SEO Myths #9
KEIs tell me all I need to know about selecting key phrases
KEI (keyword effectiveness index) was invented in the 90s as a way of selecting which key phrases should be used on a site. It's based on the number of competing pages for a particular key phrase.
We believe the concept to be fatally flawed because we're not interested in the number of competing pages, but in the strength of the competition. Imagine you're in a 400 metres race and you can choose your competitors. Would you choose to run against 5,000 old ladies using walking frames, or 10 international gold medallists?
Numbers of competitors have little effect on the outcome, it's the small number of really tough competitors at the top of their game that will stop you winning.
And it's the same on the Web. It's the ten toughest competitors that will exclude you from the first page of Google that you should worry about, not the millions who will only ever occupy the lower reaches of the results, invisible to most searchers.
The number of relevant incoming links is a better indication of the toughness of the competition, which is why Web Positioning Centre has a custom in-house application to help select the correct key phrases and develop a supporting linking strategy for its clients.