The Overlooked SEO Technique
I’ve discovered a great SEO tip that’s really easy to use and guarantees results. Would you like to hear it? $699.00 please.
Okay seriously here we go.
It all started around December 2004. A guy I happened to know by the name of “Nextwish†started a very successful blog titled “Wave of Destructionâ€, a blog filled with photos, videos and current events from the aftermath of the Indian Ocean Tsunami.
This blog was getting some serious traffic and as I sat back and watched Nextwish rake in his Google Adsense earnings (put aside the ethical considerations)… jealousy kicked in. My mind went into overdrive, searching for an idea to launch myself into the “blogging world†and earn myself a piece of the Google adsense pie!
I had run many websites before, mostly gaming related as that’s where my passion lies, but I remember thinking I had to find a good source for my blog, something that provided me with endless content on a regular basis!
Then it clicked.
At my work we just so happen to have an exchange public folder titled “jokes†that is solely used for the purpose of archiving funny pictures, jokes and videos. This folder gets at least 2 to 3 funny video’s posted to it on a daily basis. You know those emails that office folk receive and forward on to all their friends in another office, who forward on to friends in another office – providing entertainment for those boring lunch breaks! (Or important meetings!)
I had found my source. Funny video’s coming straight to my email and more importantly, ON A DAILY BASIS!
I quickly whipped up a website, registered a domain and unleashed my site onto the World Wide Web. Back then I had little knowledge of driving traffic to websites and absolutely NO expertise in search engine optimization. Days, weeks and months went by with my website statistics not showing any promise. I was about to give up when I came across Entrepreneurs-journey which contains a few guides about Search Engine Optimisation. This eventually led me onto Problogger, SEOchat and other SEO related sites, filled with useful information!
Most of the SEO guides talked about Keywords, something I had NOT taken into consideration. I started researching keywords that I wanted to target by using the Overture keyword tool which allows anyone to see how many times a keyword has been used in a search engine.
I noticed that the keyword “Funny vids” (which I had used) was very popular, however I entered the keyword “funnyvids” and saw that it was being searched for A LOT LESS than “Funny vids” BUT still enough traffic to pursue.
I decided to start easy and aim for a top 3 spot using the keyword “Funnyvids” .. and it worked. On the 3 major search engines (Google, Yahoo and MSN) I achieved a rank in the top 3. My website statistics quadripled and whilst nothing to rave about, I was relatively pleased. 90% of my traffic was now coming from search engines. (1.2% from the US Military. Should I be worried?!?)
The keyword “Funny vids” was being targeted by many big name websites and thus the competition was harder to crack. By choosing the keyword “Funnyvids” I was able to attract this untapped traffic by those who used this keyword as a search term.
So you see, by using the Overture selector tool you can find potential untapped traffic that major websites may have overlooked. Give it a go and see how it works for you !
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POSTED IN: SEO
14 opinions for The Overlooked SEO Technique
Jacob
Oct 20, 2005 at 8:06 pm
That’s funny, I’ve employed that exact same method before. In addition to removing the space, you can also target towards common misspellings of highly searched for words. Nice post.
mahalie
Oct 20, 2005 at 9:35 pm
I’ve never taken that exact angle, but looking through your site stats will garner a similar yield, especially misspellings. I think I’ll try that Overture tool sometime…well, maybe once I have a site to promote!
The Internet Cash Flow Guy
Oct 20, 2005 at 11:53 pm
This sounds like a good suggestion. As someone with a couple of blogs I want to try to learn how to do a bit of SEO. If I understand your post correctly, I need to determine the keyword alternatives that may work and then optimize my site to include that keyword(s) as strategically and frequently as possible?
Targeting Secondary Keywords on Your Blog at Eric Setiawan
Oct 21, 2005 at 2:17 am
[…] Jamsi on Workboxers: SEO by using less searched keywords who had enough traffic; using Overture keyword tool. [via Problogger] // Used for showing and hiding user information in the comment form function ShowUtils() { document.getElementById(”authorinfo”).style.display = “”; document.getElementById(”showinfo”).style.display = “none”; document.getElementById(”hideinfo”).style.display = “”; } function HideUtils() { document.getElementById(”authorinfo”).style.display = “none”; document.getElementById(”showinfo”).style.display = “”; document.getElementById(”hideinfo”).style.display = “none”; } […]
Lyndoman
Oct 21, 2005 at 2:28 am
I am very lazy so never check my spelling, because of this I am always getting peoples names wrong. Teri Hatcher instead of Terri Hatcher, and it seems I am not alone, loads of other people are lazy and also do not spell check. So as the sharp pointed, pencil people have all the correct spellings and no traffic, my websites - which always look a mess- gets tons of traffic.
Pedants beware.
Chris Griffin
Oct 21, 2005 at 2:36 am
Alot of people tend to think that popular key terms are the best ones to go after because they are so popular, well they are, and it will literally take years (especially Google) and alot of link building before you reach that plateau. On top of the “Google Sandbox” which takes about 3 months - Year depending on the popularity of your site.
The best key terms are niche terms. like instead of “Web Development” maybe “Florida Web Development” or if you want to take it further “Central Florida Web Development”. Those words might get less traffic, but get a better ROI if you go after a targeted audience rather than a general audience, and it will take less time to get good SE rankings on the niche terms.
Charles
Oct 21, 2005 at 3:07 am
Try http://keywordinsight.com, powered by Overture, but you can also download the keyword reports in one of five different formats including XML, CVS, and TXT. And you can also target keywords by country.
Jamsi
Oct 21, 2005 at 4:02 am
You’ve hit the nail on the head The Internet Cash Flow Guy! Take Chris Griffens advice too (Cheers Chris), narrow your keywords down to specific locations or brands. This way there won’t be too much competition to fight off.
Gerard McGarry
Oct 21, 2005 at 9:22 am
Nice post. Keyword targetting is an oft-overlooked aspect of any website project, and so important when you have weblogs - where non-designers will be writing articles and perhaps neglecting critical keywords.
Webdesignblog » Blog Archive » Effektives Webdesign oder Nischenkeywords nutzen zu Top Platzierungen in Suchmaschinen
Oct 21, 2005 at 11:27 am
[…] Also wählt man die kurzen und einfachen Begriffen, aber diese sind natürlich schon heiß umkämpft. Auf workboxers.com gibt es den Ansatz, das man sich zwar auf die Suchbegriffe stürzt die gut besucht sind, diese aber ein bisschen in der Schreibart anpasst (zum Beispiel keine Leerzeichen) und dann mit einem Statistiktool schaut, wie oft diese aufgerufen werden. Ein gutes Tool hierfür finden sie auf dieser Seite: overture.com einfach den Suchbegriff eingeben und die Trefferanzahl inklusiver möglicher Kombinationen wird angezeigt. […]
New To You, But Not Really So Overlooked SEO Technique | A Step Closer
Oct 23, 2005 at 7:16 pm
[…] To get things back in motion here, I was reading an entry over at Workboxers written by Jamsi called “The Overlooked SEO Technique“, here’s a taste for you: I noticed that the keyword “Funny vids†(which I had used) was very popular, however I entered the keyword “funnyvids†and saw that it was being searched for A LOT LESS than “Funny vids†BUT still enough traffic to pursue. […]
MySchizoBuddy
Nov 6, 2005 at 4:37 am
So that is required is to identify the important keywords and use them in the post. Or is there another way to add those keywords.
SEO-OSE-SOE–When an Alternate Spelling Is Optimization » Successful Blog
Nov 15, 2005 at 3:11 pm
[…] In an October post at Workboxers, The Overlooked Optimization Technique, Paul Scrivens tells how with the Overture Keyword Tool, he used an alternative spelling as Search Engine Optimization. By removing a space and a capital letter from a keyword, he achieved a top three rank in the listings at Google, Yahoo, and MSN for an obscure blog. […]
WebtrafficJunkie
Jan 20, 2006 at 4:10 pm
This is an awesome article. I learned a lot of great tips and pointers. Thanks for the information!!
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