Keyword Research – How I Do It

Keyword Marketing Research Techniques I Use –

Keyword research…what a BIG topic that is! While I am far from a keyword research genius, I do have my own way of doing longtail keyword marketing research to find phrases I CAN rank for fairly easily. To me, it’s not only about how many web pages Google returns (either with quotes or without) – It is more about finding out how many web pages are my REAL competition. Keep reading and find out how to do keyword marketing research – PotPieGirl style.

Keyword Ranking Research

When you are optimizing a web page to rank highly for a certain keyword phrase, you do certain things TO that web page to help get it to the top, right?

Let’s take a Squidoo lens as an example.

On a Squidoo lens, we make SURE our targeted keyword phrase is:

1. In the Title. In the Title. In the Title.

Gee, did I repeat that THREE TIMES? My bad, I meant to say it FOUR times! Make sure your keyword phrase is in the title of your Squidoo lens (or article title, or blog post title, etc etc etc). That title area is a VERY important piece of real estate on your lens (or article, or blog post…). Use it.

The words you put in the title of your lens are the words people see (and CLICK) when they find your web page in Google.

2. Within the first sentence or two of the intro module of your Squidoo lens.

Many times, Google will return those first few sentences in your intro module as the description people see in Google when they find your lens. We want it to be relevant to what they are looking for, and we want it to be interesting enough to entice them to click and visit the lens or web page.

3. In the anchor text of links ON your lens or web page.

Google puts weight on the words it finds ON a web page that are a “clickable link” (ie, hyperlink, anchor link, text link, etc). The benefit of having keyword optimized anchor text links ON your web page go for your web page, too – not just the page you are linking to.

4. Sprinkled throughout your content on your webpage –

Using the keyword phrase you are optimizing for naturally on your web page or lens is very important to helping Google understand what your lens is about. Try and get that phrase and related phrases into the module titles and subtitles as well as in your Squidoo tags.

Don’t obsess over some magical number for keyword density… just try and get the phrase in there about once per every hundred words or so. Don’t force the phrase in there… make sure the readers experience is a good one or else they’ll hit the ol’ back button and it won’t matter WHERE you rank!

5. In the links you create TO your web page or Squidoo lens.

Yes…. make sure your links to your web page, article, blog post, or lens have the keywords you want to rank for as the anchor text linking to that lens. In other words, make sure the words people can click to get to your lens are the words you want to be found on Google for.

I will add that having your keywords in your url can help, but I don’t think is as important as the 5 places I just listed.

Your title and the anchor text of links TO your page are probably most important, in my opinion

Ok, PotPieGirl, What The Heck Does This Have To Do With Keyword Marketing RESEARCH?

Oh, this has a LOT to do with keyword research!

How in the world do you find keywords you have a chance at ranking for without too much effort?

By putting the phrase in quotes and then searching Google? How many competing web pages is too many? What is the right number? Should you be looking for less than 5,000 results in quotes? What about without quotes?

Make you nuts? It does me, too!

I don’t go into depth about keyword research that much. Personally, I think it can be a bit over-rated when there is more time spent on searching for the magic keyword instead of making a web page and getting it online.

BUT- I still gets tons of email asking me how to do keyword marketing research. How many pages they should “compete with”, etc.

So, I’ll share what I do to find out my real competition and decide whether or not I will tackle that keyword phrase in many cases. Now, for some of you, this may be WAY over your head right now. But I promise, if you stick with all this, a light bulb will go off one day and it will all click.

LongTail Keyword Marketing Research

The beauty of using a site like Squidoo.com is that you can rank fairly easily for a long tail keyword phrase. You can also rank much quicker than if you made your own new site.

Why?

Because Squidoo already has built authority with Google – your new website has not.

Now, we just talked about how WE optimize our Squidoo lenses and web pages, so how do we find out who the true competition is?

We find out how many OTHER web pages are doing what WE are doing to optimize for a keyword phrase.

We know that we must have our keyword in our title and in the anchor text back to our lens to rank well, so why not find out how many OTHER web pages there are that are optimizing that way, too?

Instant Keyword Marketing Research

As many of you know, I use the keyword tool at SEOBook.com and/or the Google keywords tool. Both are free and between the 2 of them, I feel I get all the info I need.

After finding what phrases people are using to find info on my niche, I go to the next best of the keyword research tools – Google Search.

Let’s say I want to optimize a web page or lens for the phrase learn squidoo. All I really want to know is how many OTHER web pages are actively optimizing for that phrase, too?

How many other pages have that phrase in the title of their web page and in the anchor text TO their web page?

Who cares how many are in quotes? I want to know how many pages are WORKING to rank for that keyword phrase the way I intend to.

Interesting way to look at it, isn’t it?

Ok, so this is what I do:

I go to Google and use two special search operators (search functions) and get Google to TELL me who else is optimizing for that keyword search phrase.

I’m tellin’ ya – once you learn how to fully use Google, you can find ANYTHING out online! haha!

So my search would look like this:

Google tells me that there are only 32 web pages that are also optimizing their page for the exact phrase ‘learn squidoo’. This means that as far as Google is concerned, there are currently 32 web pages that have both ‘learn squidoo’ in the web page title tag AND in the anchor text linking BACK to that page.

THOSE are the web pages I am truly “competing” with.

I typed this into Google:

intitle:”learn squidoo” inanchor:”learn squidoo”

Please note that there is NO SPACE after the colon for this particular search function, but there IS a space between the two searches.

Now, I will also peek at how many have those terms without quotes, ie, who has the words “learn” and “squidoo” in their web page title and the anchor text of their back links.

Now, that search is just an info gathering technique for me. The first search, with quotes, is what I really go by. This second search (without quotes) will return pages that might have something like Learn how to make a Squidoo group in the title or something that is not totally relevant to me.

Keyword Research Example

So, let’s take a “real life” example. Let’s say we want to promote Fat Loss 4 Idiots. It’s a hot Clickbank product and we want in on the action.

We head on over to SEOBook.com and punch Fat loss 4 Idiots review into the keyword tool to see if people are looking for that phrase. We find this:

Cool, people ARE looking for that! So, now we check Google:

Now that doesn’t look so bad for a search without quotes, does it?

So, we go for it. We work and we work…. and nothing. We can’t get our Squidoo lens or web page on that first page for love nor money… What happened?

Here’s Why Your Lens Won’t Rank:

There’s your problem! There are 263 OTHER web pages that are actively optimizing for that same keyword phrase! You’re gonna have to really bust it to break into that top 10.

How Many Web Pages?

Now, I know this question is coming…

“How MANY web pages, when using intitle and inanchor, should I try and limit my competition to?”

Ready for my answer?

How many web pages do you WANT to compete with?

How hard do you want to work in order for your web page or lens to rank highly on Google?

Look, no matter how perfect the keyword is, it is highly likely that your lens or web page will NOT come out of the gate swinging and hitting high rankings right away.

Google will have to find your web page. Google will have to find your back links. This takes time. For back link reporting tools (like the Squidoo health check), Yahoo will have to find your back links and that takes MORE time.

Me? I would say that anything over 100 results returned for a search like the intitle/inanchor technique I showed is gonna be tough.

My best advice – ESPECIALLY if you are new – is to start with the lowest competition keywords you can find and optimize ONE lens for ONE keyword. Don’t set yourself up for frustration by trying to optimize for tough keywords or by trying to optimize one piece of content for MANY keywords.

You know what my Grandmother used to say?

“When you try to please everyone you end up pleasing no one”

So, to twist her wise words into internet marketing advice –

if you try to rank one web page for many keywords, you end up ranking for NO keywords.

As you get better, take on more competitive keywords. Not only will you know what you’re doing – you will also have seen PROOF that what you’re doing IS working.

Personally, I don’t obsess over it anymore.

I pick a long tail keyword, optimize my web page or lens for it. Set it up with the steps in One Week Marketing to get it indexed. Build some back links – and then let it go….and build MORE web pages and lenses. Google will eventually find them, I know that from experience. All the parts WILL come together to make a whole – I KNOW that, too.

Just keep moving forward =)

If you’d like to learn about my favorite keyword research tool that saves me a TON of time by automating the process I outlined above, stop by my Niche-Keywords.org site.

Hope that helps! Any questions… ask away in the comment area!


85 Comments

  1. I can’t believe that you have just written this article. I though of writing a similar post on one of my blogs yesterday but I never got around to it.

    This post is absolutely amazing and explains it so that everyone can understand.

    I agree with you that anything above 100 “real” competitors is going to take effort but naturally everything can be done if you keep at it long enough.

    There is only one small thing that I think you have left out and that is that you need to think of WHY you want to rank for that particular keyword phrase. You can rank for millions of longtail keywords but if they don’t convert then it’ll be no more than wasted bandwidth.

    But again: EXCELLENT article. Thanks.

    Mikael Riecks last blog post..Banfield Pet Insurance Secrets Revealed

    1. PotPieGirl says:

      Thank you, Mikael! What a flattering comment!!! (notice how fast it got approved?? Flattery WILL get you everywhere! hahahahaha!)

      Yes, you’re right – understanding how certain keywords fit into the buying cycle is very important. Guess that will have to be the topic for another post. This one got to be VERY VERY long!

      THANK YOU for reading and for your comments!

      Jennifer
      ~PotPieGirl

  2. Yes I noticed (better keep up the flattering then) 🙂

    I agree that it was a long post and trust me I know how long they take to write (with images and all) but they’re so worth it for the readers. If you didn’t know how to truly check the level of competition then this post is almost everything you need to know (notice the additinal flattery?). 🙂

    Mikael Riecks last blog post..Banfield Pet Insurance Secrets Revealed

    1. PotPieGirl says:

      Notice the additional speedy approval? hahahahahahahhaha!

      Yes, this post DID take a long time to put together, but I think it was well worth it. Already making notes for the “buying keywords” post – unless you already have one?

      Jennifer
      ~PotPieGirl

  3. Nope, sorry I don’t. But I would like to add that it doesn’t have to be all about “buying” but rather taken action.

    It can be clicking an ad, subscribing to a newsletter, making a comment on a blog or watching a video. It all depends on the kind of site you’re running but it makes it no less important when thinking of what keywords to target first.

    Mikael Riecks last blog post..Banfield Pet Insurance Secrets Revealed

    1. PotPieGirl says:

      Agreed. 110%

      Well said, thank you!

      Jennifer
      ~PotPieGirl

  4. Yes, excellent post about keyword research…You took the “mythology” right out of it….

    great way to ensure you”re going to easily get ranked for the keyword.

  5. excellent artice Iam going to share it with my list thank you so much , you always have something new to share potpie Girl 🙂

  6. Everything I wanted to know about IM but didn’t know where to look…Just stumbled on to your site yesterday…You are a very generous person to share all of this information…I hope all of your efforts are paid back to you in true success!
    Larry

  7. wow, this is some great information. Thank you so much for your generousity to share all this stuff. This means a lot to me and I know especially a whole lot of internet marketers who are straggling it is helping them.

  8. Hi PotPieGirl,

    Thanks for this very useful post. It was just what I’ve been looking for. You see, I’ve found a few long-tail keywords but I don’t know whether I can get to the 1st page. I’m going to try your methods tonight and see where I stand, though. Thanks once again.

    I have a question. If I’m doing article marketing for my squidoo lens, what kind of keywords do I look for? Should it be the same or different?

    I’ve already bought your OWM, but when it came to this part, I’m very confused. I got stuck trying to write articles.

    So what kind of keywords should I go for? Same ones or different? Please help me understand this further. Thanks

    Lydia

    1. PotPieGirl says:

      Thanks for the great feedback, everyone!

      Lydia – Think about the way YOU search for something online. Forget about a keyword tool for just a moment….. think about your topic/niche and ask yourself what YOU would type into Google if you were looking for info, looking for a product, deciding if a product is right, etc etc.

      Keyword tools are great, but I also think they limit us in some ways by making us believe those are the only keywords we should or could be focusing on.

      I am gathering my notes about the “cycle” of keywords to do for a new post here soon.

      @ Alex –

      If the keyword appears to be very competitive, it might not be a bad idea to make it a little easier on yourself and next focus on a less-competitive keyword. However, we can do whatever we want. These keyword research techniques are not RULES, they are just guidelines that *I* use.

      @ Terry –

      Personally, I don’t overwhelm myself with the number of searches a keyword tool claims a phrase gets. What I want to know is a) ARE people using it to search? and b) Can I get my foot in the door on Google with that phrase?

      Of course, loads of searches with less competition is great, but it’s not always realistic.

      @ Daria –

      I try to keep things in “plain English” – Lord knows all this can be confusing enough while you are trying to learn =)

      Thanks for reading!!!

      Jennifer
      ~PotPieGirl

  9. O Boy I wish I’d seen this post 2 years ago – keyword research has been driving me potty.

    I’ve never been a fan of just looking at the number of pages with a particular phrase and I like your more specific approach…

    …so naturally I did an intitle & inanchor search for my keyword and got a tad under 4000 (with quotes)

    Yikes!

    So I guess you would advise I go for another keyword or rather build one or more lenses/hubs etc for each keyword?

    All The Best

    Alex

  10. I want to Thank You for sharing this information and it was very helpful to me.
    My question is:
    When using the keyword tool at SEO is it better to use a lower search term than say using the top searches?
    Example: green tea, the top numbers of searches in Google is 736. Would it be better to use a search term that has only say 100?

  11. This proved to be an outstanding post, I’m printing it out to keep it handy until I master all the useful steps. I wish I could tell you how much I appreciate you sharing this method in plain English…

  12. Thank you Jennifer…as always your post is helpful and serves as a building block for us newbies. I was all set to buy a domain this morning for a new campaign. My keyword had low competition [<2900] and only one site on the first results page was well optimized for the keyword. Then I read your post and BAM…I discover I’m competing with 363 sites! Admittedly, I’m a little deflated.

    Any advice?

    Denton in AZ

  13. PotPieGirl says:

    Hi Denton =)

    Ok, now let’s back up a second. The technique above is what I use to determine a keyword to be focused on for a web PAGE or a lens or an article – NOT for an entire domain.

    The domain name you want to buy might still be great. Take a look at all the long-tail versions of that keyword and see how competitive THOSE searches are.

    Regardless of what the domain name is, you will have to fill that site with web pages – each of those pages will be focused on a phrase related to your main “big” keyword that you chose for the domain.

    Don’t jump ship yet! Dig deeper!

    Thanks for reading!

    Jennifer
    ~PotPieGirl

  14. Thanks Jennifer, you always give away such good information! This does help us plan out the whole keyword research process better, and we have a little better guide to go on rather than just the keyword in quotes.

    I have a question though. It is still important to look at the sites you are competing with, correct? For example, let’s say you use this technique and there are only 20 competitors for your keyword. Great! But…all the top listed ones are high PR sites that will outrank you every time.

    If you optimize your Squidoo lens right, will you have a chance to outrank the big sites? Or should you just do more research and pick keywords with easier competition?

    And thanks again for the info!

    1. PotPieGirl says:

      Thanks, Mike!

      Yes, it IS important to take a look at the top 10 in these searches, but I wouldn’t get all-consumed with it. Just because the site at #1 has 8 site links and looks scary, doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty of room for success at #2 or even #5.

      Squidoo lenses each develop their own Page Rank so yes, it is very possible to out rank some tough competitors. No, it won’t happen fast, and no, it won’t happen without effort.

      I think one of the biggest “hold backs” in all this is that we tend to want to over-complicate things. Now, I don’t mean YOU do that, I am just saying that as a general statement.

      The best way to find out if there is “room” for you within a search query, is to try it and see. There is no tool, and no person, that can guarantee that you will or you WON’T rank well for any keyword =)

      Thank you for reading AND for your kind words!

      Jennifer
      ~PotPieGirl

  15. I love this! It’s so much better than checking the SEO on all the front page listings. But I have a question:

    In this SEOmoz article ( http://www.seomoz.org/blog/an-exhaustive-list-of-search-engine-based-keyword-research-data ) they recommend doing this kind of search by splitting up the search terms.

    For example a search to see who’s SEO’d for “best apple pie” would look like this:

    intitle:”best” inanchor:”best” intitle:”apple” inanchor:”apple” intitle:”pie” inanchor:”pie”

    This will obviously return more results, but they will show all the people who have done SEO not just for this keyword but for other similar keywords.

    Being that Google takes LSI into consideration as far as ranking is concerned, what would you say about this, and how much competition would you consider to be approachable for the average Joe?

    1. PotPieGirl says:

      Hi Miri =)

      Wow, WAY too complicated for me….lol! But ok….. let’s see here…

      “Being that Google takes LSI into consideration as far as ranking is concerned, what would you say about this, and how much competition would you consider to be approachable for the average Joe?”

      Personally, I don’t think the “average Joe” needs to over-think all that. While that article at SEOmoz is excellent, I will say that the article you referenced is for more advanced online marketers…and not really for the average Joe.

      If *I* wanted to see what web pages were optimizing for your example, best apple pie, I would do the technique I showed above and do intitle/inanchor with that phrase in quotes. I don’t want to know other similar keywords – I am getting a good idea of that specific keyword – and that’s all.

      To me, this business is not hard. It simply takes constant motion forward. Yes, the research part is important, but I want to spend more time getting web pages online than spending time researching about a single web page. Over-thinking and over-analyzing are killers, in my opinion, because they lead straight to non-action.

      Now, if you are going DEEEEEEP into a niche market, yes, you want to gather all the intelligence you can. However, Squidoo ranks long-tails very well and it is a single web page….no need to go over-board…lol! The average Joe needs to focus on long-tails from the start. Once they can rank well for those terms, they can take things to the next level with confidence – and whole lot less frustration.

      Thank you for your very insightful comment!

      Jennifer
      ~PotPieGirl

  16. Wow, I wasn’t expecting this! Great post potpiegirl! I knew this but haven’t been using it when doing research. Thank you for refreshing my memory on this important aspect of determining keyword competition.

    My first search and google give me a 403 forbidden error. Here is what popped up on the return page:

    We’re sorry…

    … but your query looks similar to automated requests from a computer virus or spyware application. To protect our users, we can’t process your request right now.

    We’ll restore your access as quickly as possible, so try again soon. In the meantime, if you suspect that your computer or network has been infected, you might want to run a virus checker or spyware remover to make sure that your systems are free of viruses and other spurious software.

    We apologize for the inconvenience, and hope we’ll see you again on Google.

    Has this happened to you? Does it happen often?

  17. PotPieGirl says:

    Hiya Tony =)

    Thanks! I worked hard on this post =)

    “My first search and google give me a 403 forbidden error.”

    Here’s the thing – Google HATES automated queries of their database. They will even ban ip addresses if they even THINK someone is using software to gather info from their search engine.

    A 403 is usually a temporary block and should go away soon – you can try clearing your cookies and see if that helps.

    Hope that helps!

    Jennifer
    ~PotPieGirl

  18. As a little alternative (hey, why not? 🙂 ) you can use Niche Watch – http://wwww.nichewatch.com/ Just sign up for a free account, enter in your keyword, and it’ll pull the top results for that keyword, then run several special searches on them.

    The one of interest to us is on the far right of the “table” – It runs allintitle, allinanchor, and allintext searches on your keyword and then plots out where the “original” results rank in those specialized searches.

    If the results of those 3 searches mirror closely to the actual order, then you know it’s a heavily SEO’d term. But if you start seeing some good “gaps,” then there’s generally room to out-optimize.

    Love the post, just thought I’d pop in with a fancy tool – you know how everyone loves those. 🙂

    1. PotPieGirl says:

      Hiya Chris!

      Cool idea – thanks!!!

      Jennifer
      ~PotPieGirl

  19. Jennifer,

    Thanks for helping me see the distinction between page keywords and domain optimization.

    I got a little confused by trying to combine Garry Conn’s advice and yours. Thank you so much for telling us about him by-the-way.

    I feel MUCH better now and THANKS! I’m moving forward with this site because a little Southern Bird once told me that nobody can find my site if I don’t put it online. 😉

    Denton in AZ

    1. PotPieGirl says:

      Good, glad you are feeling better about it now (the “little Southern bird” is happy now! lol)

      And yes, Garry Conns blog is awesome. When it comes to keywords and AdSense earnings, I listen to every word that man says!

      GarryConn.com (in case anyone is wondering who I am talking about)

      Jennifer
      ~PotPieGirl

    1. PotPieGirl says:

      Jimmy – You are most welcome! Thanks for the inspiration!

      Jennifer
      ~PotPieGirl

  21. This is exactly why I don’t do keyword research, it’s takes way, way, way too much effort. I must admit though, if I ever decide to take it up I will come back here and take some serious notes.

    There may be some people out there that think I’m crazy for not doing it but as far as I am concerned it would take all the fun out of blogging for me, and if I lose the enjoyment factor of being a blogger I reckon I will just stop blogging.

    Sires last blog post..Allowing Commentators To Edit Their Comments

  22. Hi,

    A very interesting post and I am learning a lot about keyword research,

    I have a query though I know its never going to be an exact science but

    I did 2 searches one with the intitle and inanchor search filters on the term “learn squidoo” and then a general search term with out any quotes,

    there where far more pages returned for the second search as you would expect but I would have expected the first 1-2 pages on google would have contained similar results for each search as they would be the most optimized pages for that term but they did not?

    and most people in general would be just entering the term with out any filters or quotes so would there be anything other factors we need to consider before optimizing the squidoo lense to rank well?

  23. Love your great info, and the wonderful down-to-earth way you have of explaining it! I had a quick question about keywords-if I only optimize for “long-tailed keywords” does that mean I won’t get any traffic for the less specific words? Example: if I have a website page that I optimize for “red flowered size 8 tennis shoes” (not neccesarily in quotes)does that mean I would not get any traffic from the search “tennis shoes” or even “size 8 tennis shoes”? I’m probably analyzing this keyword issue to death, but I read one article and I think I’m getting it, and then I read another article, and I feel like an idiot!
    Thanks,
    Heidi

  27. All I can think of is WOW. What a great post. I had previously completely ignored keyword searches as I knew nothing about them- this made it all SO much clearer. Thanks for the great information.

  28. Jen,
    You’ve done it again! What an excellent post. As much keyword research as I do, I have never seen it done quite like this.

    I think this is a perfect method for choosing keywords for squidoo pages. Thanks for sharing! I’ll be using it today!

    Jackie

  29. Alexander Conway says:

    Thanks very much, Jennifer. An excellent post. I wish I had seen this two days ago before I submitted my first EZA article. Well, I now know how to make my next one, and my next squiddo lens more effective – especially combined with the info in OWM.

    Much appreciated.

    PPG must stand for ‘Precisely Posted Gems’.

  30. Hi Jennifer!

    I just wanted to echo everyone else here and say thanks for this easy-to-understand post! I’ve been using Squidoo lenses for a few months now, and it’s doing well at getting me some referrals. I like how you explain the information step by step. I’ll be here often, I think!

    Daras last blog post..Nooo..

  31. #2 is good but people should know that google’s algorithm does not only access the 1st something of a content.. But also try to parse everything..

    If you are a googler, you can see that some search results gets snippets or phrases from various portion of the webpage. 🙂

    charles palmas last blog post..Google.com.ph – Google in the Philippines

  33. PotPieGirl says:

    I think he was referring to the fact that Google does not always use the meta description for the description they show in a Google search engine query. (on Squidoo, the first sentence or so of your intro module is the meta description for your lens).

    Working on a follow-up post to this one. It sure has generated great discussion and some really good questions…

    Thanks all!

    Jennifer
    ~PotPieGirl

  34. Oh… now it makes sense. Thanks Jennifer.
    I’ll be looking forward to that follow-up post because, as you say, there are some really great questions posted in the comments.

  35. This was good information. Thanks’s for posting this it was very helpful and explained in a simple fashion.

  36. You explained it right and simple. A pro in you should always start explaining “things” simply and in layman’s term. My thumbs up.

  38. Wow Pot Pie Girl!

    This Pot is over the top into the burner and down the side of my stove. You just blew me away…

    I have used Intitle and inanchor before but the combo is amazing.

    Thank you,

    Rick

    I will digg and social mark this page with all the horsepower I can muster…

    Rick Imbys last blog post..Article Writing and Storage Strategy

  39. HI Jeni,
    This is by far one of the best and simplest article about keyword research I have ever read. Your article has given me lots of knowledge( I am newbie:( ). Even the conversation between you and commenters is so useful and indepth. I have to read your whole lot of articles whenever I get time. And surely, I will be back with more comments.

  41. I’ve got this terrific post featured at the Giant Squid Community Showcase today!

  42. Excellent post, this is really useful! I never knew about searching for the intitle words, but I will definitely do this from now on. I wish this post were around when I first started Squidoo, it would’ve saved me a lot of time! I use the keyword research tool (the adsense one), but your intitle and inanchor suggestions will be a tremendous help.

  43. Hi PotPieGirl,

    Thanks for all the advice. Your posts are easy to understand and truly helpful. WIth all your help, I will be a giantsquid someday.

    Thanks!

  45. This is a great thought. A while back I tried to go into Google search and learn a new search or two. This is the coolest search I have played with in a long time.

    Thanks
    Rick

    Pay as you Go Ricks last blog post..Tracfone Bluetooth Review

  46. wow,I’m one of the “I didn’t understand” all that stuff gals. But now I think I do get it more. I hadn’t ever heard of the other search place so thanks for that especially. I’m going to try this way starting today!

  47. Hai Jennifer.

    This is one very good info I have ever read. Thanks a bunch.. really.. thanks a lot.

    Just wondering though.. how applicable is this method to be used with PPC.

    And… if you have the time… can you please show us your loyal visitors how you do your keyword researches for PPC (particularly Adwords).

    That is if you do have the time. To be honest this info is more than enough already so I shouldn’t ask too much.

    Again.. thanks Jennifer.

  48. Great keyword research information. I did not know about the intitle and inanchor researches on google.

  49. Gah. I am feeling SO DENSE. And not in a keyword density way. I knew to look for the slightly less popular keyword searches… I’d gotten as far as tracking how often various searches and long tails were used. But it didn’t occur to me how blinkin’ easy it is to check and see what pages are well-optimized for them!

    That little intitle: inanchor: search is so obvious, so powerful, and now mentioned on my own clumsy “How to get lens found” lens with a link here. i think all I’m doing is regurgitating what the smart people have already discovered. 🙂

    Anyway, thanks!

  50. I was always told, but I need to try another way, that I should not have a word used more than once in the title and have a maximum of 3 phrases in total. As for the Allintitle command that is a nice tool to look for competition. Thanks for the heads up, will spend some more time looking through you blog.

  51. Great post, very informative. I think a lot of people will find this very useful.Keep post in coming future as well!!!

  52. You are THE coolest person on the internet. I just did a search for the only lens I have that IS indexed…it’s only been 4 days, and I am competing with a whole 4 people, so I am number one for intitle: inanchor which is cool.

    So I figured I would search my long-tailed keywords and see if I can actually find my lens. I haven’t found it yet, because when I got to the 2nd page I saw an article that I wrote and uploaded a few hours ago at the #11 spot……..out of 2.6 MILLION….wow, that is cool to see for sure.

    I’ve made sales before with PPC, but I’ve NEVER seen anything I’ve written in an actual search…too cool, and YOU taught me how to do it all..

    You da best, as the kids say!

  53. # 7 for the same article, different keyword! I really love one particular new site that you use, and it seems to love me as well.

    Ok, I won’t post all my stats…This really is too cool though.

  54. Dream Seeker says:

    Hi PPG,

    Thank you so much for all you do on this site! Would you consider answering this with WWPPGD (What Would PotPieGirl Do)? I am new to marketing with Squidoo and SEO optimization but not to Internet Marketing in general. I really want to try the One Week Marketing method. I have picked out four keywords with one CB product. They have daily google searches of anything from 14-600. Regular competing pages for these are high – from 100,000 to 3 million. But here’s the thing – the optimized competing pages are incredibly low – the highest being 123 and the lowest , 9. So, would you build a campaign around these words…or will the general competition being so high make it too hard? Will it be too hard for a newbie?

    Thank you for your advice.

  55. I have been using these techniques to put pages on my website for the last several months. I was excited to find this info, but now that I have been using it I am finding that my pages still don’t rank with Google.

    Am I doing something wrong or will this only work with Squidoo lenses?

    Any help would be appreciated.

    Heidis last blog post..Apr 13, How to Homeschool Kindergarten

  56. Jennifer, that is so clear and helpful. Thank you!

  57. Where you been all my life “potpiegirl”?

    Great article and now I can see that you are going to get me hooked on social marketing.

    I guess it’s something in the water down here in the south that just makes us act with common sense!

    Thank you,
    “The Mad Webmaster”
    From: Mississippi

  59. Another great article – keep it up! Thanks so much…

  60. The clouds of confusion are finally lifting …

    I seem to have a million questions all at once but you have already answered so many of them here on this site.

    I’m trying not to gush… but… thank you, thank you, thank you!!! This whole IM caper is finally making a bit of sense to me and it’s you that’s made it clearer. Maybe it’s a girl thing, but I’m so glad you talk the same language as me.

    Warm regards,
    Michelle

  61. really awesome info tips. never found it anywhere else, especially the intitle inanchor search technique.

    Adlis last blog post..Water Well Drilling

  62. I made a squidoo lens using your great information, hopefully it will bring in some extra money for christmas.

  64. After running of hundreds of websites and blog I concluded the most important part of them are keywords. Actually when you want to get top ranking on google you want to get them based on certain keyword.Thats why concentrating on competitive keyword is very important for your success.

  65. Thanks for your note on keyword research. Yes it has helped me with my keyword research. Wish that there will be an easier way to do intitle:””inanchor:”” research.

    cheers

  66. Thank you so much for this information. I’m building a series of interconnected sites in the tourism niche right now, and one of my long-tailed keyword phrases has close to 500,000 exact matches. So I figured I would forget about it. But after doing the intitle:”my keyword” inanchor:”my keyword” that number dropped to 2… JUST 2! Does this mean that if I optimized correctly that I could actually compete in this market? If so, I’m really excited.

    I’m still going to build my sites for the lower competition phrases, but if I can actually get in on this big phrase, I could potentially be sitting on a goldmine! Thanks again for all you do. You are truly an inspiration for me.

    Eric

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