SEO Competition Matrix Revealed - The Invisible Factors

[DeanRichards]

I believe this matrix has some interesting points to consider...



I can speak with some knowledge about this one because I'm the number one site.

As you can see, I'm up against some high authority competition and my backlinks are a joke compared to everyone else on this matrix. And I think that is the first lesson here.

1) There is more to keyword SERP rank than shows up in an SEO Competition matrix. These matrices can give us some indications of what's going on with the keyword competition, but it isn't the whole story.

So how am I able to beat the competition? I think the answer is here:



As you can see, my traffic is low, but my average visitor is clicking at least one link and loading a new page. Of course it isn't that simple. Some people are bouncing out right away and some are loading multiple pages, but the average is what is counts. On average, my content is engaging my visitors. Which is the second lesson when it comes to competition...

2) Content Matters

I also think my keyword analysis holds some interesting clues.

22% of visitors come in on my theme keywords. The other 78% is coming in on 154 different long tail phrases. With 30% of those being unique combinations (only one visitor used that phrase).

So this means people are coming in on the long tail and then finding lots of highly relevant content and checking it out. Sure, I only have 143 pages compared to Yahoo's 1.9 million, but ALL of mine are niche relevant and that pays off in more ways than one.

The final metric is that an astounding 74% of my visitors ultimately clicked on one of my offers and I got the PPC. (This is an eBay affiliate site and eBay is now PPC) The traffic may be low, but it's highly targeted quality traffic that ultimately pays my utility bills and puts gas in my car. Multiply that by as many sites as you care to build and you've got yourself a nice little empire. BTW, this site has been on automatic pilot for more than a year. My visitors (and some clever plugins) add new content for me all I do is a little periodic housekeeping.

I think the take-away message here is that you must engage your visitors. If you're not giving them what they came for and getting them to accept your offer, then the matrix isn't going to help you. On the other hand, when you can find content that engages your visitors, then it is possible to run with the big dogs.

[abrookewood]

Hi Dean,

Really appreciate the fact that you took time to post and comment on this. It is certainly a little daunting for newbies.

Do you mind me asking how many sites you have and whether you are doing this full time?

I am trying to work out how many people are having success in turning this from a hobby into a full-time occupation.

Regards,

Antony

[abrookewood]

One more thing. If your domain is 2 years old and you have (assumingly) been number one for some time, why is your page rank still zero??? Seems odd to me.

Surely Google should have increased your authority by now?

[Isha]

Great lesson Dean - thank you!

Isha

[RufioLives]

This actually answered some of my question about the micro-niche I have just chosen. Thanks for the advice Dean, great work out smarting the big fishes.

Cheers,

Rufio

[hsnz]

Originally Posted by DeanRichards

The other 78% is coming in on 154 different long tail phrases. With 30% of those being unique combinations (only one visitor used that phrase).

Can you please explain what you meant by that ? Did you mean 154 category keywords ? and what do you mean by unique combinations ?

thanks!