How Can I Understand The Google Keyword Tool Competitors Bar?

Am usuing the Google Keyword Tool to find new profitable niches. However, I have a question: how do I determine exactly how many websites exist with the exact keyword title I am searching for. I go by the coloured bar to assess competion, but what I am puzzled about is when I type in someting like "The Beatles", the bar says it has NO competiton! How can this be so, when the net is SATURATED with Beatles sites? I have found this when tapping in other keyword (long tail tool) titles too.





So how can I determine exactly how many domains are competing for that title, if the competition bar in the Google Keyword Tool gives such questionable data?|||If you want to do a deep dive into keyword research you will need some professional keyword research tools. I think you have asked a good question here and you are on the right track. You are wise to research the competition for keywords before making your next move.|||Hi Alan



It's my understanding the bar to which you refer provides an indication only of that keyword's competitiveness in relation to Google's paid advertising space, AdWords. It's function is to give you an idea of your likely bid price/cost per click if you're planning to run a PPC (pay per click) advertising campaign. It has no relationship to the number of competitors vying for top spot among Google's free (organic) rankings.



The method I use to assess competition is to enter my keyword into Google in inverted commas, like so: "the beatles" which will return the number of "phrase-matched" competitors whose sites have been optimized either intentionally or accidentally for this keyword (the number will appear beneath the search bar - a figure greater than say 50,000 I probably wouldn't even consider. Too much time and effort required to get to number one. 10,000 - 15,000 however would probably pique my interest).



There are countless free and modestly priced tools available online to automate the keyword and competitor research task. There's a good and inexpensive one featured here on my website: http://searchfindseo.com/seo-rank-software . It's the one I use myself.



Hope this info assists.



Cheers

Steve