How Much Does PBR Matter?

[jamesw]

Originally Posted by Caro

Hi Dan,

I've just been talking to Robert (Gurubob) about this.

Short answer is No

Let's look at some criteria.

PBR measures two things. It is a traffic qualifier and also shows phrase usage potential.

Now if you have 300 SEOT and it is 10%, that is saying you would only have up to 30 visitors per day if you were in position one, for that phrase match.

Remembering that at first we are looking to rank for the phrase.

Now if you had an SEOT of 1000, then 10% PBR, which would be 100, which may be more worth your while (though read on below ).

So that side looks at what traffic there is for that actual phrase.

For the purposes of the 30DC we would rather you focus on phrases that people are using.

Gurubob would not optimize for a keyword phrase that had less than 40 or 50 searches a day for phrase match.

And he also says he wouldn't optimize for a PBR with less than 15% no matter what the SEOT is, because it is demonstrating that people are not really using that phrase.

I hope that helps.

Caro

I second what Caro wrote. I made the mistake of having thought that a
niche that should have been eg "trout fishing" but instead went for fishing trout in the days when MS didn't have PBR or could be I missed the PBR thing.

I registered a domain on the 2nd keyword phrase only to realize when MS upgraded it should be the other way round.

I found it quite difficult to rank well & adjusted the phrase in my articles, anchor text & other links to the correct way round. Waiting to see if it changes my rankings. Lesson learned

The good thing it I went for other topic related keywords to salvage the site. Ranking much better for the 2nd keyword

So PBR is important.

On another note, wouldn't it better to based our decision to go ahead by basing the traffic figures based on Exact match? Less errors & the phrase match traffic should be higher too?

[imrat]

Originally Posted by jamesw

On another note, wouldn't it better to based our decision to go ahead by basing the traffic figures based on Exact match? Less errors & the phrase match traffic should be higher too?

I think you should check exact match for some of your route keywords, in particular if your buying a domain for it. Sometimes you have a PBR of 100% but your actually missing a couple of words in your keyword. Exact match will highlight this.

Focussing on a single, moderate traffic, low competition keyword is good as a starting point. When you have a market that works for you, you do need to recognise that focussing on a single keyword becomes less relevant.

My reply here also shows that the principle of the long tail applies > top 10 keywords only bring in 40% of my search traffic.

Here's a great article that focusses on monitizing the long tail of search:
Google's Search-based Keyword Tool: Monetize The Long Tail of Search | Occam's Razor by Avinash Kaushik


Cheers

[Isha]

Originally Posted by imrat

Here's a great article that focusses on monitizing the long tail of search:

Market Samurai will do the job much faster imrat.

See this wonderful post by Brent Hodgson of Noble Samurai (the team behind Market Samurai):

Using Market Samurai for Semantic Site Structuring | Noble Samurai

[imrat]

Thanks Isha. That is a great post and shows very well how to structure your site around a set of keywords using MS.

What the article doesnt really get across, is the point about the keyword longtail, and the volume of traffic generated by 1000s of keyword with less then 120 searches per day.

Cheers

[Caro]

Hey everyone,

I'd like to encourage you to wait until we get started with the 30DC for 2009. If you have not been through the teachings of the 30DC 2008 yet, which I'm sure many reading this haven't - there will be a lot of questions unanswered.

Someone like Isha is indeed VERY experienced with the 30DC approach, and a valuable contributor to our community!

For the rest who are new - I encourage patience. ALL will be revealed as we begin with 2009. And whilst many may come to us with really solid SEO experience or IM experience in general, please realize that the 30DC process/strategy is a distinct one designed to get specific results in a specific time frame.

It is not the only way to approach the internet. Certainly not the only way to make money on the internet. It is a way that is proven (been tested, re tested, and tested again) and a way that for newbies we are still to teach you.

I don't want newbies to get confused about what lies ahead. The Moderating team and veterans like Isha are definitely in a solid position to best assist newbies. And at the same time, remember - we haven't started yet.

We're in Pre-Season.

30DC 2009 starts in August.

So let's focus on Pre-Season and then enjoy the journey of the 30DC itself as it unfolds in August.

Caro