link pop and google rankings

What data is relevant?

[Moketronics]

I have recently started helping with a commercial site's management. The site is going to be going through a complete overhaul and I need to find relevant KWs to target.

I started researching KWs using the word tracker site and built up a decent list of some 500 candidates and am now trying to narrow it down. (Neither I nor the person I work for particularly trust the "KEI" values given, atleast they dont seem to accurately represent what we want to do based on previous KW targetting done on the site)

I've been told to check the link pop on the top 10 comp. for the KWs I think are good. My problem is that I don't know what data is relevant, should I be checking the link pop for the specific pages returned in the SERP or the domain over-all?

I went through a few KWs already and the numbers returned for specific pages are reallylow and seem to not be relevant, but the domain link pop wildly varies. There will be one domain thats some sort of mega site with hundreds of thousands of inbound links while others on the same first SERP will have relatively few (if not quite low, like within 100 or so).

What should I be looking for in the data as for what KWs to target?

[bhartzer]

When it comes to keywords, you need to focus on keywords that accurately describe the product you're selling (or what the company sells). I find it hard to believe that there are more than 500 keywords that accurately describe a particular product or service.

If the company has 500 products, then that would be another story. Focus on what the potential buyers would search for if they wanted to buy a product or service the company sells.

[OrlandoTodd]

Try using Overture's suggestion tool to narrow the list down. But if you get pockets of popular keywords, try building good content around those. Make a list and stick it into Excel, you can quickly sort the list and see what are the highest demand terms.

[Moketronics]

thanks. Yeah, there is not 500 actually usefull keywords, thats just the massive list of all the vaguely related KWs I cam up with. But the products are pretty wide variety, or atleast allow a good number of KWs that I think would yield ROI.

I've got a list parred down to some 50 KWs (for varying parts of the site that I think are relevant). I'm trying to analyze the numbers to see which would be the best and whether any are just unrealistic.

I guess link popularity is a bit of an unkown quantity when it comes to google rankings like much else. If anyone else can provide some incite into what link pop can tell me I'd be greatful