Finding the No. of competitors. Quotes?

[ncwdavid]

Hey, in most SEO guides I follow when I am told to check the number of competitors for a keyword they just say type your keyword into Google and check how many results come back and that figure is how many sites are competing for that keyword.

I was reading something today and it said when you are checking the competitors for a keyword or keyword phrase make sure to put it in quotes like "keyword phrase". I noticed putting in the quotes can be the difference between 250,000,000 and 5,000 results. Which figure is acurate? Thanks!

 

[nielsencl]

Good question.

When you search in most search engines and enter something like "domain names" without the quotes, the results you get back are pages that have those two words somewhere on the page. They may be together or far apart. For the most part, you should see pages with them together first, and then those where they are separated.

But if they apear on a page MORE where they are separated, then a page where they are together, you may see the first page before the second.

But if it's important that the words are together and/or in a certain order, then you use quotes to tell the search engine that you want to see a specific "phrase". Like "domain names" with the quotes.

Since only about 1.5%* of all searchers know what quotes are and how they work in search engines most people don't use them. So the results without quotes, while inacurate and stupid, may be the one you will want to use for SEO, since THAT is where your potential visitor will be looking for what you offer.

You may find that General Optimization (also know as "long tail" optimization) may work well for you with less headach and bother.

*It's a well documented number that I just made up...

 

[Keral_Patel]

If you are trying to rank for keywords with quotes then use quotes to find your competition.

Otherwise if you are trying to rank for keywords without quotes. [Which is the general scenario] then don't use quotes to find your competition.