Keyword Effectiveness Index Formula
Initially I asked myself if it made good sense for us to choose keywords by their KEI, or should we use other known methods? After my initial research, it was abundantly clear as to the direction we should take. Today, experienced Webmasters with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques, utilize the Keyword Effectiveness Index (KEI) to determine the power and value of their keywords.
Major shake-ups have occurred over the past 1 1/2 years in the search engine market. Combine this with the lack of search data and search results data, in real numbers, in one place, it is becoming more and more difficult to get an accurate assessment of the effectiveness of keywords.
What is the KEI or Keyword Effectiveness Index?
The KEI compares the number of searches for a keyword to the number of “indexed” uses of the search term or keyword on web pages throughout the Internet. The data results help to glean which keywords will be the most effective for your Internet marketing campaign.
Let us suppose that the number of searches or the popularity for the keyword phrase ‘golf swing’ is (P=752) per month and Google displays 720,374 competitive results for that keyword. Then the ratio between the popularity and competitiveness for that keyword is “752 Squared” divided by 720,734. In this case, the KEI 0.78.
The formula is KEI= (p^2/C)
whereby:
p = Popularity
C = Competition
A strong KEI is the result of a popular keyword combined with less competition. So vice versa, the less popular a keyword is and the more competition it has, the weaker the KEI. These results can mean that you might have a better chance of getting your blog or web pages to the top of the search engines.
Is the KEI Result A Good Indicator For A Useful Keyword?
By definition with KEI, the best keywords are those that have many searches (popularity) and don’t have much competition in the search results. But, it does not speak of other SEO factors. You may find many keywords with attractive KEI’s, this is good, but it doesn’t speak of your competition’s other SEO practices. They may have tons of back links to their sites that can outweigh your optimization with keywords by using KEI.
What this tells you is that KEI is very important, but is only one aspect of fully implementing a well rounded SEO practice. Remember that it is much easier to optimize a site and move from 38,000 to 16,400 in search engine results, than it is to move from 142 to position #6.
In addition, the KEI factor is not a totally scientific number. The numbers on which it is based might not be comparable for all keywords. The keyword counts could be calculated differently for different keywords (some terms might be combined into one and others may not) and the search results sometimes change because a special word in the search term triggers a special filter. The changes in the starting numbers might cause you to compare apples and oranges.
What Does This Mean To Your Blog or Web Site?
If you are serious about your blog or web site, you must be serious about your keyword choice. KEI can help you choose keywords, but you should not rely on it in-toto. It should, however, be part of the last step in choosing keywords.
Follow the instructions of our various Keyword And Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Articles, Posts and Comments to help find the best keywords for your search engine optimization. It is important that the keywords are targeted and popular and that they attract web surfers with the right motivations for your application.
Once you have built a list of specific keywords with an acceptable search volume and used by web surfers with the right motivations, you should apply the KEI formula to them.
Use common sense. If the KEI for a keyword is high it still might not be a good idea to use the keyword, if your top ranked competitors are very big players. Generally speaking, you will find some keywords are required nonetheless.
Finding the right keywords is a very important step in every search engine optimization campaign. Take time to find the best keywords for your web site and then optimize your pages for these keywords. This will help to achieve high rankings in Google, Yahoo, MSN, ASK, etc., and of course all other major search engines.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Furnica Rares Matei // May 21, 2010 at 6:20 am
Nice post!
I’ve read some other post where some guys said it is better to use a KEI calculated by the following formula: Instead of using exact match search result, use the number of websites that are acttively target that keywords (phase search result/allintitle search result) and give it a lower power: 1.5. What do you think about it? Should be better?
2 Bean // Jul 7, 2010 at 11:15 pm
Hi Furnica Vlad,
Checked out your keyword tool, and this is the only comment in a year that wasn’t just a sales pitch or Spam. Although you’re not far off from Spam, you are relevant and therefore I’ll let the Comment stand. And, thank you, your thoughts are clear!
As far as your question… It depends on the analytical results you’re seeking, and for what application.
For SEO purposes, this would be great when applied to buyer keywords. But many other factors are involved in the keyword. Trends, activity, purpose, meaning, topicality, and so on…
Your concept, however, is required to complete the picture!
Nice job!
Bean
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