How many exact searches do you consider a good keyword

[dotker]

Hello guys was just wondering... How many exact searches do you consider a good keyword?
is a thousand plus good or no?

 

[bmugford]

It really depends on the field. All search terms are not created equal.

A term with 2,900 exact searches in a financial field with $18 - $30 CPC is more than likely going to be better than a term with 9,000 exact searches and a $0.55 - $1.25 CPC.

Brad

 

[werty]

I myself just use a standard number when buying domains. Any domain I buy most have at least 400 exact searches, both globally and locally. Again, these are just my "buy" rules and they work for me. Your case might different depending on your purpose, goals, and strategy. If you plan on developing domains you might need more.

 

[MicroGuy]

I usually won't consider a .COM with less than 1K or .NET, .ORG, and .US with less that 5K. Those are the only extensions I buy/register now.

 

[gingerbreadweb]

It really depends on the field. All search terms are not created equal.

A term with 2,900 exact searches in a financial field with $18 - $30 CPC is more than likely going to be better than a term with 9,000 exact searches and a $0.55 - $1.25 CPC.

Brad

^ What he said.

 

[matrigaldo]

Usually i consider worth registering/buying a .com with min. 10k exact (not broad) searches, .net/.org with 20k and .info with 40k .

But, as Brad has well said, it depends by the estimated CPC and advertiser competition.

 

[garptrader]

That is a very good question but I was under the impression search volume needed to be a bit higher than the figures mentioned above. Supposedly Google has a 70-75% search market share with Yahoo at ~15-16% and MSFT at around 7-8%. So Google's market share is nearly five times that of Yahoo. I found a study by SEO Book which indicates ~90% of hits occur for sites on page one with a bias toward the top positions (42% #1, 12% #2, 8.5% #3, 6% #4, 5% #5). Landing a site on the number one position of Google is not easy and probably not something one should assume they are going to achieve for any particular site. Yes, there are long-tail searches but the search volume is lighter and your site still will likely not be in the number one position for many of those phrases. Perhaps for a parked .COM you might see ~10% direct navigation??? In either case, using Google Adwords Keyword Tool and a few known sites and parked domains, one could roughly predict what organic traffic a site/domain should receive given a particular search ranking. But the actual results (traffic) are much lower than what one might predict so I suspect that the Adwords Keyword Tool exaggerates the actual search volume.

July Search Market Share: Bing Continues to Gain Share but Paid Referrals Flatten Out

How Much Money is a Top Google Ranking Worth to Your Business?

 

[dtagr]

But the actual results (traffic) are much lower than what one might predict so I suspect that the Adwords Keyword Tool exaggerates the actual search volume.


I began suspecting this earlier in the year.

I have a keyword dot org that Google claims is searched 2400 times per month with the exact setting. After developing as a blog it is currently in the #6 position and in the last month has received 15 visits up 114% from last month where it was at #8. My stats are from Google Analytics.

I think the Adwords Keyword tool is grossly exaggerating keyword search volumes. My guess is they do it to artificially inflate their ad rates.

At any rate I don't buy names with search results that low anymore. I don't like wasting my money.

 

[garptrader]

I summarized my previous comment elsewhere and someone responded that the Google Adwords Keyword Tool results include the Google network which isn't just Google search but images, videos, news, maps, etc. While your site might be on the first page of Google search for a particular phrase, it won't necessarily be for ALL parts of the Google network.

Global Monthly Search Volume
"...statistic applies to searches performed on Google and the search network..."


Local Search Volume
"...statistic applies to searches performed on Google and the search network in the most recent month....specific to your targeted country and language..."


https://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/answer.py?answer=25148&cbid=v29933ecdr4&src=cb&lev=answer

 

[RevenueDomains]

as bmugford said it all depends on CPC and Search volume

so a better formula to use instead of looking at just the [exact search volume] would be
estimate Monthly Ad Spent (MAD) for 1-3 position = CPC * Search Volume

so for [credit cards] you would have

MAD = $12.15 * 368,000
= $4,600,000 (monthly ad spent for top position)

then with that number you can calculate the Price/MAD ratio, and use that to gage the rough value of your domain keyword, expect sales price ....

 

[garptrader]

Note that the default CPC which Google shows is likely much higher than what most advertisers are paying. I have a campaign I run from time to time where my average CPC for several phrases runs ~$0.18-$0.25 as I seek placement but not necessarily in the #1 spot. Google shows a CPC of $5.21 for one phrase, $8.89 for another, $7.53 for another, $1.81 for another, $5.11 for another, etc.

 

[enlytend]

In either case, using Google Adwords Keyword Tool and a few known sites and parked domains, one could roughly predict what organic traffic a site/domain should receive given a particular search ranking. But the actual results (traffic) are much lower than what one might predict

Keep in mind that actual traffic (assuming the site is indexed - a lot of parked domains are not) is influenced not only by how high the page ranks for a particular search, but also how relevant the page "snippet" looks to visitors in the search results.

 

[garptrader]

I just realized one other thing - what I pay for network traffic is much lower than what I pay for search traffic. My network traffic on that campaign has been around $0.10 historically though I've been paying around $0.13 lately. If you are a webmaster and my ad appears on your site Google probably is paying no more than $0.05/click. And you still have to factor in that even if your site is on the first page of Google but near the bottom only about 3% of searchers will select your site.