Key Word Popularity Check

In the previous article we had discussed the way towork out on your key words.
generate the theme & sub-theme keywords &Heres a benchmark:
typically what is average query length being used byIf the site is fairly well optimized, and has a focused
an average surfer.theme, then the combined total number of visitors from
Now comes the time to check for the popularity ofsecondary variations of the main keyword phrase,
these sub theme keywords. Some or all of the toolsshould be higher than the number of visitors from your
mentioned in the keywords tools section could bemain phrase by itself.
utilized to measure the popularity of these keywords.Another yardstick can be that 20% of your search
Based on the popularity count of these tools wetraffic reach you through your primary theme words.
should come up with a descending order listing of ourAnother 20% through the sub theme words & their
most unused but good key phrase. These are ourcombos & the remaining 60% is fractional. A true
good target keywords. As the competition increasespyramid.
on the keywords, deeper optimization then just buildingKeep the keyword density on your pages in between
keyword specific pages will have to be done.5-20% while optimizing. The latest talking optimization
Variations on sub- theme words:based on keywords is that almost none of the things
This is the word- play to get into the mind of the user.mentioned above might apply as it is. You create text
Now our set of 25 to 30 keywords will be expandedbased on the end user perspective & optimize for 5-6
to include singular-plural word combinations, juxtaposingkeywords per page. Check your referrer stats & fine
the same words in a different combination, usingtune optimization.
synonyms, building on the list of words using ThesaurusFree Keyword Tools:
& a good dictionary.The first tool that can be used is Overture.
The ideal set of keywords/ key phrases is to comeOne trick is to check the keywords on all the Overture
up with around 70-100 possible ways of looking fortools, US, UK, DE, FR and even JP. You would be
that web site on the search engines (our keyphrases)surprised at the ideas you can come up with on the
Research on these variations of the sub themeother O Tools that do not appear on the US one. Also,
keywords for actually combing up with thethe de-pluralizing and match-drive-alphabetization some
combinations that are relatively un optimized for yettimes does not appear on the other tools.
popular.Second tool of course is the word tracker.
At the end of this exercise we will have the ranked listUse Google adwords to check on the competition for
of keywords, which we can start optimizing for.the chosen phrases using the CPC barometer. Higher
General observations & other nuggets:the CPC more the competition.
When using google to check for the competing pagesAnother tool is at:
through the SERP house the keyphrase in quotes. ThisYet another tool is Alta Vista "PRISMA"
will do the exact phrase searching for the phrase thatOne can use Refine search option of Teoma to arrive
we are optimizing for. Now to have a real feel of theat more generic/Primary keywords. Another way of
actual competition on this phrase use the adword tool.doing that could be through the DMOZ subcategory
Typically offline competition for the business & onlinestudy.
competition are not equivalent. The client needs to beRefining of key words can be done using the Server
driven out of this mindset. Online the competition for usside data or the referrs log. 7Search.com's Keyword
depends on the key-phrases that we choose ratherSuggestion Tool
then the industry or the competition chosen keywords.More tools in
Another useful tip is to watch out for the ranking ofAuthoring/Online_Tools/Keywords/
the subpages on the SERPS page.Once the keywords have been finalized lets look at
A higher occurenec of a sub- page suggests a lesserthe places where we can utilize them.
competitive key- phrase. Keep excel sgheets handy to