This is third step in the affiliate marketing basics.  A person should have a list of profitable keywords, have created content around them and be able to use Google Analytics to monitor organic traffic sources.  Keywords should be being tracked in an SEO rank-tracking tool as well. The third step in owning keyword research is evaluating the competition.

Often, the affiliate marketing basics are focused on utilizing free tools.  Evaluating competition can be accomplished with free tools.  Due to that fact, this will be about using the Google AdWords tool.  What a person needs to do is open Google Analytics and see if he or she is getting traffic from the keywords in use.  If so, that is great.  This step will help improve the continued progress of those keywords.  If not, this step will help diagnose why a keyword may not be working, at all.  This is general and keyword research is not an exact science.  It takes time and patience.

In the first steps of the affiliate marketing basics, everyone is taught to find keywords with low competition.  It is time to examine the competition.  Competition is broken down in to two categories, websites that are ranking for a keyword, and websites that are not ranking for a keyword.  Sometimes established websites get the top positions for keywords because of their authority.  With the AdWords tool open, enter the keyword, check “exact” under match types and let it return the results.  Click the keyword and it will go to the first page of Google.  Next, look at the URL’s of the top ten results.  URL’s that end with a forward slash are homepages.  Generally, they are not ranking for the keyword.  They have authority and numerous back links that won them their position in Google.  URL’s that have content after the forward slash could be ranking for the keyword.

Examples:

http://www.homepage.com/ (not ranking)

http://www.homepage.com/content/ (possibly ranking)

As stated above, the affiliate marketing basics center on free tools.  These examples are generalizations.  Without actual keyword research software, it is difficult to get complete accuracy.  If the top ten results are predominantly homepages, an individual marketer or small business can get a higher position by ranking for the keyword.  Ranking for the keyword means that it is included in the title, the first sentence, repeated every one hundred words, and in the tags.  That is search engine optimization.  What a person is doing is telling the search engines that their content is about that search term.  Search engines want to provide users with the best experience, so keyword rich content gets elevated to higher positions.

Summing up keyword research in the affiliate marketing basics, a person first must find keywords with high traffic and low competition. Global monthly searches should be between 500 and 1,000.  The results (competition) should be less than 100,000, less than 25,000 is ideal.  Create and submit content around the keywords.  Set up Google Analytics and monitor organic traffic sources.  Utilize SEO rank tracking tools and track the progress of keywords.  Finally, evaluate the competition.  Continue this process and own keyword research.  This process will bring traffic to your website and it can all be done for free!
Here is a short video I made for you that shows you How To Use Adwords to Analyze SEO Competition.

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