How do you assess the competition for a keyword?

**rome9t9** · 6 September, 2009, 13:59 PM

Do you rely on the number of the competing sites?
Do you rely on the PR+Backlinks of the top 10 sites in google for the "keyword"?

or both of the above??

What queries do you use for finding out the KW??
intitle, allintitle, inurl, allinurl, inanchor or allinachor??

**m_v_s** · 10 September, 2009, 06:12 AM

This is something I would also like to know more about...Nice question...

**ChillingBreeze** · 10 September, 2009, 07:48 AM

I use and believe intitle and allintitle is best to have an idea of site competing directly. inurl thing doesn't appeal me because some of non-keyword domain do rank well as long as promotion campaign is strong.

For competitors' site analysis (and even one's own site strength), the authority and quality of backlinks matter. Backlinks from Google trusted websites that are already ranking decently in same niche tend to give weight to the top 10 sites.

High PR backlinks don't work really well because almost anyone can develop a site on a high PR page and give/sell/buy backlinks.

**Diesel** · 10 September, 2009, 07:52 AM

Right now actually I'm not thinking about any of them. I'm on the way to build my data directory site. I only want people to find my site helpful. It's natural that there will be competitors in every stage. I'll do my best.

**rome9t9** · 10 September, 2009, 08:33 AM

hmmm..the niche i am currently planning to break in has sites like amazon, engadget, epinions..i checked them out and they have the "kw phrase" in H1 tags, Title..but the Backlinks to those particlat are just one or two..none of them have even more than 5 backlinks to them..PR of these pages are 4-5..but i believe that PR has no relation with SERPs..

what shoul i do??

PS: these pages have PR of 4-5..but i believe that PR has no relation with SERPs..

**gavenecko** · 14 September, 2009, 04:10 AM

There are plenty of factors to consider. I don't really assess my competition. I know if my site is good enough, competition won't really matter. I look around at other sites related to mine and I quickly examine the things you mentioned. I also check out how many posts they have, how old the sites are, and how often the site is active. Perhaps that isn't the best method for all sites, but for blogs it works out!

**JackBoy** · 15 September, 2009, 03:41 AM

I generally use the SEO for FIreFox plugin.... it shows a lot many details about the listings that google returns..... saves a lot of time and is free...

When you get all such parameters in a single instant, you add new parameters while judging your competition....

**Profithost** · 4 October, 2009, 05:42 AM

Originally Posted by JackBoy

I generally use the SEO for FIreFox plugin.... it shows a lot many details about the listings that google returns..... saves a lot of time and is free...

When you get all such parameters in a single instant, you add new parameters while judging your competition....

Seo for firefox is good indeed.