Word Tracker google trends

[Joan]

Do any of you use the wordtracker google trends to find keyword trends?

I've checked quite a few keywords related to baby boomer and seniors and it tells you to aim for 30,000 in competition and 100 in actual visitors to #1 in google. The keyword terms I've been coming up with have several million in competition and probably under 30 in actual visits- which isn't what you want.

For example Senior discounts over 4 million in competition but only 4 people actually searching. Healthy aging is 1.5 mil competition and 6 searches.

I'd appreciate any thoughts on keywords relating to baby boomers or seniors. I know lots of great keywords related generally to health, wellness, weight loss, etc as I use these for my health website but how to relate it to a focused niche?

I want to start out with a list of good keywords before I even begin the blog. One guy I used to write keyword articles for didn't even want to use any with under 100 searches/day.

[Andrea Goodsaid]

I love that tool Joan :) I know Jackie has felt like their numbers aren't always accurate ... might want to check with her re. keyword research -- she has a specific process (in fact she's writing an ebook about it).

The way I use it to find niche 'long tail words' is to start with the main category (and this may exist as several different keywords - ie. senior, old age, elder, boomer, etc ..) and just see what comes up in the broadest searches. I usually find terms I would never have thought of. You can also drill down in the broader categories too for phrases with adjectives added on, etc ... (ie. not just hair dye ... "blue" hair dye - grin)

Keep in mind that anything related to your (new) senior experience is fair game, yah?

You can also get a feel for keywords to research from the words that are being used on other blogs something like your own.

100 searches/day is kind of a standard minimum to aim for, but I wouldn't let that stop you from writing other stuff that seems to relate to posts you've already made or might make your reader's experience (or your own) flow better.

That help any?

Andrea

[Dali Burgado]

Hey Joan,
I am enjoying using SEO Book

It incorporates Wordtracker, all the major search engines, Keyword Discovery, Google Trends and Adwords features!

Mark Flavin just posted something cool on the GTrend Feature for Word tracker. Are you on Twitter? I posted an update with some info there. Dali Burgado on Twitter

Hope that helps!
Dali
P.S.
SBI's Keyword Research feature rocks if you have an SBI site or have purchased SBI.

[Eunice Coughlin]

Hi Joan,

Echoing Dali's comment regarding SBI...it's an excellent tool.

I did a "brainstorm it" search for boomers a while back and it was very discouraging. I couldn't find a good keyword to build on.

But one trick I've used in the past when I'm stuck trying to find the right keyword is to do a search for baby boomer (or whatever keyword you think fits your target) and then right click on the home page of the top sites. Choose "view source" and see what they've got for their keywords. You might find the same keywords that aren't working now but you might discover something you hadn't thought of.

Don't give up! The winning keywords are out there somewhere! :-)

Eunice

[Elizabeth Dunphy]

Hey Joan - I can't give my opinion on wordtracker; for keywords search I use google. It works for me at this stage. I do however, also search "keyword searches" that have occured in the past 24 - 48 hours and look over the course of the year. This helps me get a feel for where the world is in terms of curiosity and trends. If you don't do that already it may be a good place to find your niche???
Good luck,
Elizabeth

[Joan]

Thanks so much for all the great suggestions!

I have a feeling, from what I've been reading that the senior and baby boomer search terms and keywords is a niche that's about to grow a lot. There isn't much out there yet, but sometimes that can be a good thing. I could get in on the ground floor, so to speak.

You guys are great!

[Jackie Lee]

Hey Joan,

AAAHHHH, my baby, keyword research. I was in the same boat as your for a long time. I had no idea how to go about finding good keywords. Now I realize it's something that will take your business to a whole new level.

Here's my suggestion. Forget about wordtracker. It used to be great, but NOW google is giving us info right from the horses mouth.

If you go to the Google Adwords Keyword Tool you will find an excellent tool to do keyword research. Now google has added their own estimates, both an annual average, (which is the one you should use) as well as numbers from the last month.

You definitely want to find keywords that people are actually looking for. Type in your basic keyword ~ like baby boomer and see what comes up. You may find a couple of keywords that are a little more specific with some good search totals.

Go ahead and put those in and see what it comes up with. You are kind of "digging" into your niche that way. It may take some time, but it is well worth it to find some good keywords.

In terms of competition, 30k is a good number to strive for. You also want to make sure you can beat the top few sites that come up in a search for your keyword. Go ahead and Google your keyword and take a look at the top few sites.

What is their PR, how many links do they have? Even if they don't have a lot of competing pages if they are PR 5 or higher you are going to have a hard time beating them.

To find the PR and linking info you can install a plugin called SEO Quake. It's a quick one button install then just restart firefox ~ which I am assuming you are using. Just make sure you don't leave seo quake on all the time, or it disturbs the search engines and they will give you a time out.

If you want more in depth information about how to do keyword research you can check out my book Keyword Research Revealed. There is currently a special running ~ 10 dollars off the regular price.

Hope this helps

Jackie

[Elizabeth Dunphy]

Excellent detailed reply Jackie. Thanks for the information. :-)
Sincerely,
Elizabeth