with smaller companies: I was on the phone today with a laboratory in Milan favoring a step by step approach which more often than not leads to the head.

One last consideration: it’s great when it gets tough – even turkeys can fly if the wind is strong enough …

By: Rex

Rex — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 04:41:58 +0000

My experience was similar to yours. I started out with Site Build It (SBI) and it was a great place to start. But the emphasis was on long-tail keywords.

I finally figured out that it makes more sense to target the most competitive keywords. The payoff is greater.

And you just have to be willing to be competitive which to a great degree means linkbuilding.

By: devwaring

devwaring — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 10:11:46 +0000

most people searching for a something use 2-3 word search phrases anyways and they easier to rank for and give more options.

By: Tarun

Tarun — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 09:03:01 +0000

Hamlet Batista,

I like the sprit you want to spread.

I was also fan of the Sumantra Roy because he have defined the KEI to measure the keywords and WordTracker have acquired that formula later.

I have also felt the same thing 3.5 years ago that when people are moving towards less competitive market, I should target more competitive market where I should be the king and all the result followed.

I am happy to know you that you and I have experienced the same.

Regards
Tarun
Search Engine Optimization Consultant
Search Engine Marketing Foundation

By: SEO ROI Services

SEO ROI Services — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 01:26:43 +0000

The long tail is not necessarily what you need to go for either. The short tail can work just fine. Aim for the three word keyword phrase and eventually you’ll get in there for the two worder as well

By: People aren’t just searching for myspace, ebay, youtube and craigslist at Brisbane SEO Blog

Fri, 21 Sep 2007 03:49:54 +0000

[...] of sites tend to focus on highly competitive terms (and there’s nothing wrong with that as Hamlet Batista points-out) but there are still a lot of non-competitive terms that you can focus on knowing that [...]

By: Why you should target the most competitive keywords

Why you should target the most competitive keywords — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 07:31:11 +0000

[...] Why you should target the most competitive keywords [...]

By: Hamlet Batista

Hamlet Batista — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 14:49:25 +0000

Mike – Thanks for your comment. We are on the same page.

I decided to highlight the fact that I start with the tail, but the head is my ultimate goal. Jen’s post made it look like I start with the head terms and that is not the case.

By: Mike Levin of HitTail

Mike Levin of HitTail — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 14:23:06 +0000

As the creator of HitTail, I actually believe that the goal is the head. But as with any large journey, you have to start with the first step. And a critical component of spurring you forward towards your goal is a series of smaller successes. When you employ the long tail strategy, you systematically take that journey towards dominating the competitive keywords in the head, but it’s built on a foundation of easy pickings.

By: This Week In SEO - 9/14/07 - TheVanBlog

This Week In SEO - 9/14/07 - TheVanBlog — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 02:06:37 +0000

[...] Why you should target the most competitive keywords [...]

By: David Hopkins

David Hopkins — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 21:05:45 +0000

I guess too much work is taking its toll on on short-term memory.

Looking back at the post you referenced, I guess I was hoping that you had some ‘advanced link building techniques’ up your sleeve.

By: SiteMost’s Weekly Blog Recap 13/09/07 at Brisbane SEO Blog

SiteMost’s Weekly Blog Recap 13/09/07 at Brisbane SEO Blog — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 14:05:41 +0000

[...] and Jen duke it out with Why you should target the most competitive keywords and Five Reasons to Aim Low When You’re Just Learning [...]

By: Five Reasons to Aim Low When You’re Just Learning SEO

Five Reasons to Aim Low When You’re Just Learning SEO — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 18:12:26 +0000

[...] disagrees. In fact, he wrote a post yesterday explaining exactly why he feels the suggestion to aim for less competitive phrases is a bad one. I understand what he’s trying to say, but he’s missing the [...]

By: Hamlet Batista

Hamlet Batista — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 14:52:08 +0000

David – It is funny that you say that as you commented on my recent blog post about some of my link building strategies http://hamletbatista.com/2007/08/23/long-tail-vs-fat-head-optimization-strategies-–-part-3/

And also on the follow up post about buying sites for link building. I plan to expand on the ideas presented there as well as share several non conventional link building tactics in future posts.

I hope to resume posting at the usual rate after our product beta launch next week. I’ve been swamped with a lot of work lately

By: Jez

Jez — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 12:44:46 +0000

Hi David, yes that is why my blog is a little static, I have a plugin to rotate posts which I keep meaning to enable for the time being…

I mailed you an alternative idea to WP themes…

Jez

By: Dan Thies

Dan Thies — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 05:34:56 +0000

Relevance is so very important to making search marketing successful.

If your site is about “payday loans,” then damn it, that’s a search term that matters for your home page.

If “everybody” tells you not to optimize for that, then “everybody” is nuts.