Possible Wordtracker/Google problem..."This has been fixed by Wordtracker"
Submitted by gateman on Tue, 05/13/2008 - 22:58.
Just got an email from Andy Williams of ezseonews.com. This might be of interest to some folks here.
"It looks like Google have changed the way they are reporting
competition when you search for a phrase in quotes. e.g if you
search for "giant blue widgets" inside quotes, Google replies with:
No results found for "giant blue widgets".
No difference there. However, Google then go on to say:
Results for giant blue widgets (without quotes):
They list all of the pages that match for the phrase without quotes:
"Results 1 - 10 of about 1,110,000 for "giant blue widgets". (0.62
seconds)"
OK, the problem. It seems Wordtracker is picking up on this no
quotes competition for phrases with zero competition. That means
all phrases with zero actual competition in Google are being
reported by Wordtracker as having 100s, 1000s or millions of
competing pages. This makes the current Wordtracker data useless
for anyone needing Google competition figures."
Might be something to look into. May make a difference in your keyword research.
Chuck
Hi Chuck I have been shown a
Hi Chuck
I have been shown a different way to gauge true competition, using Google with the quotes around your target kw phrase.
Since wordtracker is only a kw tool that access information the Google data base allows it to, it is irrelevant to this method.(my opinion)
I am also assuming you are looking at all the competing pages in regards to seo ranking or getting an article or squidoo lens, etc to appear on page 1 of Google, and not for ppc competition.
Check this out.
Enter "office design ideas" with the quotes into Google.
I am in Missouri, USA, and my results are : Results 1 - 10 of about 12,700 for "office design ideas"
Now, next to the Google search box, to the right of the SEARCH button. click on PREFFERANCES
Scroll down, and in the little box next to NUMBER OF RESULTS, click the arrow and select 100
Little window pops up saying your "preferences have saved" - click ok
Results 1 - 100 of about 12,700 for "office design ideas". - is what mine says.
Now this is where it gets interesting, and the part I would like commented upon.
Scroll to the bottom and click the highest number by the NEXT. (mine was 3, )
Results 201 - 204 of 204 for "office design ideas".
Quite a difference isn't there. 204 vs 12,700
Is this the true way to judge competing pages? Someone set me straight please.
What do you think Chuck?
Barry
$%$%$%$%$%$%$%$
Go'in Deep This Time Up!!
Scroll to the bottom and
Scroll to the bottom and click the highest number by the NEXT. (mine was 3, )
Results 201 - 204 of 204 for "office design ideas".
below the last result on the 3rd page, click repeat the search with the omitted results included.
:) That help?
Brian Weaver - Affiliate Marketer in Training
@profwebs on twitter
Brian Weaver on Facebook
Hi Brian Well, when I do
Hi Brian
Well, when I do that , I get this - Results 701 - 781 of about 820 for "office design ideas"
More competition than the 201 of 204, but still way less than the 12,700 without this method.
Sooo... Whats the deal? I'm trying to get my head around this concept myself?
Barry
$%$%$%$%$%$%$%$
Go'in Deep This Time Up!!
hmmm, thats odd...
Maybe different datacenter, but I had 13,500 in the first step. Then the same thing, results only went 3 pages at 100 per page.. After I searched again with the omitted results it was back to 13,500. Not sure what the issue is there.
Brian Weaver - Affiliate Marketer in Training
@profwebs on twitter
Brian Weaver on Facebook
I'm getting the same results
I also get 13,500 and then can only 3 pages of results. Something odd here or are missing something?
Chuck
"One's only security in life comes from doing something uncommonly well."
-- Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States
Hi Chuck Sorry to take your
Hi Chuck
Sorry to take your original question way of topic.
I have a respected friend in New Zealand, he is actually one of the best ad and content (copy) writers I have ever seen. He does lots of article marketing, and claims that by using this method (setting preferences to 100, etc.) as I have tried to explain, he finds the true number of competing relevant pages.
He claims that by not drilling down this way, you may find a phrase that has 100,000 results, and in reality, after this method is executed, actually only has only several thousand, and he gets his stuff on page one.
While I have seen this with my own eyes, I still don't understand it.
Barry
$%$%$%$%$%$%$%$
Go'in Deep This Time Up!!
Not a problem Barry...
I only put that up in case someone here was depending on Wordtracker's results.The method you explained is something I will look into, looks interesting
Chuck
"One's only security in life comes from doing something uncommonly well."
-- Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States
One way to check for
One way to check for 'optimized' competition is an "allintitle" search.
So the query would go like this:
allintitle:office design ideas
And you get 1,210 results.
THEY are the ones you want to worry about :-)
You can also do an allinurl: search,
and get the REALLY direct competition.
If this is your top level keyword, then
the optimized competition is all you're really concerned with anyway.
They are the ones you need to try to beat.
And the way to do that of course is by
covering a few more optimizing strategies than they did.
If you click the "advanced search" on the google home page,
(just above the 'Search Preferences' link you found)
you can narrow your search quite a bit from that page.
You can also watch as the search query is built in the upper left.
(Watch the box that says "Use the form below and your advanced search will appear here")
Hope it helps!
Brad.
Right on Brad I personally
Right on Brad
I personally use Keyword Elite for all the stuff you mentioned, and had forgotten about the manual way to use the allintitle.
And you are correct as that really narrows the comp. that needs to be worried about.
You truly point out a great method, not known by all, for using the free tool!!
Am still wondering why the results drop so drastically in many cases when preferences are set to 100, and last available page number at bottom clicked on. This could be due to the fact that I have no life -LOL.
Barry
$%$%$%$%$%$%$%$
Go'in Deep This Time Up!!
Yeah, I have no idea what
Yeah, I have no idea what could be causing that.
Weird little glitch, hu?
I wanted to get keyword elite bad, but was horribly broke at the time.
I do use seo elite though, and it does the same thing as far as the competition search.
Brad has an awesome line up of tools no doubt,
but everything they do can be duplicated for free.
It just takes some work.
Anyway, glad I could help.
Cheers!
Brad.
Google search issue fixed
Hi guys,
The Google search issue has been fixed (within a day I might add :-)).
When results in Google appear with:
"No results found for 'giant blue widgets" and a number appear anyway the count is now reported as 0.
-Mike
P.S. Any chance you can add a *fixed* to the top of your post. Thanks!
Not right now...
Hey Mike,
Thanks for the update bro.
I'll try to update the title of the tread later.
Jeremy posted this to twitter:
BIP Moderators: I had to disable moderator privileges while I fix a permissions problem.
It's not you - it's me. Will have it fixed soon. 02:01 PM May 13, 2008 from web
So I can't do anything right now.
Thanks again!
Cheers!
Brad.