Sorry I have been remiss in updating too much, I have been redesigning this blog and it is taking a lot of time as I am not a blog or web designer, and right now I REALLY HATE CODE! By the way I finally figured out how to redesign a blog behind the scenes so stay tuned for that tutorial!
Anyway, here is my take on how to rank for high competition keywords, sort of a follow up to higher search engine ranks with proper keyword research, but on a positive note.
Ultimately the best keywords are those that have lots of competition, often in the millions, because those are the ones that are searched for the most, cause and effect people! It is very difficult to rank for those keywords, but there is a way.
When doing keyword research there are always long tail keywords. A long tail keyword is simply a phrase with the main keyword in it.
Example:
Main keyword: Computers
Long Tail: Buy Cheap Computers
Now, if you look at the competition for most any popular main keywords it is usually very high, keywords like, money, credit cards, loans, mortgage, insurance, health, cell phones, computers, laptops, cars, the list can go on and on. Ranking for these keywords is going to be a long hard road. So, what you need to do is target the long tails for them and rank for those.
Let's say I want to rank for cell phones, which has 2,700,000 competing sites with allintitle search query. So, I will find a couple of good long tails that still have a good amount of searches and much less competition, for example, cheap cell phones (15,000 competing sites) and buy cell phones (8,910 competing sites).
Now I build my links with those phrases in the anchor text and over time my site will rank for those long tails, but because the main keyword cell phones is in those longtails I will inadvertently begin to climb in the SERPS for cell phones, and depending on the link building efforts and the quality of the backlinks will get there sooner or later. Make sense?
You can do this over and over again with any keywords, but again I always check Page 1 of the results, because there are some keywords that are just not worth it because too many big guns sit on Page 1, all though nothing is impossible 
, just takes more effort, experience and time.
Time is always key here, as for some of those main keywords it could take a while to rank, but, that is okay because the long tails I pick will get me decent traffic, sales, Adsense revenue and whatever else I am targeting in the meantime, and once I get to Page 1 for the main keywords, which usually have gizzillions of d
aily searches then it's all golden and I'll be laughing all the way to the bank.
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(2 comments)
Nice post. We are subscribed and wondered why the delay in posting. Good to see ya posting again.
We do well on some of the competitive keywords, but we are finding that close to 90% of our traffic is coming from longtails searches.
Colleen @ Kennewick Real Estates last blog post..Tri Cities Goal In Zoning | Promote Well-Being and Protect The Environment
@Colleen
Longtails are great and especially for inner pages can get you tons of SE traffic for a long time to come.
If I could add to that, just remember that it will take time! Most people don’t stop to think that building a reputation for the new keywords will take months or even years so keep at it!
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Great stuff, as usual! By the way, re-design looks good and I am WITH YOU on the hating code. I can’t wait until the day I make enough money to hire my own personal coder so I will never have to do it again. lol.
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@Eunice
Yeah me too, re: coder!!! I am not done yet with the redesign, hoping to launch in a couple of weeks the final new version.
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@JR, oops, it looked different to me! Looking forward to seeing the big reveal in a couple weeks then.
Eunice@Simple Internet Strategiess last blog post..Twitter Guides, Tips and Twits
I think the keyword strategy you described is what worked for me in my niche…….
What happened to the Top Commenter plug-in? It seems to be missing from this blog!
@Matt
Thanks for letting me know, I think I accidentally deactivated the widget in the redesign.
@JR,
It is back now, and you are on there
@JR, Thanks!
Good strategy.It pays to use long tail keywords, they are often more relevant as well.Doing proper keyword research is the key here and having patience.This is a long term traffic strategy.
Tom – Home Business Marketing Tipss last blog post..Uncle Sam Wants You To Succeed With Your Home Business
What is your take on when the competitors are too strong when researching the longtail? You can easily find that the first 5 sites are all PR5-7 and that would make it an almost impossible task. What criteria do you use?
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@Mikael
I do not go for kw usually that have PR5-7 all over the first page, if there is mostly PR3 or below then I will use them, maybe even 1 PR4, also depends on the sites, if you look at the keyword search engine optimization, it is full of authority sites, and they would be very difficult to compete with.
Hi JR, It was nice to see your blog lit up in my reader again. I look forward to seeing your new design.
I have been finding lots of longtail keywords when I look at my visitor stats. I am ranking for phrases it didn’t even know existed and didn’t show up when I did my keyword research. But once they show up I do a little link building with them to take advantage of what has naturally happened.
Andy@ network marketing leadss last blog post..Network Marketing Leads To Build Your Business
@Andy
Isn’t that cool, I love that, and that is why Google is the leading SE, they know how to stack up the relevance from your site’s content.
Follow Me on Twitter @: DennisEdell
(224 comments)
Grab what’s yours while biding your time, then take it all…I like it.
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it is ok to go for long tails instead of the main keywords, but just let me know whether creating a domain with such long tails is right and good option, also nowadays it is difficult to get a .com domain with such long tails, so which is the another option, iam thinking of selecting .info tld, so is this a right option
@balbir,
You have to be careful with .info’s as Google has been harsh with them in the past, unless it is primarily an informational site with original and fresh content then you may have problems down the road, and many have abused the .info domain for other uses, such as stores and BANS. I always go with .com, it still has a stronger presence on the web.
I always make sure that my keywords are in the domain, try to pick a not too long longtail for the site wide keywords and then use the very long long tails for sub pages.
Follow Me on Twitter @: DennisEdell
(224 comments)
@balbir, Yes indeed, heed the words Balbir; .info is one of if not THE worst TLD at this point.
Well known as a haven for spammers due to their .99 cent price everywhere, not only is Google on the lookout but Akismet automatically spams them if you attempt to comment with it.
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@gloria
You can always add another word to it, if I want cheapcellphones.com and it is not available, I will use getcheapcellphones.com, or allcheapcellphones.com, you can add any other words to keywords in the url, as the SE’s will know what you are targeting from on-site content, and the extra words do not affect SEO.
@JR,
Yes, but it’s better if we could get exactly the keyword in our domain, it’s a plus for SEO. I’ve tried to build a site which has normal search volume (about 2k a month), low competitor (200k) and high CPC rate (about $3+), I bought the exactly keyword in the domain and optimize the keyword in the site, it rank well in the Top 10 without any off-page optimization. So, keyword in domain in the domain does help a lot too.
Regards,
Lee
Make Money Onlines last blog post..How To Get Correct Search Result In Google Search Engine
@Make Money Online,
There really is no difference if you add another word, as long as the keywords are in there it will work, I do it all the time, most main KW are impossible to get by themselves as they are all taken, most of the time you have to add something.
I was lucky with the KW in my domain (DJ & MC)….this was something that I did BEFORE I learned about SEO.
Interesting process you use, I will have to try that out. I have to say having the right keywords or anchor text goes a long way in google. When you find that right combo, however, it can be very profitable.
I love targeting misspellings, but people have gotten so used to Google correcting them, that they’re pretty weak now. Still, if you can get the top one or two spots in an organic result for a misspelling, people may visit you before they decide to search the corrected term.
@Alex, Haha, that’s a totally good idea that I never thought of.
Great article. Long tail keywords can be pretty cool.
Good post on ranking high with competitive keywords. Everything that you explain is what I’m doing now, very nice
Sam@Real Online Money Making Strategiess last blog post..Clickbank Affiliate Marketing
hey JR,
OK, let’s see if I understand you and I can rank for “CHEAP trade show giveaways”. I think I get it.
Long tail is ALWAYS the way to start, and with enough long tails you’ll get the short tails too! ~ Steve, cheap trade show giveaways
PS. Looks like your do-follow got “unplugged”?
@cheap trade show giveaways,
Shit, I just noticed that line about the do-follow, fixed it thanks!
@JR,
Thanks for fixing the do-follow widget!
But no fair that you get to use the word that starts with “s” and ends with “t”. I’m pretty sure if I used that word, my comment would get that-word-canned and end up in the akismet folder.
~ Steve, cheap trade show giveaways
@cheap trade show giveaways,
You think Akismet filters that? Test it right now and we will see since you are a trusted usual commenter
Follow Me on Twitter @: AMater
(15 comments)
Long tail keywords are definitely where it’s at when wanting to rank for high competition keywords. Most of the searches performed to my site are long tail, while there are a few short tail. I agree that it does take time to build backlinks, and quality backlinks is the key. With proper research, it’s not very hard to hit page one of Google for a desired phrase, especially if on-page optimization is done correctly.
Great article, and I’ll be back
Alan
Work From Home Ideass last blog post..Build Long-Term Traffic to Your Work From Home Site with Article Marketing
Hi JR,
Very good post. Something which is very close to our heart. You always have a way of making it so easy to follow your thoughts and what you’re sharing with us.
@Peter Lee,
Thank you Peter :- )
This is a smart strategy that I used in the past as well, but today, I don’t go after competitive keywords because it takes a while to get there, and you are not really in control.
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working on long tail keywords is a good and helpful technique for driving a good traffic to our sites. I am trying to learn something more related to keywords where we can say, not just think for the word but think for the complete sentence and for this i will need to make a good research before implimenting.
Thanks for the Info. it was pretty helpful for me and will have the same effect with the beginners.
Best Regards,
Leif
Some great information here about longtail keywords and how to rank 1 in search results. I have tried the misspellings idea before, and see how it could work well if your number one for a lot of searches.
Good points JR! Sometimes optimize for long tail keyword can be more easier than optimize for short tail keyword, it can be ranked higher too. With that said, we could be able to receive more organic traffics.
Regards,
Lee
Make Money Onlines last blog post..How To Get Correct Search Result In Google Search Engine
That is great information.Many Thanks
One more nice post from JR which is showing us how is anchor text is important at link building
Insurance Quotes last blog post..Done With Your Life Insurance Quote, Now What?
Longtails, eh? Very interesting. Guess that would be a lot lower competition. Definitely something worth trying out i’d warrant.
JR, if most newbies got this one simple concept, there wouldn’t be so many IM failures.
I mean, there keywords I can rank on the first page of Google with just a blank wordpress blog. These keywords can easily make me $200-500 each month easily…
you just have to be dilligent with your research
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Follow Me on Twitter @: thekevintan
(8 comments)
Time is a huge issue for me I have to admit. I know I get too anxious after doing a lot of promoting but this business takes patience.
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@ Kevin
It really does take a lot of patience, rushing to rank too quickly can trigger penalties and negative results in SERPS.
Follow Me on Twitter @: rankprotector
(1 comments)
You’re right. Long tail keywords are easier to rank high on SERP and traffic does get better conversion compared with broad match of a general keyword in terms of traffic and search volume. One tip to find long tail keywords is look at the related search term at the bottom of SERP when you search for the general keyword as well as keyword suggestion from Google
The hardest part for me as a new SEO has been developing reliable and consistent backlinking campaigns. The On-page SEO is simple and with a little creative and a lot of effort I have had great success with keywords via Market Samurai. However, I am still learning the best ways to build backlinks…
I agree that Longtails are really helpful and bring in a ton of consistent organic traffic if you are in a popular niche.
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Excellent post. Will come in handy for increasing traffic by raising serps
thanks for letting me about keywords details..
Long tail keywords don’t bring a lot of traffic separately but if you target lots of long tail keywords you can get lots of easy traffic.
Long tail keywords highly beneficial for your site..
Follow Me on Twitter @: lucrebem
(1 comments)
hmm, can I use anchor text on comments like this one? I mean, does these comments fields accept HTML?
Follow Me on Twitter @: JD_Farrell
(1 comments)
Very good advice. It is very dificult to break into the top serps with the most competive of keywords. I focus on a variety of longtail keywords for the same keyword. It helps you to not only rank in a variety of phrases and gives your strategy a more natural link variation.
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If I could add to that, just remember that it will take time! Most people don’t stop to think that building a reputation for the new keywords will take months or even years so keep at it!
remember that it will take time! Some people don’t stop to think that building a reputation for the new keywords will take months or even years and that they have to keep at it
Nice info, long tail keywords are great for getting specific traffic but not so much when it comes to overall traffic. But I think that is a good deal considering the traffic that long tail keywords bring are more likely to convert than the traffic that regular keywords bring, so all in all it will improve our performance and sales.
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