Keyword Optimization, KEI & Analyzing the Competition

When you're optimizing your keywords and key phrases try not to focus on very highly searched words. You can use that word to research the niche but it's best not to focus on trying to get into the search engines for that one word. When analyzing make sure to look at the singular and plural search results as they will differ. For example, tennis racquets and tennis racquet will produce different results. You'll also need to think about 'word stemming', which is the method used by some search engines to return results for words based upon a particular stem. For example, a search for 'develop' may return results for pages containing the words 'development' or 'developer'.

Now a word about 'KEI' which is an abbreviation for keyword effectiveness index, a measure of the effectiveness of a keyword in terms of search frequency and competition for the keyword or key phrase. As far as WordTracker is concerned the KEI compares the number of times a keyword has appeared in their data with the number of competing web pages in order to pinpoint exactly which keywords are most effective for your campaign. WordTracker's formula, which they compute for you in their program, works this way: If 'P' is the popularity of the keyword and 'C' is the competitiveness, then KEI is the square of the popularity of the keyword divided by its competitiveness. According to Wordtracker any KEI of 40 or more is worth targeting. However, KEI is probably more effective in making the initial selections for an SEO campaign. Over time you'll need to target any popular search term that's very relevant.

How to expand your keywords? There are several ways to expand your keywords in order to improve your search engine positioning: Research the niche and look for 'industry jargon', which are words that are usually only familiar to folk in a specific industry. Use your competition's name in your campaigns to give you results when people search for your competition. Use misspellings for popular keywords and key phrases, and finally, check out your competitors to see what keywords they are optimizing their web pages for.

How to analyze your competition? If you have competitors above you in the results (which is often the case), the easiest way to analyze their website is to use the 'view source' function in your browser. Click 'view', then select 'view page source'. You can then see their title, description and keywords to find out which ones they are targeting. Select their keywords from the meta tag and head back to WordTracker and enter them in the 'popularity search' box and analyze the results.