Understanding our Keyword Report
Please bear in mind that we base our reports on exact
match searching.
Exact match searching means that a search engine
searches for only those sites which use the keyword
exactly
as typed in by the user. e.g.
Notice how the keywords are inside
quotes.
Partial match search means that a search engine also
searches for sites which contain the individual words
of the keyword but not necessarily occurring together
or in the order typed in by the user. e.g.
You can see that the keywords are not inside quotes. Partial match search presents a distorted picture
of the competitiveness of a keyword because when you
optimize your site for a particular keyword, you are
actually competing with sites which have used the keyword
exactly as typed in by the user.
KEI Analysis - Please
click here for a detailed explanation
of the KEI Analysis column.
Count - This shows the number of times a particular
keyword has appeared in our database. E.g. Our
database currently holds 313 million words. A count
of 147
tells us that this particular word has appeared
147 times
out of 313 million.
24hrs - This is the number of predicted traffic
you would expect to receive in 24hrs if you were
on page
one of the altavista search engine alone.
For a detailed look at how we reach our 24hr figure,
please click here
Competing- Each keyword has been submitted to the
altavista search engine and the number of competing
web pages
given in response.
The lower the competition (particularly under 300)
the easier you will find it to reach the top of
altavista using this keyword.
IMPORTANT!
Sometimes 0's are returned in the results. Most of
the time, this means that there are no competing web
pages reported by the search engine in question.
However, we do submit 100 requests simultaneously,
and occasionally a 0 might reflect a request that was
denied. If you have any doubts, please run the report
again to be safe.
Click here if you would like to order Search Engine
Service.
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KEYWORD EFFECTIVENESS INDEX (KEI)
The KEI compares the Count result (number of times
a keyword has appeared in our data) with the number
of competing web pages to pinpoint exactly which keywords
are most effective for your campaign.
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In a nutshell: Look for the keywords near the top.
The higher the KEI, the more popular your keywords
are, and the less competition they have. Which means
you have a better chance of getting to the top.
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The article below is a much more detailed look at the
KEI and why we have decided to use it.
DETAILED EXPLANATION
The KEI is a measure of how effective a keyword is
for your web site. The derivation of the formula for
KEI is based on three axioms:
1) The KEI for a keyword should increase if its popularity
increases. Popularity is defined as the number present
in the "Count" column. This axiom is self-explanatory.
2) The KEI for a keyword should decrease if it becomes
more competitive. Competitiveness is defined as the
number of sites which a search engine e.g. AltaVista
displays when you search for that keyword using exact
match search.
Exact match search means that a search engine searches
for only those sites which use the keyword exactly
as typed in by the user. It is the equivalent of entering:
Partial match search means that a search engine also
searches for sites which contain the individual words
of the keyword but not necessarily occurring together
or in the order typed in by the user. It is the equivalent
of entering:
Partial match search presents a distorted picture
of the competitiveness of a keyword because when you
optimize your site for a particular keyword, you are
actually competing with sites which have used the keyword
exactly as typed in by the user.
So to clarify, competitiveness is defined as the number
of sites which a search engine displays when you search
for that keyword using exact match search, that is
with quotes surrounding the term. Rather than those
web sites returned when entering the phrase only partially,
that is without quotes.
Note: When you select KEI Analysis, quotes will be
added temporarily to each of your search terms for
the purposes of the search.
3) If a keyword becomes more popular and more competitive
at the same time such that the ratio between its
popularity and competitiveness remains the same,
its KEI should
increase. The rationale behind this axiom requires
a more detailed explanation. The best way to do this
is to take an example:
Suppose the popularity of a keyword is 4 and AltaVista
displays 100 sites for that keyword. Then the ratio
between popularity and competitiveness for that keyword
is 4/100 = 0.04.
Suppose that both the popularity and the competitiveness
of the keyword increases. Assume that the popularity
increases to 40 and AltaVista now displays 1000 sites
for that keyword. Then the ratio between popularity
and competitiveness for that keyword is 40/1000 =
0.04.
Hence, the keyword has the same ratio between popularity
and competitiveness as before. However, as is obvious,
the keyword would be far more attractive in the second
case. If the popularity is only 4, there's hardly
any point in spending time trying to optimize your
site
for it even though you have a bigger chance of ending
up in the top 30 since there are only 100 sites which
are competing for a top 30 position. Each hit is
no doubt important, but from a cost-benefit angle,
the
keyword is hardly a good choice. However, when the
popularity increases to 40, the keyword becomes more
attractive even though its competitiveness increases.
Although it is now that much more difficult to get
a top 30 ranking, spending time in trying to do so
is worthwhile from the cost benefit viewpoint.
A good KEI must satisfy all the 3 axioms. Let P denote
the popularity of the keyword and C the competitiveness.
The formula that we have chosen is KEI = (P^2/C),
i.e. KEI is the square of the popularity of the keyword
and divided by its competitiveness. This formula
satisfies
all the 3 axioms:
i) If P increases, P^2 increases and hence KEI increases.
Hence, Axiom 1 is satisfied.
ii) If C increases, KEI decreases and hence, Axiom
2 is satisfied.
iii) If P and C both increase such that P/C is the
same as before, KEI increases since KEI can be written
as
KEI = (P^2/C) = (P/C * P). Since P/C remains the
same, and P increases, KEI must increase. Hence,
Axiom 3
is satisfied.
Note that the formula for KEI is not unique. In fact,
this is one of the nice things about the KEI. If,
instead of using 2, you use any power of P greater
than 1,
the resultant formula will also satisfy the 3 axioms.
For example, (P^1.5/C) and (P^3/C) both satisfy the
3 axioms. The exact power of P that you choose depends
on how much emphasis you want to give to the popularity
of a keyword viz-a-viz its competitiveness. Higher
the power of P in the formula, higher will be the
emphasis on popularity. If you are very confident
about your
search engine positioning skills, choose a higher
value for the power of P. If you are not that confident
about
your search engine positioning skills, choose a lower
value for the power of P (but the power should still
be more than 1). Thus, the KEI can be adapted to
your skill level! Feeling confused as to which power
you
should choose? Stick to 2. It maintains a nice balance
between both popularity and competitiveness.
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