Looking for ideas or need advice in a new market? Keyword research, market competition, size of the market - can all be discussed here.

Should I Target Difficult Keywords?
jeremygeurtjens
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18 Feb 14 5:22 pm

Should I Target Difficult Keywords?

I have identified a stack of easy and relatively easy keywords to use for my articles etc but should I target a more competitive keyword with higher searches for my home page?

For example should I target a "difficult" keyword on my homepage that has 60,000 searches per month or go with a relatively easy keyword with 590 searches per month?

Thanks

Jeremy
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cecille.l
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19 Feb 14 5:51 am

 Hi Jeremy,

I suggest you target long tail variations of your keywords with easy competition. The global monthly search values won't be much but you're assured that you're targeting your market. Ranking for the keywords won't be as difficult too. Don't go for keywords that have less than 250 monthly searches though.

If you're going to try for the keywords that are more difficult then I suggest you go for keywords that have high buyer intention. It would be difficult to rank for these keywords, but at least, the little traffic you would get has a higher chance of converting to sales.

Hope that helps. Have a good day!
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Cecille

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internet.marketing
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25 Feb 14 5:47 am

 cecille.l has suggested you the whole bunch of fruity and useful advice. Considering the long tail low competition keywords would let you to get the top rankings in Google earlier than that of those who have high competition. With the less competition keywords on top results would help you to get some business other than that of fighting for the high competition with your site on 5th or 6th page. It would not work for you as most of the people do not visit even the search results on 2nd page.
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tankctrlr
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27 Feb 14 12:15 am

 I agree but If you want to build a really successful and long term business yes you should think BIG and go after the harder keywords that are relevant to your website's homepage, but you should start off targeting the long-tail/easy keywords first on inner pages.

Because It could take years to rank good for that hard keyword.
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marketing29
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04 Mar 14 6:54 am

 It is really not easy to get number 1 for a difficult keyword, but it is relatively easier to rank high for 10 easier keywords within that time. These easier, longer keywords are commonly known as 'long tail keywords' and they are easier to rank compared to difficult keywords. Relate your keywords to the content of your site. Also be specific while using your keywords.
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brad9
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09 Mar 14 12:43 am

 I'd suggest using long tail keywords because it's easier to rank higher. If, after giving it some time, you are disappointed with the results, you could always try fat head keyword with higher competition. See what works best for your company. Good luck!
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ecommerce-services
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13 Mar 14 5:08 am

 You should go for long tail keyword word if the competition is high and good searches....other wise to rank good I usually go for medium competition with good local monthly searches
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parker4tech
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27 Apr 14 11:52 pm

 Yup long tail keywords are a better option. A long tail keyword usually is a combination of 3-6 words, that is more relevant and specific to the products you sell. For example Sony Xperia Z2 is a long tail keyword, while the short keyword for it is smart phones. In simpler terms, the clue is a combination of generic keyword that contains product features, model number , price range etc.. can already be considered as a long tail keyword.

Why use long tail? It is already assumed that when a user searches a product using a long tail such as the example above ( Sony Xperia Z2), the user has already researched on other similar products and maybe, is intending to purchase that product already.

Other advantages of long tail are:
1. they can easily rank in search engines
2. they tend to have less competition ( the more specific the better)
3. Since search volume is minimal, they tend to be not visible in most keyword database
4. Can boost your conversion rates, but... but.. will still depend on various factors such as you a trustful website with an enticing landing page, strong product description, trustworthiness of the company etc..etc.
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endy daniyanto
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13 May 14 3:53 am

 One strategy you could use is to first target the long tail keywords that result in sales.

Then you can use the profit earned to reinvest in doing SEO for the more difficult keywords.

Using the Sony Experia Z2 example above, you would target getting traffic for this keyword (and the long tail variations of it) until you make the amount of money you want. Then, you would reinvest this money into target getting traffic for the broader keyword "smart phones" or the long tail variation of that.

Cheers,
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mark schaaf
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13 Jun 14 3:30 pm

 What I like to do is start out with targeting easier to rank for keywords and phrases so I can get ranked for something than as I work my way up in ranking and get to say page one even at the bottom of page one I will go back and change my article a little and add in some harder to rank for keywords. You don't have to only put one keyword string in an article you can mix it up buy better to be on page one with an easy keyword them page 20 with a harder keyword because at least on page one you will be seen and have a chance of someone going to your site, that won't happen on page 20. However you will find often after you rank for lesser keyword and get a good page rank that the harder keywords will start to rank better as well.
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Mark
 
colton.hagler
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10 Jul 14 12:46 pm

 I'm with Mark on this (previous poster). Go with what's working with your lower volume keywords that you can rank for. As time goes on your site will get "stronger" and have more authority and you can gradually target harder keywords. It's a long process but can be very rewarding. After you rank for your 590 search keyword for a little while, and hopefully making a little money with it, you can move up to say 1500-2000 search keyword and so on. The more traffic you're getting the more authority Google thinks your site has so you're gradually adding authority to your site. In the mean time be building QUALITY backlinks to your site to help it get authority faster.
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