Small Picture Keyword Research Mistake

Concentrating on one measure of keyword effectiveness, while neglecting other measures.

When doing your keyword research it is best to use several different tools for measuring a keywords potential effectiveness.  And not to rely on just one, or just your favorite.  Keyword analysis and research is a multi-faceted endeavor.  You must look at a potential keyword from several different angles.  To not do so risks time and effort.

For Example

For example, you might find a keyword with a ton of monthly searches.  That is of course a good thing.  But, what about the level of competition for that keyword.  If it is sky high, as in the millions, it would take some very serious time and effort to rang high for that keyword in the search engines results page.  If you don’t consider the competition, you have a very incomplete picture of the potential effectiveness of that keyword.  You will only know part of the story.

Search Volume

Or, suppose you discover a key phrase with very little competition on the search engine results page.  If you don’t check on the monthly search volume, you could make a drastic mistake.  Maybe there is only a dozen monthly searches for that key phrase.  If so, you really don’t want to spend any time or effort targeting that key phrase. 

Searcher's Intent

Lets throw another log on the fire here and talk about search intent.  What was the intent of the searcher for a particular keyword?  Were they just looking for information, or were they ready to buy, and looking for the best price?  That difference alone would cause them to select completely different search terms for their searches.  If you don’t consider the likely commercial or informational character of a given keyword, you again are missing the complete picture.   And you end up making a decision with incomplete analysis.

Trends

Lets throw another log on the fire and talk about trends.  This deals with how the search volume is trending over time.  This should be another aspect of your potential keyword analysis.  Are there more searches for a given keyword this year over last year?  Or is the search volume trailing off, month over month, or year over year?  Is there a seasonal aspect of the search volume that needs to be considered?  Maybe a keyword is mostly searched for in the fall, or just in the spring?  These are all good and necessary things to know about a potential keyword. 

So you can see, looking at just one angle of a potential keyword can be a bit myopic, and more than a bit risky.  It pays to take the time, and the effort, to do a thorough analysis of the keywords that you want to target.