Thursday, February 17, 2005
KEI Concerns
I have re-written my initial post and am posting here the new version. The reason for the re-write was that I was not happy with my initial post in that it did not logically convey the message of why I came up with CID, nor did it cover adequately the issues involved. It was also too long and too confusing to read. I hope that this post is easier to read and follow.
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KEI Concerns and CID Alternative
Like many folks, I have been using KEI for some time now to determine what keywords I should target with my web site. And this has led me to becoming concerned with the results KEI provides and the keywords it suggests. I need to say here that my concern is very subjective as many folks are happily using KEI and don't seem to have a problem with it.
My main concern with KEI is that, by the way it works, it strongly favours demand numbers without, I feel, sufficiently taking into account the corresponding supply numbers.
I need to say here that I interpret supply numbers as a representation of how competitive a keyword is. For example, if keyword 1 has a supply of 200,000 while keyword 2 has a supply of 5,000,000, then I would consider keyword 2 as being more competitive than keyword 1.
And all things being equal, I would prefer to target a keyword that is less competitive and with less demand, rather than a highly competitive keyword that has a higher demand. The reason for this is that I feel that I have a better chance of cornering a section of a less competitive market than I do that of a highly competitive one.
Based on my concern with KEI, I have decided to create an alternative. I have called this alternative "Competition Indexed Demand" (CID). Now, CID works out the marketing potential of keywords in a similar way to KEI but it uses a different formula, one that takes more into account the supply numbers of keywords (or their competitiveness).
For example, using "ranking" as the starting keyword with Overture, KEI suggests the following top 3 keywords,
Keyword.............................Demand.........Supply............KEI
nfl quarterback ranking.............43,474.........75,800..........24,934
nfl power ranking...................43,171........122,000..........15,277
college basketball ranking..........71,149........541,000...........9,357
while CID suggests the following top 3 keywords,
Keyword.................................Demand..........Supply........CID
dick vitale college basketball ranking..16,983..........33,400........640
nfl quaterback ranking..................43,474..........75,800........427
vote nba power ranking...................3,129..........30,200........394
Comparing the 2 sets of results, you can see how CID favours lower competition compared to KEI. I have now used CID for quite a number of keyword research projects and have found that not only it favours lower competition, but it also suggests keywords that, I feel, have a better demand-supply balance.
Given that CID is an alternative to KEI, you now have to make a decision when doing your keyword research in order to determine the marketing potential of the best keywords to use. The decision is: shall I use KEI or CID? The answer to this question is straightforward: if you want to focus on high demand then use KEI, and if you want to focus on lower competition, then use CID.
Furthermore, based on my obervations of KEI and CID results, I have felt the need to come up with 2 rules to avoid both KEI and CID generating what I feel are inappropriately high numbers. My observation has been that these high numbers are generally generated because the demand and/or supply numbers are too high.
These 2 rules are:
- "the 100 thousand demand rule" which states that "any keywords whose demand numbers are above 100 thousands should be ignored",
- "the 10 million supply rule" which states that "any keywords whose supply numbers are above 10 million should be ignored".
Applying these 2 rules to KEI and/or CID will help you determine more realistically the marketing potential of keywords.
In conclusion, CID should be seen as an alternative to KEI and not as replacement for KEI. The reason for this is that CID focusses on the competitiveness of keywords while KEI focusses on the demand.
PS. I have not currently released the CID formula. However, you can download my program Keywords Analysis to work out both the KEI and CID of keywords as you do your own keywords research KeywordsAnalysis.zip
I would be interested to read your thoughts on this matter.
Enjoy!
=====================================
Serge M Botans is the CEO of the
self-help search engine optimisation
web site www.cattle-ramp-seo.com
email: author@cattle-ramp-seo.com
=====================================
Copyright © Serge M Botans, Melbourne, Australia, February 2005
=================================================================
PS. Feel free to reproduce this post if you feel that it might be a good discussion starter as long as you reproduce it in its entirety, that you don't edit any of it.
=================================================================
KEI Concerns and CID Alternative
Like many folks, I have been using KEI for some time now to determine what keywords I should target with my web site. And this has led me to becoming concerned with the results KEI provides and the keywords it suggests. I need to say here that my concern is very subjective as many folks are happily using KEI and don't seem to have a problem with it.
My main concern with KEI is that, by the way it works, it strongly favours demand numbers without, I feel, sufficiently taking into account the corresponding supply numbers.
I need to say here that I interpret supply numbers as a representation of how competitive a keyword is. For example, if keyword 1 has a supply of 200,000 while keyword 2 has a supply of 5,000,000, then I would consider keyword 2 as being more competitive than keyword 1.
And all things being equal, I would prefer to target a keyword that is less competitive and with less demand, rather than a highly competitive keyword that has a higher demand. The reason for this is that I feel that I have a better chance of cornering a section of a less competitive market than I do that of a highly competitive one.
Based on my concern with KEI, I have decided to create an alternative. I have called this alternative "Competition Indexed Demand" (CID). Now, CID works out the marketing potential of keywords in a similar way to KEI but it uses a different formula, one that takes more into account the supply numbers of keywords (or their competitiveness).
For example, using "ranking" as the starting keyword with Overture, KEI suggests the following top 3 keywords,
Keyword.............................Demand.........Supply............KEI
nfl quarterback ranking.............43,474.........75,800..........24,934
nfl power ranking...................43,171........122,000..........15,277
college basketball ranking..........71,149........541,000...........9,357
while CID suggests the following top 3 keywords,
Keyword.................................Demand..........Supply........CID
dick vitale college basketball ranking..16,983..........33,400........640
nfl quaterback ranking..................43,474..........75,800........427
vote nba power ranking...................3,129..........30,200........394
Comparing the 2 sets of results, you can see how CID favours lower competition compared to KEI. I have now used CID for quite a number of keyword research projects and have found that not only it favours lower competition, but it also suggests keywords that, I feel, have a better demand-supply balance.
Given that CID is an alternative to KEI, you now have to make a decision when doing your keyword research in order to determine the marketing potential of the best keywords to use. The decision is: shall I use KEI or CID? The answer to this question is straightforward: if you want to focus on high demand then use KEI, and if you want to focus on lower competition, then use CID.
Furthermore, based on my obervations of KEI and CID results, I have felt the need to come up with 2 rules to avoid both KEI and CID generating what I feel are inappropriately high numbers. My observation has been that these high numbers are generally generated because the demand and/or supply numbers are too high.
These 2 rules are:
- "the 100 thousand demand rule" which states that "any keywords whose demand numbers are above 100 thousands should be ignored",
- "the 10 million supply rule" which states that "any keywords whose supply numbers are above 10 million should be ignored".
Applying these 2 rules to KEI and/or CID will help you determine more realistically the marketing potential of keywords.
In conclusion, CID should be seen as an alternative to KEI and not as replacement for KEI. The reason for this is that CID focusses on the competitiveness of keywords while KEI focusses on the demand.
PS. I have not currently released the CID formula. However, you can download my program Keywords Analysis to work out both the KEI and CID of keywords as you do your own keywords research KeywordsAnalysis.zip
I would be interested to read your thoughts on this matter.
Enjoy!
=====================================
Serge M Botans is the CEO of the
self-help search engine optimisation
web site www.cattle-ramp-seo.com
email: author@cattle-ramp-seo.com
=====================================
Copyright © Serge M Botans, Melbourne, Australia, February 2005
=================================================================
PS. Feel free to reproduce this post if you feel that it might be a good discussion starter as long as you reproduce it in its entirety, that you don't edit any of it.
Wednesday, February 09, 2005
www.cattle-ramp-seo.com
Introduction
Given that most people who look for something on the Internet use search engines,
- is your web site currently listed with search engines? If your web site is not listed with search engines, then you will not get any traffic from them. And not getting any traffic from them is a serious waste of a precious source of free targeted traffic,
- do you currently get targeted traffic to your web site from search engines? When we say "targeted traffic", we mean visitors who are interested in your web site even before they get there.
The Reality
Both these things, amazingly, can be acheived by doing just the one thing: optimising your web site for search engines. The reason for this is that:
- optimising your web site for search engines will improve your ranking with them,
- a better ranking with search engines mean a better listing in search engine results,
- a better listing in search engine results means that your web site will be more visible to more people,
- and your web site being more visible to more people means more traffic to your web site,
- and the traffic that will come to your web site will be from people who already have an interest in what your site is about because they will have seen your site after doing a search for a keyword that you will have targeted.
Our Service
At Cattle Ramp SEO Resource, we have all the information and tools you need to optimise your web site for search engines. We cover the issues of meta tags, keywords, page rank, link popularity, and much much more . . .
It is only by having a properly optimised web site, targeting just the right keywords, that you will be able to get more and better traffic to your web site from search engines.
Find out more about optimising your web site at Cattle Ramp SEO Resource
Serge M Botans
support@cattle-ramp-seo.com
Phone: 61-03-94787088
Mobile: 61-0415-642424
Given that most people who look for something on the Internet use search engines,
- is your web site currently listed with search engines? If your web site is not listed with search engines, then you will not get any traffic from them. And not getting any traffic from them is a serious waste of a precious source of free targeted traffic,
- do you currently get targeted traffic to your web site from search engines? When we say "targeted traffic", we mean visitors who are interested in your web site even before they get there.
The Reality
Both these things, amazingly, can be acheived by doing just the one thing: optimising your web site for search engines. The reason for this is that:
- optimising your web site for search engines will improve your ranking with them,
- a better ranking with search engines mean a better listing in search engine results,
- a better listing in search engine results means that your web site will be more visible to more people,
- and your web site being more visible to more people means more traffic to your web site,
- and the traffic that will come to your web site will be from people who already have an interest in what your site is about because they will have seen your site after doing a search for a keyword that you will have targeted.
Our Service
At Cattle Ramp SEO Resource, we have all the information and tools you need to optimise your web site for search engines. We cover the issues of meta tags, keywords, page rank, link popularity, and much much more . . .
It is only by having a properly optimised web site, targeting just the right keywords, that you will be able to get more and better traffic to your web site from search engines.
Find out more about optimising your web site at Cattle Ramp SEO Resource
Serge M Botans
support@cattle-ramp-seo.com
Phone: 61-03-94787088
Mobile: 61-0415-642424
Monday, February 07, 2005
An update on CID
I have settled on the final formula for CID and I have implemented it into my program Keywords Analysis which is available from http://www.cattle-ramp-seo.com/KeywordsAnalysisCID.zip
As I mentioned in an earlier post, CID should be seen as an alternative to KEI (and certainly not a replacement of KEI). CID works the same way as KEI but it takes more into account the competition (or supply numbers) of keywords. My understanding of KEI is that it favours high demand numbers. CID in contrast favours lower competition and so will generally suggest different keywords.
For example, CID will consider a keyword with demand of 270 and supply of 84,000 as "better" than a keyword with demand of 690 and supply of 420,000 simply because it has less competition than the second keyword. And less competition implies a greater chance of cornering that section of the market.
Whether you should use KEI or CID will depend on how you choose to determine the marketing potential of keywords: high demand or lower competition.
I have found through trials that in some cases, CID and KEI will suggest almost the same keywords to target. While in other cases, CID will suggest totally different keywords to what KEI does.
My program Keywords Analysis will determine both the KEI and CID of keywords at the same time. So you will be able to compare the keywords suggested by KEI and by CID numbers yourself and decide which one you want to use. You might even decide to use KEI in some cases, and CID in other cases.
I would love to read your thoughts and comments on CID as an alternative to KEI.
Enjoy!
As I mentioned in an earlier post, CID should be seen as an alternative to KEI (and certainly not a replacement of KEI). CID works the same way as KEI but it takes more into account the competition (or supply numbers) of keywords. My understanding of KEI is that it favours high demand numbers. CID in contrast favours lower competition and so will generally suggest different keywords.
For example, CID will consider a keyword with demand of 270 and supply of 84,000 as "better" than a keyword with demand of 690 and supply of 420,000 simply because it has less competition than the second keyword. And less competition implies a greater chance of cornering that section of the market.
Whether you should use KEI or CID will depend on how you choose to determine the marketing potential of keywords: high demand or lower competition.
I have found through trials that in some cases, CID and KEI will suggest almost the same keywords to target. While in other cases, CID will suggest totally different keywords to what KEI does.
My program Keywords Analysis will determine both the KEI and CID of keywords at the same time. So you will be able to compare the keywords suggested by KEI and by CID numbers yourself and decide which one you want to use. You might even decide to use KEI in some cases, and CID in other cases.
I would love to read your thoughts and comments on CID as an alternative to KEI.
Enjoy!
