How to Use KEI for a Successful SEO Campaign

Written by admin on April 4, 2010 - 0 Comments
Categories: SEO

As a business owner you probably know the value of strategic keyword research. Keyword research can tell you what keywords or keyword phrases people are searching for and what keywords are already being optimized. It’s about supply and demand.

However, there’s more to keyword research than basic supply and demand. KEI, or Keyword Effectiveness Index, can be an extremely valuable piece of data to help you find the most profitable and most effective keywords for your internet business.

KEI compares the number of times a keyword appears in the provided data (presently Wordtracker and Keyword Discovery both offer KEI data) with the number of competing web pages, to determine the most effective keywords for your business. The higher the KEI, the more popular your keywords are and the less competition they have. It’s a comparison of supply and demand calculated for you.

For example, the keyword phrase, “Pet Friendly Hotels” is likely to have huge demand and huge supply, which means the ratio between the two will be very small, thus a low KEI. Conversely, the keyword phrase “Cheap Pet Friendly Hotels” or “Pet Friendly Hotels in New York” is likely to have a sizeable demand and less supply so the ratio is bigger, thus a larger KEI. And “Cheap Pet Friendly Hotels in New York,” if it has a large demand has very little supply and thus a larger KEI.

Depending on the search tool you’re using, the number will be presented differently. Keyword Discovery for example bases their KEI on a scale from 1-10 with ten being very high KEI, which means there’s not much competition for this keyword when compared to demand. Other tools present the number as the simple mathematical result of comparing supply and demand.

As with any keyword data, it’s important to assess your goals for your keywords and your website. If you’re just starting out, you probably want to optimize for the keywords and keyword phrases with the least competition.

However, as you grow and become a large business, you may want to start focusing on the keywords that have more demand and a decent supply. Why? Because at this point you may be able to position yourself amongst the big businesses who already have the top results. You’ve been around for a while and can compete effectively with them.

As you compare your keywords and analyze the data, you may find some trends in your industry. KEI information is also a great resource to generate new keyword ideas – a brainstorming tool.

KEI data is just one number to look at when compiling your keyword research and formulating your plan. It’s an extremely useful number and some businesses are able to create an extremely effective campaign using only this information. Create your strategy and your goals, analyze the data, and always test and track your results.