Low KEI in Wordtracker...what to do?

[dtribble]

Hi all,

I just ran a competitive analysis with Google of my list of 175 keywords in wordtracker. My *highest* KEI was around 6.

From reading their literature, I should be looking for keywords with a KEI of 100+. I just don't know if this will be possible in the space my web site is in.

My questions:
- Does it matter that I've got low KEI for all my keywords?
- Given this low KEI, what criteria should I use for selecting keywords? Should I put more weight on the number of searches or the number of competing sites?

Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Damon

[martinibuster]

If I find a great keyword phrase that not too many people are hunting after (one indicator is how many AdWords show up in a Google search), then I start to wonder why? It may not be such a bargain after all.

I chase the relevant high traffic. There are lesser trafficked phrases, and I chase those too. Think combinations.

[Macro]

Damon,

I don't trust KEI one bit. Do a keyword search using Overture's Term Suggestion Tool:
[content.overture.com...]

You get exactly the same results at Wordtracker.

They actually use a weird extrapolation to "calculate" the number of times that word was searched for. But "calculate" is a mis-description. It's more like a wild, uneducated guess. If Wordtracker says it was searched for less than 300 times it means "anywhere between 1 and 300 times"!

Further, that's the kind of accuracy that they base KEI on.

[rmjvol]

Marco, I'll disagre slightly.

WT is one of several tools that help with kw research on the front end. Collectively, my tool bag does a decent job of finding the right kw's to target. I consider WT an intelligent brainstorming tool but certainly not the be all and end all of kw research.

Damon, I'd suggest that you use it accordingly. After you get some traffic, spend time going thru your logs, find out what people are searching for when they find your site. Use that information to come up with opportunites to increase your targeted traffic.

Good luck,
rmjvol

[advice]

KEI is marvellous along with Overture and Adwords a great way of finding keywords however it is time intensive.

Does anyone else use some other resource, besides Adwords analyser, which I believe just automates the above.