Keyword Sniping - An Update on Keyword Research
As I wrote a couple of weeks ago, I’m beginning to worry that some keyword research tools are becoming skewed by too many niche marketers.
This morning I took a look at the free WordTracker tool, using the keyword phrase “tooth whitening”. Here are the top 20 results:
185 tooth whitening
144 oakland tooth whitening
107 tooth whitening california
106 san francisco tooth whitening
98 michigan tooth whitening
96 tooth whitening san francisco
95 new york tooth whitening
93 palm beach tooth whitening
90 los angeles tooth whitening
90 maryland tooth whitening
87 silver spring tooth whitening
82 fort worth tooth whitening
82 tooth whitening los angeles
80 beverly hills tooth whitening
80 tooth whitening colorado
77 rockville tooth whitening
This is insane. Obviously too many of us are doing geographically based searches for hot AdSense niches, as per Court’s Colorado Lasik Surgery case study. And I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve been doing the same thing; I registered three domains like this recently, all based on research from the free WordTracker tool and from Keyword Elite.
One of them is featured above, and I suspect I may have bought a useless domain … sure, it’s targeted, but I have no idea if it actually gets real searches or not.
I can cope with the loss of a few bucks on the names, but I’m frustrated about the amount of time and effort I put into research, and the time I’ve spent building out the first of them. At this point, I’m not sure whether to put any effort into the other two or not … and I’m certainly gun-shy about doing any research for other sites.
So, Court, I’m reaching out to you … do you have any suggestions for keyword research where we’re not going to trip over each other like this?
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11 Feb 2008 tuppy
I guess to me it’s just a given that these tools aren’t going to be 100% accurate. You have to create enough sites to make up for this. Sure, if you make ten sites you might have 3 that have a lot less volume than you anticipated. You might also have 3 that have a lot more volume than you anticipated.
This stuff has a way of working itself out for people that have enough determination to work on a larger scale with more sites. If you get a #1 ranking you will make some money, the only question is how much. I make plenty of sites so it doesn’t bother me at all if I thought a site could make $30 per day and it only makes $3.
Court, thanks for stopping by.
OK, you make a fair point … but I’m wondering if the problem is bad enough right now that these kind of searches may actually be completely misleading.
It’s possible that nobody is searching for [tooth whitening san francisco] except those of us who are researching possible terms for keyword sniping!
Lower volume than I expected? That’s fine, bring it on … I’ll toss up a couple of dozen more sites so long as there’s some return. But I’m worried that there actually might be no return on some of these, that we’re creating a sort of blind alley of keyword research.
I guess part of the answer would be knowing how long a time-period these keyword tools cover in their databases. IIRC, WordTracker looks at the last 30 days of search, which would lead me to guess that my concerns are correct. But if it’s longer, say 180 days, then a recent spike of potential keyword snipers would average out over time.
Anyone have any other ideas to share?
Tools are just that, tools. There’s no free nor paid tool out there who can really do the job for you automatically.
Keyword research tool should serve only as a guide.
This is just a thought, tuppy - but if I wanted to check into having my teeth whitened, I’d probably search for the service in my local area. Actually, I’d search geographically for any type of personalized service such as this. Why just search for “tooth whitening” when I can add - my town/city to narrow down the results?
I think it’s safe to say, we all pretty much know by now that we can buy the off-the-shelf whiteners at retail stores like walmart — but if we’re determined to get the very best results, we know we’ll have to find a professional to perform the service - close to home.
Ellen - a SSWT member who clicked and posted - per your request
Ellen, thanks for stopping by. I agree with you absolutely … I think people would be looking locally (and in fact, I agree with those who claim that local search is the future of search marketing).
But only local terms? All the top search terms that include [tooth whitening] are geographic terms? I’d have also expected variations on cost, discount, best, at-home, in-office, otc, problems, dangers, drawbacks, etc.
That’s what has me worried about results being skewed. I’d expect some, even many, of the terms to be geographic; but not all of them.
I can see what you’re talking about, tuppy — still, we’re talking about *most often searched* keywords, right? (I’m no expert by any means but in this case specifically, I can see why the terms are all geographic.)
Look at the locations. They’re all major cities and/or specific locations and they all have one thing in common. *Lot’s of people with money to spend on this type of cosmetic service.
Obviously I can’t know for sure who is searching and/or why — but I am guessing there are lot’s of folks in these areas who want prettier, whiter teeth, and for the most part they have the kind of money in their bank accounts to get them. Even if someone doesn’t have the money to get them though, I’d be willing to bet most know they’ll have to go to a professional *close to home*.
ALL of the variations you’ve mentioned can be addressed LOCALLY - on the websites of the professionals *close to home* who not only specialize in teeth whitening but who can answer all the questions of “cost, discount, best, at-home, in-office, otc, problems, dangers, drawbacks, etc.
Dentistry in general is always a very personal thing. Every mouth is different and no one wants to open theirs to someone they don’t trust. Cost is always determined by the provider and insurance isn’t always available. Those who can afford teeth whitening services (insurance won’t cover this procedure), know they’ll have to find someone who can provide what they’re looking for, not only at a price they’re willing to pay - but in a way that’s convenient for them.
That said… with so many attempting to target those keywords (I googled to find out), I can also see how the results in a keyword search could be skewed. It’s not only those who are searching for tooth whitening but those who are providing information to those searching who contribute to the over-all results.
I don’t know if what I’ve had to say helps at all but thought it might be worth saying nonetheless.
Tuppy,
I would suggest that teeth whitening is too narrow a term. Take a step back and look at the localized “service” that is involved with teeth whitening I think you will find a bit more traffic and higher payouts.
Beau
TzuVelli,
With hard-won experience, I think you’re absolutely right.
My point simply is that on the face of it, that’s a term that “should” have worked, at least according to the research. In practice, the research was somehow faulty, and it’s turned out to be too narrow a phrase.
Yeah, it’s frustrating. I have a couple of sites that get incredible traffic, but nobody EVER clicks on anything! I have one that gets mediocre traffic, and the visitors click on everything in sight!
The rest are sporadic. I’ve built sites for electronics and even the site I linked to here which I did for laughs and have no idea how to monetize even though it gets decent traffic.
I’m doing my first keyword snipes now, and am curious how long it takes before the sites begin to get traffic and at about how many months do they peak?
Hi Tuppy,
I just found your blog and it’s nice to see another relative newcomer to the world of making a living online! I like your openness and your writing style and look forward to reading your posts.
About this issue though, I think one of the things that many of us forget is that there is a whole different set of buying attitudes and behaviors going on out there that aren’t (yet?) adapted to internet shopping. I know in my own case, I use the internet a lot more for information than for actual buying, even though I’m perfectly comfortable shopping online for most things. But as Ellen points out, teeth whitening is a personal service that requires a local provider if you want the best service (for example, laser whitening).
I’ve spent my whole working life in the business world, and people buy stuff for all kinds of reasons and in all kinds of ways. Now that I’m doing a lot of internet affiliate marketing, my perspective tends to narrow down to looking at everything from in IM viewpoint. I’m fighting that, though, because that is only one part of the equation. Maybe the supply/demand scenario for teeth whitening is poor in the brick & mortar world right now. If so, it’s unlikely that the picture would be rosy online.
Niche marketing has certainly gotten a lot of attention and some areas of the market are choked with competitors. I’m spending a lot of time looking at things I believe others aren’t looking at, and hoping that I can spot trends that haven’t been exploited to death. And if a niche isn’t doing well, I try to figure out if the problem is an IM/SEO one, an economic one, a personal one, etc. Some things can be fixed, some can’t.
As this business matures, it will become more difficult to make the kind of money that some of the early birds made in many niches. We’re going to have to look at a much broader picture to find those money-maker niches in the future, IMO.
Alice, nice to meet you … glad you like the blog (and I’m going to do my darndest to start writing more regularly).
I don’t disagree with anything you say, but I’m still confused/concerned about the numbers that keyword tools return.
According to that WordTracker research from 3 months ago, there were 144 searches daily for [oakland tooth whitening].
I just checked my stats for the blog in question. I have the number one position for the term [oakland tooth whitening] without the quotes, and the site is PR2 only four months after launch.
In the last six days I’ve had 3 visits total. Not to beat this issue to death … the site’s up, I’ve moved on to other sites. But I’m now a LOT more suspicious about keyword research, particularly when to comes to local searches.
Lastly … according to WordTracker this morning, there are 65 searches daily for [oakland tooth whitening], less than half the number from February. Honestly, I really do believe that Court’s keyword sniping series led to enough of us doing local keyword searches for research that the tools started returning flawed data at the beginning of 2008.
You could be right. There is always the risk that these short-term looks at the marketplace will lead to the wrong conclusions, or that a new variable gets introduced that changes the nature of the observations. Especially in a small marketplace where little changes make a big impact.
But it surprises me that with the hugeness and fluidity of the internet that one person could make such a difference. Just one more thing to keep track of as we do our research!
Your questions are also mine, Tuppy. I’ve tried almost all keyword research tools available and many times it happens that figures don’t match with the reality. Like you, I’ve managed to rank first for a keyword which was supposed to have several thousands searches per month, and I’ve recorded about 2 or 3 visits during two weeks.
Now, at more than one month distance, I’ve checked again with Wordtracker and it says “no results found”.
[...] More examples of location-specific niches within a broader field. Of course, watch out for other internet marketers doing the same thing. [...]