Looking to get some input from everyone here from non-rookies to find the right mix on KEI.

I have been flowing everything step by step and have a SUPER list of key words! The thing I am running into is how to pick the right ones and just have to many pick from.

Any help from you experts would be helping me a lot if you have a guide line or rule you follow.

Here is what am looking for:

My KEI are all Green ... Next I need a guide line so I can pick the correct key words/phrases:

Competition (Below?)
Number of Searches (Above?)

Thanks for your help!!

C

My number one rule of thumb is never assume the highest KEI is going to be the easiest keyword to rank for.

I always pick out half a dozen of the most relevant keywords for the site I want to rank, normally the ones with the least amount of competition and as long as they have 300+ searches a month.

Then I check out the competition for those half a dozen keywords , this step is very important, you may think you are onto a golden keyword with low comp and high searches only to find the top 5 sites have extremely strong link profiles that they have built up over years.

Rinse and repeat until you have half a dozen keywords with good searches and the least amount of comp but also beatable competition.

Prioritising the keywords based on the level of the competition is very important, not the amount!

I seen someone posted:

Competition less than 2M
Number of Searches more than 5,000

But not to sure that is a good rule or not

I have the list down to about 30 words from what you had said ... Just trying to narrow it down a little more.

Thought about going with the rule above but was looking for a little more feed back from experts that do this all the time as this is my first time and I will only be working on one website (company site).

Thanks for your input and if you have more please do tell ...


C

I like to pick a root keyword with the best KEI and then I build a themed group of variant kws around that i.e every other kw in the group contains the root. I build groups of 10 or 20 kws this way and it gives me a nice set of highly focused kws to optimize or build a single target page around. It also gives you a good list of variants to use when developing off-site content (natural variation is crucial).

Yes Sir that is what am doing!!

Each page is being built as a landing page off the main home page (keyword/phrase).

I will pick the top keywords/phrases (10) from their and each one will be part of the main keyword/phrase on that page and all built around the main keyword/phrase. And last the other words will follow along.

Last ... anchor text will be match up to each of the pages that can be used as a landing page. (off page)

From what I have been reading here for 2 months even before buying the powersuite, this is the correct way of doing things.

Sadly, I have been told I have one shot at this so ... Need to get it right the first time!

Here is what am stuck on ... here are the top 8:

Competition ~~~~~~~~~~ Number of Searches

432000000 ~~~~~~~~~ 30400000
3860000000 ~~~~~~~~~ 68000000
5860000000 ~~~~~~~~~ 13600000
672000000 ~~~~~~~~~ 13600000
891000000 ~~~~~~~~~ 6120000

I am assuming my best picks would be:

948000 ~~~~~~~~~~ 246000
1120000 ~~~~~~~~~~ 301000
1970000 ~~~~~~~~~~ 14800

????