Hi Randy, That's a personal call. Ask 10 people and you'll get 10 different answers. It's a 30 day bar, so look for something over 100 at minimum for a small trickle. You might even raise the minimum to 1,000 depending upon what page you're creating and what the tougher competitors have snatched up. For "high search volume" it runs in the thousands or tens of thousands depending upon who you ask. You also have to consider the competition graph. Starting out you'll want something with either zero or very little green. It's largely the combination of supply and demand as a starting point. You want enough demand (search volume) and very little competition for a new site. Just remember that a tool is just a tool. Furthermore, it's just a starting point. Learn to do some footwork after you think you have a winning phrase combo (supply vs. demand). Type the phrase in Google and see what comes up. Are the top 10 results heavy hitters like Microsoft, Wikipedia, and Amazon? If yes then choose a different phrase. If not, then visit the top five or top ten sites on the first page of SERPs. See first hand who you are up against. Then decide. ~Newbie Shield~
Ok, this is what I do, and I explain it in a new $7 guide I just wrote. You always hear people talk about how you should target keywords with a high search volume and low competition. But here's the thing... People get too worked up over it and end up spending days looking for the right keywords. What I do is I forget about high search volume, and instead I focus on analyzing my competition. I look for keywords that I can easily rank for on page 1 of google. I look for about 10 of these types of keyword phrases and then optimize each page of my website for those keywords. That way you have a high chance of getting all 10 on page 1, and if 1 page gets bumped, you still have 9. Whereas if you only focus on one highly searched keyword, not only will it be much harder to get on page 1, but if it gets bumped from that page, you will have nothing... Now, I didn't even answer your question. As Newbie said, everyone will give you a different answer. I usually target keywords below 1000 searches per month.
I wouldn't worry too much about search volume. Generally speaking, the more words a keyword is made up of, the more targeted it is, and the better it converts. Its better to get traffic from less frequently keywords that are laser targeted, than broad keywords that are not targeted.
Some people think that higher search volume means more exposure, but the problem is that higher search volume means more competition. If you get ZERO exposure from competitive keywords, that isn't going to do you any good, and generally speaking, the more competitive keywords are less targeted. It is much better to get SOME exposure from less competitive, but more targerted keywords, compared to ZERO exposure from the more competitive, and less targeted keywords. In other words, its easier to compete with 10,000 websites on leywords that get 100 searches a month, compared to 10,000,000 websites that get 1000 searches a month. Make sense?
Yes thanks. My last site I had 6k searches with just over a million results and got on the first page of google in about 1 month using the free methods to drive traffic but I'm not getting many hits??
That happens some times with less competitive keywords, but if you use enough of them, you can get a lot of traffic. For example, one of my eBay affiliate sites on model railroading gets traffic from a bunch of keywords that don't get a lot of search volume, such as: pressure flow hopper canadian national brass model train set s ho/hon3 brass wiseman ah&d ditcher for flat car project model train hopper car and boxcar model train locomotive shed o gauge missouri pacific model railroad and electric train stores model train layout ho kits lionel model railroads model rr on30 As you can see, these are all keywords that are very targeted, from people that are ready to buy. Compare "model train" to a keyword above such as "model train locomotive shed o gauge" The first keyword is very general term, and can relate to anything about model railroading, and this is why these kinds of words aren't very targeted, because the buyer is still in a research phase. The second keyword is laser targeted, and will more likely result in a sale from the potential buyer. From this example, you can see why a higher search volume isn't necesarily a keyword that will convert.
So you will use other keywords other than your domain name within your site like those where the domain names were not available? Why would keyword competition effect number of hits? To me if I have 6K searches per/month with less than 1 million results the lower competition just makes it easier to rank high. I then should in theory be exposed to the 6K searches every month. Is this correct?
rgov: So you will use other keywords other than your domain name within your site like those where the domain names were not available? Yes and any phrase that you feel you can compete with. Just don't try to rank for too many phrases on any given page. Keep it to three or less. One will fare better than two and two will fare better than three. Even so, it's possible to rank high for multiple phrases for any page. It's a personal call. rgov: Why would keyword competition effect number of hits? If you don't rank high enough in the SERPs - when competition is too stiff - for a given phrase, no one will ever see your listing for that phrase. rgov: lower competition just makes it easier to rank high. That's generally true but not guaranteed. It also depends upon who you are up against in the results (competitors). That's why I always say to do your manual footwork after you use a keyword tool. ~Newbie Shield~
