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I have been asked to conduct keyword research for my webdesign clients and obviously want to do the best job possible for them. I give them the search count on a phrase through overture thats straight forward.
But what confuses me is should I then tell them the number of competing sites for the keywords in question according to quotes IE "exact keyword" or just the keyword with no quotes? I know most of the keyword analysis software uses quotes for their results. but how many regular people type in there searches with quotes around? what I am wondering is if I use quotes IE "red toys for sale" am I more likley to climb the ranks when somone just types in red toys for sale as a general keyword or only when they type in "red toys for sale" with quotes?
Hope I havent confused everyone, I just really want to get this right for them and not waste thier time doing bad keyword research!
display number of competing sites with keywords in Quotes (less competition) or without (more cometition)?
If i had to pick between quotes or no quotes, I would pick no quotes since that is how the real world searches. When I perform keyword research for myself, I don't care about the number of matches. Instead I care about the number of backlinks for the top ranked sites. It doesn't matter if there are a ten matching sites or a million sites with the keyword. If you have more links with good anchor text you will win.
Your point on back links was very helpful.
I realize the importance of anchor text and back links.
I suppose I am predicting that as the SE spiders will order their web results more and more towards accurate relevancy, sites using exact terms in the incoming link anchor text, following exact sequence they have been typed in to the search engines will take precedence. But who knows?
Considering this do you think I should tell my clients the amount of back links in for the top sites competing for the exact terms IE "secluded beach resort" or the top sites for secluded beach resort? Which will have gained rank through variations of these terms? Who are they really competing against?
Wouldn’t it be better to chase the terms in the exact sequence they have been typed? That way when someone does type the exact terms in this sequence you are more likely to be displayed?
very confusing!
for now I think I will take your advise and give my clients the total no. of competing sites and advise them to check the number of back links for those general variable keyword top sites. Or are they realy competing against the top sites with "exact" terms! or... or... agh
confused myself again!
Thanks again
