Golden Rules Case Study
Video Transcript
In this lesson we’ll be bringing together the 4 Golden Rules of Keyword Research. We’ll also be taking a look at a real world example which will show you exactly how to use Market Samurai to find the best keywords to target in your online business.
The Four Golden Rules
Just to reiterate, the Four Golden Rules of Keyword Research are:
(1) Relevance
(2) Traffic
(3) Competition
(4) Commerciality
Finding Your Gold Nugget Keywords
Finding the best keywords to target in your business involves a process of filtering. We start with a large number of keywords, and initially we eliminate the keywords that are clearly not relevant to our online business. Then we apply a PBR relevancy filter to remove any misleading keywords.
Next we apply a traffic filter to filter out the keywords that do not have sufficient levels of traffic.
Then we analyze the amount and strength of competition to filter out keywords that are too competitive.
Finally we apply a commerciality filter to eliminate the keywords that have little or no commercial value.
The end result is that we are hopefully left with a set of Gold Nugget keywords. These keywords are relevant, have good levels of traffic, acceptable levels of competition and a high level of commerciality.
Lets now take a look at what this entire process looks like in the real world using Market Samurai.
Create New Project
I’m going to start from scratch this time and explore the dog training market in detail.
So the first thing I’ll do is click the New Project button.
Enter Seed Keyword
And now I’ll enter my seed keyword ‘dog training’
Access Keyword Research Module
Next I’ll click the Keyword Research button to access the Keyword Research module.
Generate Keywords
And to generate an initial list of keywords that are relevant to my seed keyword, I’ll just come over here and click the ‘Generate Keywords’ button.
Enter CAPTCHA
I’ll enter a CAPTCHA, and click the ‘Submit’ button.
Eliminate Irrelevant Keywords
Now here is where I can quickly eliminate any keywords that are not relevant to my website.
For the sake of this example I’ll assume that I’m not interested in dog collars. So I’ll select the word collar and come over here and click the cross icon to make it a negative keyword.
And I also want to eliminate the word collars with an ‘s’. This time, I’ll just type the keyword in the Negative Keyword area and click the Update button.
Analyze Keywords
After eliminating any irrelevant keywords, I then click the ‘Analyze Keywords’ button.
Set PBR Filter of 15%
On the analysis screen I can add my filters to progressively filter down my keywords until I am left with only my gold nugget keywords.
First of all I’ll add a Phrase to Broad Match filter to eliminate misleading keyword phrases from my Google data. You can think of this as relevancy filter.
So I’ll just click this plus sign and enter the value of 15% and then I’ll click the Refresh filters button.
Set Traffic Filter of 80
Next I’ll add a SEO Traffic filter to filter out any keywords that do not have the potential to deliver at least 80 visitors to my website each day.
Once again I’ll click the plus sign and this time I’ll enter in a value of 80.
Retrieve Competition Data
Now the next thing I’ll do is select the SEO Competition checkbox and then I’ll click the ‘Analyze Keywords’ button to obtain my competition data.
Set Competition Filter of 30000
And now that I’ve got my competition data, I can add a competition filter by clicking this plus sign and entering in a value of 30000. Remember this is the value we recommend if you are just starting out online.
If you have an existing website with a good page rank and a strong link network then you will be able to target keywords that have a higher level of competition, but for this example I’ll stick with 30000.
Set Commerciality Filter of $30
And finally I’ll add an SEOV filter of $30 to eliminate keywords that have little or no commercial value. So I’ll just click the plus sign and enter in a value of $30.
Sort by SEO Value (SEOV)
To finish my initial analysis process I like to rank my results by commercial value, so let me just come over here and click on the SEOV column heading.
So after generating my initial list of keywords, I have now filtered my results by relevance, traffic, competition and commerciality.
Assess Remaining Keywords
As you can see in this example I am now left with only 15 active keyword phrases.
Now this is where you do need to use a bit of intuition. What I’m looking for is whether there is any common thematic link that connects the keyword phrases that have made it through my filters.
A Good Question to Ask
A good way to do this is to ask this question, “If I was to develop a site based on the phrase ‘X’, how many of these other keywords would be relevant to that site?”
Assess Results
For example, let’s look at the top keyword phrase here - ‘protection dog training’.
If I was to develop a site based on the phrase ‘protection dog training’, how many of these other keywords would be relevant to that site?
In this example, the answer is “not many”, perhaps ‘aggressive dog training’ might be relevant, but that’s about it.
Let’s look at the next example in my list. If I was to develop a site based on ‘puppy obedience training’, how many of these other keywords would be relevant to that site?
The answer in this case is quite a few.
Dog training courses would be relevant as would dog training leash, small dog training, house training a dog, dog grooming training - Let me just scroll down... And we also have crate training dogs, dog training tricks, and dog training tip.
So this time I have 9 keyword phrases that are thematically related which is a much better result.
These are my gold nugget keywords. They are relevant, they have good levels of traffic, acceptable levels of competition and high levels of commerciality.
Theme and Category Keywords
An effective way to construct a website using these gold nugget keywords is to select one of them as your main theme keyword which becomes the primary focus of your website and then use the other keywords as category keywords.
Example
For example, imagine that I decided to move ahead and create a dog training related website.
Based on my data I might choose ‘puppy obedience training’ as my main theme keyword and then use my other keywords as category keywords as shown in this illustration.
Write Good Quality Articles
Within each of these categories I would then write as many good quality articles as possible. The end result would be a content rich website that specifically targets a set of thematically related keywords.
Check Strength of Competition
Coming back to Market Samurai, the next thing to do is to check the strength of the competition associated with the keyword I am thinking of using as my main theme keyword.
To do this I’ll just click on this key icon and then come up to the top of the screen and click on the ‘puppy obedience training’ tab.
Access SEO Competition Module
Now, I’ll select the SEO Competition module
Generate Results
... and click the ‘Generate Results’ button.
Analyze SEO Competition Matrix
In assessing this SEO Matrix I can see that none of these websites has been completely optimized for the phrase ‘puppy obedience training’ which is generally a good sign.
I can also see that there are some relatively new sites making it into the top ten.
Therefore my gut feel when looking at this SEO Matrix is that if I developed a great website with good quality articles targeting my theme and category keywords, I would have a reasonable chance of making it onto the front page of Google.
Summary
So just to recap, in this video we’ve seen that the Four Golden Rules of Keyword Research provide you with a practical way to identify the best keywords to target in your online business.
We started with a large number of keywords and then filtered them down by relevance, traffic, competition and finally commerciality.
We then identified our gold nugget keywords and saw how these phrases can be used to develop a keyword optimized framework for our online business.
Search
More Keyword Research Lessons
- Introduction to Keyword Research
- Golden Rule #1: How to Find Relevant Keywords
- Golden Rule #2: How to Find High Traffic Keywords
- Golden Rule #3: How to Assess Market Competition
- Golden Rule #4: How to Assess Commerciality
- Golden Rules Case Study
- Finding Long Tail Keywords
- Understanding Match Type Data
- How to Avoid Targeting the Wrong Keywords
Another great job.
So should I wait for the next video or just go straight to "Adwords Advertisers"?
You are the best SEO teacher!
"Handsomeness in need of makeover"
Anthony.... You have a great voice and presence. I enjoy listening to you. Your tone, your speed, is very good.
I credit you with my coming back to the Swiss army knife of marketing tools.
But! It's a tiny "but". And maybe it's these old eyes (my Asus is new :).
But! Please reconsider your lighting. You are dark Anthony, but you are not a shadow. Get a light!
P.S. Is this a nofollow?
Great video. I loved using ms in the 30day challenge but unfortunately I did not make enough money to purchase it. Once I produce a steady income online this is going to be my first purchase. I have a question for you, the sites I’m building I want to target UK search traffic. Are there any settings within ms that can pull the keywords and competition analysis from my local data center?
Thanks for going the extra mile for us users with your training programme.
I think that Golden Rule No. 1 is to buy Market Samurai.
Great tutorial.
Q: What about ranking for highly competitive niches, like say a holiday condo or luxury villa rental in some caribbean island, where search numbers are very low, compared to the dog training example? would backlinks from SBM and article sites as well as low PR blog/sites help, and how slow or fast should I do the link building?
Thanks,
Miao
Thank you Dr. Anthony! Got my Dr Anthony love this morning when you mentioned the SEOV - I wondered what that value was.
Patricia
i have found this training videos to be very help-full... thanks to you guys and off-course Market Samurai I'm ranking on the front page of Google...
I like the way you teach Anthony. This video cleared up a lot of confusion I was having. Thank you so much.
John Olson
Colorado Springs, CO
USA
Great summary Anthony
Just a thought that came to me while watching.
Many people try something before going and asking for help. So what are some of the tricks for converting a site which has already been developed and now needs to transition to being keyword rich. Starting from scratch you have a 'blank canvas' which is easier than converting a half finished painting. How do you make the most of your current online presence while converting to better and more powerful keywords?
Really great tutorial. The best I have seen on this subject. This puts everything in logical order.
Thanks very much.
Excellent, clear and concise training. It is vital to have the screen shots and text along with the video facilitating step by step usage of the tool.
Great Video as always. I love the way Market Samurai workds it makes the keyword research so much easier.
Thank you for putting all of these elements together in one place. That makes it so much easier to follow the flow and, when actually doing research, it won't be necessary to dig through several different reports. Again, a job well done.
Renee from Morocco
I don't know about anyone else, but I'm developing a secret addiction to Market Samurai. I'm sneaking an hour here and there to watch more videos and practice on my site and my client's sites. Lately, it has been a daily ritual, stretching into a few hours a day. What this product brings to the table is simply amazing and I am learning so much, especially with these new videos as they bring the whole process into focus more clearly.
One piece of the puzzle I am struggling with is how to handle doing this for a local business, where their market is strictly limited to a specific city or state. I do add keywords in manually before analyzing them, but I'm wondering if there are other considerations for filtering these limited markets. Instead of just wondering about this, I figured I would go ahead and ask the MS team or other readers about keyword research for local business markets, and if it throws a new element into the situation. Also, I am using the locality setting when creating the new MS project. What else should I be doing for these types of clients when evaluating keywords?
Thanks for any insight and feedback.
Andrea
Great video. Clear and concise...
Anthony,
This is a great step by step illustration of putting all the elements you've discussed thus far together. It really helps to make the good keywords pop out at you.
Keep up the good work!
Jeff
...Absolutely brilliant tutorials! :o)
This case study has pulled together all the pieces in to one straightforward package.
Dr Anthony,
Excellent recap and the visual of the funnel is superb! The new set of 5 videos have really helped to clarify the process for this rookie!
Thanks so much,
Dr. Meg
Thanks so much simple to the point and really easy to follow is connecting the dots for me
Hi Dr Anthony,
I will like to know if it is ok to use broad match for the keyword research when checking out the competitions?
Thanks for the constant update.
Jeff
United Kingdom
What makes the trainings even better is there's no fat around the words. No fluff, just concise points well described that let you learn what you need.
GREAT K.I.S.S. Training!
You have over delivered again.
Look forward to your videos on:
1. Local internet marketing,
2. organising tabs,
3. content,
4. promotion,
5. adwords,
6. monetization.
Then MS will have totally stitched up the Market
Many Thanks
Neil
Thanks for your tutorial. Informative and extremely useful.
One thing: can you also give us a "filter criteria" or "Blueprint" that can let us know how to analyze the SEO competition matrix, like what you did on Keyword research?
Thank you
Ditto what everyone else has said about how concise and easily digestable, this training is.
@ Andee Sellman - Andee, not sure if you realized it, but you answered your own question when you said, "Starting from scratch you have a 'blank canvas' which is easier than converting a half finished painting."
Have you considered setting up a new site and using it to feed traffic to your existing site? Hope that helps.
Thanks so much for the presentation of the 4 Golden Rules.
Sorry I am still not clear for the accessment of SEO Matrix, which guidelines that shows it is good for the good sign and how to determine it.
Waiting for your reply. Appreciate it and thanks a lot,Ina
Best training video yet...puts it all together. Well done!
Finally you get the feeling you are learning from someone who actually knows what they are talking about. Awesome vidoe
Should we be using broad match or phrase match when applying the SEOC filter? There is another MS video that suggests we use phrase match when researching the competition, however I noticed you used broad match in this case study video.
Great tutorials/videos by the way. You have the most professional product I\'ve seen and your videos are awesome. It\'s like taking an actual class through an online college. Very informative, very pleasant faces and voices, and very professional.
Should we be using broad match or phrase match when applying the SEOC filter? There is another MS video that suggests we use phrase match when researching the competition, however I noticed you used broad match in this case study video.
Great tutorials/videos by the way. You have the most professional product I\'ve seen and your videos are awesome. It\'s like taking an actual class through an online college. Very informative, very pleasant faces and voices, and very professional.
Dr Anthony, you don't even have to tell that you enjoy making these training movies - we can see it in the quality of your work. Excellent!!!
Thank you very much.
Just wanted to thank you for the great training.
Although I have Market Samurai from the launch - and use it for various keyword research - I loved this new set of tutorials which break down the steps and have discovered some new ways to identify these \"GOLDEN KEYWORDS\"
Many thanks for the new series - Excellent !
First of all,
Thank you very much for offering a transcript. The unfortunate habit to force one to watch videos for even the simplest sequence of three mouse clicks has gone way too far. Acrobat .PDF or MS .DOC with a couple screenshots are easier to get back to later, easier to search, easier to scroll through for a particular piece of information and do not waste valuable time and hundreds of MegaBytes for something that can be said on five pages in a couple hundred KiloBytes.
Second, as several others have already pledged for, functions and tools to sort by geographical region (eg. central Africa), national/regional/local markets or languages (eg. Chinese-speaking South-East Asia) would be great. I am well aware of the difficulties, but a girl may dream ...
Wow thank for all the great video training! I have had MS for awhile now but havent really used it yet hehe! Now I really see the power of MS! Heres to making money! Cheers, Dave
You are a great SEO teacher and as Derek, up about say's, You have a great voice and presence. I enjoy listening to you. Your tone, your speed, is very good.
I have downloaded the PDF file and printed it out, can now follow and use Market Samurai the right way.
Thanks,
Elsie (ID)kiwinana
Thank you so much for the new tutorial videos. I knew Market Samurai was a tremendous tool, I just could never figure out how to utilize it fully. Now I can. Thank you so much, please keep them coming.
You are a natural teacher. Excellent training material.
Hi Dr. Anthony ,
Wow ! Thanks so much DR. Anthony .You are a great teacher , very well explained for every step for finding the gold nugget keywords. I really do appreciate all your times and effort to help us to understand how to use this amazing KEYWORDS RESEARCH TOOL.
All the Best to the Noble Samurai Team
Kim
Tokyo
Dr. Fernando, I have dome some research on a micro niche, but I am very uncertain of whether I have done well so far. How could I consult you or someone else who will look at my work and make necessary comments?
I was a student of Niche Blueprint that introduced me to Market Samurai. Without it, I never would have found a successful ecommerce niche. My site still needs a lot of work, but I am in the top 5 sites on Google for my niche keywords. I've made some sales, but the site still isn't making any money. I'll be working to change that over the next few months. I blame that on the site -- not the niche. Love the training videos. They are extremely helpful. I'm looking forward to building more niche sites with the help of Market Samurai. It was well worth the price.
Great job as always, Anthony. Thank you for being so clear and methodical. I look forward to your next video.
Was really very helpful in finding the right KWs .Thats what i think .But after having found the KWs from MS and checked for in Google and saw the numbers i started wondering if the results were correct.As a newbie i check for numbers which are less than 5,00,000 and with ppc ads on the right hand side. For example i used MS for the term Hypothyroidism and got one KW as Hypothyroid Symptoms but checked in google without quotes and found the numbers as 19,00,000 and in quotes as 23,500 which i think is too high for a newbie to attempt. Am i going wrong somewhere
I really enjoyed the four Golden Rules videos - very informative and interesting for me as a complete online business novice. I am also a bit of a technophobe, so the step by step videos (the how) backed by the clear explanations (the why) have really motivated me.
I am also grateful for the video transcript, for easy reference when I am trying to use MS to evaluate and pinpoint golden keywords.
Best of all was the Case Study. That pulled the first four Golden Rules together, and I believe I can do it on my own now in a click-by-click manner (almost child's play with the benefit of understanding why I am doing each step). It would be so wonderful to succeed just through watching your videosand using what I've seen.
I live in France and my dream is to work from home - a better quality of life - plus an income would really make me glow.
Congratulations. Keep this up, all of you.
Adieu,
Claire in the Champagne region of France
Shouldn't the Commerciality video go one step further?
It shown the cost of the commerciality -- shouldn't it also mention the potential profitability factor?
@Mike
RE: Targeting UK
If you set the project country to UK you will see traffic, competition etc results from UK.
@Jeff
RE: Using broad match when checking competition data.
The broad/phrase/exact settings in Keyword Research only refer to the search traffic match type (see: http://www.noblesamurai.com/dojo/marketsamurai/7932-understanding-match-type-data)
SEOC will always be the keyword in quotation marks.
Dear Anthony,
Thanks for the training. When you were talking about dog obedience training you mentioned there would be no other categories that would relate, but for dog obedience training, you said there were many that would be related.
I believe what you meant by that is that they are thematically related in that they have similar meanings. Is my understanding correct?
During the training video, I was not quite sure what "being similar" meant.
Thank you
Frank Dobner
another great lesson. I going back thru them again to refreshen my knowledge. thanks,
I really appreciate these modules - I purchased Market Samurai months ago but didn\'t really know how to use it professionally yet was getting good results and info BUT these modules have now raised my competence to a whole different level and made me realize just how POWERFUL Market Samurai is.
Thank you very much Anthony for reducing my confusion and increasing my chance of success.
Thanks to all the MS staff for the best KW software! :-)
This is very excellent training and each video I watch I gain a more comprehensive understanding. I observe this is the way to have a real business and produce value in the business for the clients and customers as well as yourself. This is very different than just being money motivated and "making money". You can rightfully earn money knowing and practicing these principals. This knowledge will replace "Scientific Advertising" and similar texts in this new age.
Hi Anthony, I really like this video and the step-by-step process it presents. Just wondering, what was/is the thinking behind entering $30 in the SEO Value (commerciality) filter? Thank you.
These videos are really helping me understand the keyword search process.
I cannot believe how comprehensive this program is not only in keyword research but all the other bells and whistles available with the paid version.
Am really impressed and don't regret purchasing for one moment.
Thank you so much.