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How Do I Use the Keyword List?

As part of the market research we give you in an AffiloJetpack niche, you’ll receive keyword analysis for a HUGE list of keywords related to your topic. 

This is a very useful place to start your keyword research for both PPC and SEO traffic. 

Before you get started digging through your keyword list, here are a few things to be aware of. 

 

1) We have NOT chosen the "best" keywords for you. This is just a BIG list of raw data.

So yes! There are a LOT of keywords here! There may be thousands, depending on your niche. 

  • They will NOT all be good, or recommended
  • You do NOT have to use them all!

This document is designed to put all the possibilities in front of you, and save you time gathering all this raw data yourself. We have the computer power to pull this information very quickly — but it would probably take you days doing it by yourself. 

However YOU still need to choose which keywords you want to focus on. 

 

2) Keyword data might be a couple of months old

We will refresh these master lists every few months, but we recommend that you do your own research on your shortlist of keywords to get up-to-the-minute results. 

In most cases, the results won’t change all that much. But there may be seasonal influences skewing the results at certain times of year. 

Good tools for investigating keywords are AffiloTools and Traffic Travis. 

 

How do you choose keywords?

The keywords you choose will depend on what sort of site you're building, and whether you're zeroing in on a sub-niche or a particular angle for your site. 

It can be a bit confusing if you've never done it before, but the best advice is to keep it simple. If you find yourself getting bogged down and paralysed by keyword analysis — try forgetting about it, and just focus on building a website that you know your audience will be interested in. 

Here are a few other hints for putting keywords in perspective:

 

Think of keywords as "topic ideas" 

This little brain-hack can make keyword research so much simpler.

Imagine you're not on a quest to find "keywords". Instead you're on a quest to figure out what some good topics for your website might be. The keyword data is a clue that can help you choose some topics. 

Do you see some keywords that look quite similar? Do they seem to be essentially the same topic? (e.g., "stop dog barking" and "how to stop a dog from barking")  

If they seem like they're just different ways of saying the same thing, then it's just one topic, and just one article. 

 

Will these people sign up for your newsletter? 

Remember that the real goal here is to get people to sign up for your newsletter list. So think about this when you're looking at keywords: "Will these people be interested in my book and my newsletter?"

If you've decided to promote a particular book on your site, look for keywords related to that book. Maybe look through the book and see what sort of stuff it discusses, and see if there are relevant keywords that would connect naturally to the book. 

That way it makes it easier to come to the end of your article and say "Hey, if you're interested in this topic, you'll find even more information in my free book. Just sign up below to get it!"

 

More specific keywords = easier rankings (usually)

It's tempting to see a keyword like "dating advice" or "dog training" and think, "YUSSSS! HUGE SEARCH VOLUMES! I'LL DO THAT!"

But you'll probably find that such broad, general keywords with such huge search volumes are pretty terrible things to target initially. 

  • They are too competitive
  • They are too general: you don't know what people want!

You'll find it much easier to go after keywords that have lower search volumes, and which are specific enough for you to actually know what the searcher really wants. (E.g., "dating advice for single moms", "stop my chihuahua barking")

  • There will be less competition
  • You'll be able to better target your content to give them what they want

 

Try to have a bigger picture

Don't make the keywords the most important factor on your website. It's really tempting to create all your content around exciting keyword opportunities, but it can make your website seem a little "patchwork". 

Instead try starting with a bigger picture, and have a quick think about the kinds of topics you'd expect to see on the site you want to build. THEN go look at the keyword data and see if you can find keywords that match those topics. 

And if you don't find good keywords? Or if the keywords have low search volumes, or high competition? Do it anyway. Even if you don't end up ranking well for those keywords, or they don't end up bringing in much traffic, your website will be more cohesive, more useful, and more likely to attract natural linking and sharing. 

Focus on building a great site first, and then try to work the keywords into the picture. 

 


What do the columns on the chart mean?

Note: For the most part there are no "recommended" figures for this data. We won't tell you to "choose a keyword with searches over X per month", because there are far too many other factors to consider.  

You should look at the numbers relative to the other numbers on the chart. See which keywords are more popular or more competitive than the other keywords on the chart, and use your own judgement. 

Here are what those numbers mean:

 

Global exact match: The number of searches for this exact keyword per month. (Data from Google keyword planner.)

PR (Avg): The average Google PageRank of the websites in the top 20 positions in the organic search engine listings for this keyword. Useful for seeing how strong the competition is in general. 

PR: (Med): The median Google PageRank of websites in the top 20 positions in the organic search engine listings for this keyword. This median is the position where half of the websites have a higher PR, and half have a lower PR (a.k.a the middle!). Useful for determining whether a high average PR is the result of a LOT of strong sites, or just a few strong sites. (A high average PR and a low median PR indicates a few strong competitors at the top, with weaker competitors underneath. So it might not be too difficult to get close to the top.)

BL Page (Avg): The average number of backlinks to pages in the top 20 positions in the organic search engine listings for this keyword. 

BL Page (Med): The median number of backlinks for websites in the top 20 positions in the organic search engine listings for this keyword. Also useful for seeing if the average backlink figure is just the result of a few strong sites at the top. (A high "BL Page (Avg)" and a lower "BL Page (Med)" indicates that there are a few very strong competitors at the top, but the rest of the sites in the top spots are significantly less strong.)

SERPs: The number of results returned for this keyword in the search engines. 

InTitle: The number of pages found that have this keyword in the title of the page. Having a keyword in the title indicates that these pages are actively and specifically targeting this keyword. 

$ PPC: Average Google AdWords cost per click for this keyword.