So you have done everything the training here told you to do. You always went for the low hanging fruit and you gave your posts the right time to mature (remember the 35-week rule), but still no results?
Then it's time to overthink your approach. You might be on the wrong track and don't even know it. QSR is an important factor, but it's just one out of many, that determines the competitiveness of a certain keyword.
What do I mean by that? Let's do an analysis using the keyword:
"Why Do Dogs Cough" Search Volume: 100; QSR: 45
Great keyword! Good amount of search volume and low competition, the perfect low hanging fruit! Wait, wait, wait. Not so fast. Let's Google it first.
The SERPs show pets.webmd.com, vetstreet.com, akc.org, petmd.com, healthypets.mercola.com all on Page 1.
If you're not familiar with the pets niche, these are the biggest, most authoritative sites out there. Every single one of them attracts millions of visitors to their site every month.
And the articles are all exactly on the topic we want to rank for:
- Petstreet.com: What Does It Mean When My Dog Coughs?
- Pets.webmd.com: Dog Coughing: Types and Causes
- Petmd.com: Causes of Coughing in Dogs
There is not a chance, that Bobby's Dog Blog that is 2 months old and has 7 posts on it, will ever outrank these big authoritative sites. It just won't happen, no matter how much effort you put in.
Let's do another one, shall we?
"Why Are Lemons Good for You" Search Volume: 88; QSR: 34
That was a keyword I have chosen when I started my training here on WA. Great low hanging fruit, let's see the search results:
- Mercola.com: What Are Lemons Good For?
- Healthline.com: 6 Evidence-Based Health Benefits of Lemons
- Eatthis.com: 13 Things That Happen to Your Body When You Eat Lemons
- Medicalnewstoday.com: Lemons: Benefits, nutrition, tips, and risks
Once again, if you are in the health niche or interested in health you will be familiar with these websites. They are the biggest health websites out there. You won't find a single blog on page 1 on Google looking for this search term. All big authoritative sites that have been around for years and each posting thousands of articles every year with an armada of specialized academic writers.
Do you think my little health blog that has been around for a month or two can compete with that? You guessed it, no. Even though it looks like a great keyword, it's not. And if you are wasting time focusing on this kind of keywords you can write hundreds of great, lengthy, high-quality articles without much success at all.
Analyze Your Posts
So, the first step is to analyze your own posts you have written so far. Did you write mostly on topics that are covered by authority sites, even though the QSR is low?
To do that you have to become familiar with the authoritative sites in your niche. Who are they? If you don't know who they are, search for several keywords in your niche, if the same websites are showing up over and over again, these are most likely authority sites.
If you're still not sure use similarweb.com, simply enter the domain of a website and it'll show you how many visitors it has in a month. If a website has more than 100.000 visitors a month, we can call it an authority site. You could also download the similarweb extension for your browser, this will make it much easier to analyze your competition.
OK, let's go to the next step: How to Find REAL Low Competition High Traffic Keywords
You have pointed out some in-depth techniques leveraging your competitors to get keywords that have high potential to get ranked.
Appreciated this. Bookmarked.
Joe
Reply
My site already 1-month-old and nothing got ranked in Google.
Should I stop and focus on something else?
Other things that I like that can be a new niche for me:
1. Electronics gadget - laptop, smartphone (premium one)
2. Arduino and Electronics component
3. Planets and Universes
4. Mobile Gaming
5. Anime
But of course, all these I've no experience and using it. Can I make money with one of this niche if I quit my money making niche?
Yes, you should continue. Every niche can be dominated, just analyze your competition and see what has worked for them.
1 month is not enough time to succeed in any niche as I said before: It usually takes 6 months of work to get the first sustained traffic spike from Google. Sometimes a bit earlier, sometimes later, but don't expect too much during your first 6 months in ANY niche. That's why so many people quit during the first few months, they don't see any progress and they stop. Don't let that be you.
To your niche ideas:
1. You will have to write a lot of content, as your posts age. Nobody wants to read about 1-year-old smartphones.
3. How to monetize it? Ads?
Every niche can be monetized, but some niches are obviously more profitable than others.
Go for the niche you are truly passionate about, then analyze your competition and see what has worked for them and outrank them by writing better content. And as I said, don't get discouraged during the first few months or even one year.
I have noticed, rather infuriatingly, that sometimes when I find what i think is a great keyword and write a post on it, I still can't find it even when I write in the exact title in the search bar. For example, I had a post on best weight loss supplements of 2018 and when I do that exact search Google starts showing me posts that don't have ANY part of the keyword in such as best diet pills etc. It seems to know that these two things are the same thing even though the words are completely different. This makes it even harder to compete with as my post title was actually pretty low competition, but it's still not showing it in a Google search. What can we do about that?
So I think I am going to go back to the drawing board and do the training you have suggested here. I was wondering, is it ok to find better keywords for old posts and change them as long as you keep them still with the main keyword? (not the url). I have read conflicting advice on this.
Thanks for your time :)
best weight loss supplements 2018 is a good example to demonstrate what I'm talking about in this tutorial. The first page is dominated by: healthline, amazon, http://bodybuilding.com, medicalnewstoday, http://heavy.com, webmd, verywellfit
These are all the major players in the health industry. It will be hard to rank for that term.
Google became very intelligent in the last few years. Even though these sites don't exactly match the search term, Google knows that the post is on topic.
The point is if Google didn't allow smaller niche sites to rank for the exact term "best weight loss supplements 2018" up till this point, it's very unlikely that your niche site will be the first to rank for it. That's why manual analysis is key, especially if you are in a competitive niche like weight loss. QSR alone is not enough.
So, what can you do about it? Look out for small niche sites in the weight loss industry, gather as many URLs as you possibly can. You know, the ones with less than 50k visitors a month. Then analyze their high traffic posts using http://ahrefs.com trial, and write better posts using these exact keywords. Double check the keywords using manual analysis and http://kwfinder.com like I suggested in this tutorial.
You can change the keywords of your old posts, as long as your content is still on topic and matches the new keyword.
One tutorial like this is worth the monthly WA membership alone.
You've explained everything clearly and it's easy to follow.
Your advice is great and all the things you suggest make so much sense!
Thanks again, have a great evening.
Best,
Alenka
