KEI results, wordtracker and other software

[honestman]

I have read what wordtracker says in is explanation of the kei results but need help. They say the higher the kei number the more demand and less competition there is for the word. Many times the kei number is high but so is the number of sites competing for the word in there competition column. This makes me question the kei results. Can anyone explain?

Is there any better software than wordtracker to get popular keywords with less competition listed.

I would prefer it be something that has a charge by the day or something like that because I don't use this kind of software often but will pay for the best if it will give me what I want in the easiest most effective wa

[St0n3y]

Ignore KEI. If the keyword is good for business then optimize for it. Just don't get caught in optimizing exclusively for competitive terms, but go after hand fulls of lesser competitive phrases at the same time.

[SEMBasics]

I think that KEI is outdated. For a quick indication of how competitive a keyword is I think it is best to use Google's advanced search features, in particular intitle and inanchor. Intitle tells you how many sites how the keyword in the title and inanchor tells you how many sites have the keyword as part of the anchor text (i.e., the hyperlinked text of a link, oftentimes found in blue and underlined format). This gives you a rough indication of HOW MANY sites are optimized for a particular keyword, although it doesn't tell you anything about the QUALITY of that optimization (ultimately speaking, you are interested in the quality of the competition, not the quantity). Still, it is reasonable to assume that if many different sites seem to be optimized for a particular keyword then some of those sites will be well optimized for that keyword. Currently, there are two tools available which can analyze large numbers of keywords using these advanced features (or, I should say, I"m only aware of two programs). The first is Keyword Elite (www.keywordelite.com). Don't let the hype advertising turn you off, this is a good program! I use it all the time. The second is Keyword Country. I have never used Keyword Country, but in their promo video they claim to offer these stats.

There is, of course, more to analyzing the competiveness of a keyword than running a intitle and inanchor search. But for a good first look at your keyword list, intitle and inanchor are the way to go.

All the best,

Moshe