Should we go after this main keyword?

[BobGW]

Hello,

We run an online store. The main content keyword for our niche is very competitive, but if I was going to go look up information and I was one of our customers, that is exactly what I would type in - this main general keyword. We have an expert in the field to write it and plenty of time.

Although the main keyword is competitive, there are many many subkeywords that are a lot less competitive that would be answered in the article. It's tough to find good topics in this niche.

We're thinking about doing a "Complete Guide to X". We would have far less backlinks and authority for about half of the 30 keywords it will cover than our main competitors.

Should we do this and spend the next couple of years working on it, or should we perhaps target a smaller topic?

Any advice is appreciated.

[KyleEaves]

It sounds like you may be better off targeting the long tail keywords that pertain to your online store. If you're looking at putting together a "complete guide to main keyword" and it's going to take you a few years, imagine where your already strong competition will be by then. Seems to me that writing shorter articles on a regular basis about the subkeywords would be more effective, especially if those keywords are not near as competitive. If topics are hard to come by, that means there should be less competition and you've got a chance to create unique content that provides value to your customers. Does your store have a blog? Would hate to see you put all your eggs into one keyword basket so to speak, and nothing happens.

[PatrickDelehanty]

Hi there

Here are a couple of great posts:
Stop Thinking Keywords, Think Topics
Keywords to Concepts: The Lazy Web Marketer's Guide to Smart Keyword Research

I wouldn't focus on specific keywords solely - I would look at variations and topics that are relevant to those keywords. I would build out as much content as you could that is relevant and useful to your audience, and at the same time, relevant to your business model. Never build content for the sake of building content - it's a slope that doesn't lead to anything except wasted time and efforts.

You should never run out of ideas either. Your entire team is full of content ideas. Brainstorm as a team, talk to each other, ask each other questions, etc. I would check out this piece from Search Engine Land called Making Customer Support Part Of Your SEO Program. You could also interview your customers or survey them as well on what they'd like to see from your website! This will maximize your potential for picking up long tail search as well.

I wouldn't worry about having a smaller backlink profile and a smaller domain authority. While you work on your content buildout I would also do some competitive analysis to see what competitors are doing and how you can implement (tweaked of course for your business - you're unique) some of the tactics you find there. There are always opportunities, especially if you have a local SEO element to what you do.

[EGOL]

"We have an expert in the field to write it and plenty of time."

"Although the main keyword is competitive, there are many many subkeywords that are a lot less competitive that would be answered in the article. It's tough to find good topics in this niche."

** salivatin' **

Attack!   Start posting detailed answers to all of the most frequestly asked questions that you get from customers, all of the things that they don't ask but should know, all of the things that will delight or surprise them, and even the things that will change their mind about purchasing ( returns suck).  Flood the SERPs with this stuff for the next six months, then evaluate, see what of these contents are pulling traffic or making conversions and if you see progress attsck for another six months.

[Andy.Drinkwater]

Attack!   Start posting detailed answers to all of the most frequestly asked questions that you get from customers, all of the things that they don't ask but should know, all of the things that will delight or surprise them, and even the things that will change their mind about purchasing ( returns suck).  Flood the SERPs with this stuff for the next six months, then evaluate, see what of these contents are pulling traffic or making conversions and if you see progress attsck for another six months.

This ^^

No more need be said!

Egol - I want to go write stuff now!

-Andy

[EGOL]

I want to go write stuff now!

Awesome!

We launched a new small retail site and did that for about one year.  Two people, working at least 1/2 of our time.  Then we took a break for a year and saw good results.  Then we attacked again for about another year, producing more informative content than all of our retail competitors and the manufacturers combined.   Now we are not #1 for the root terms, but at about 4 and 5 behind Amazon, another major retailer and an large info site.  However, we own the turf, often with two or three pages at the top of the SERPs, for all of the secondary and tertiary money terms that I can think of.  Plus we hold good to great SERPs on tons and tons of the replacement part, fix it, and how to do it queries.  We continue to toss content at this site as we get new ideas from customer questions and our own enthusiastic use of the products.

[Andy.Drinkwater]

That's wonderful to hear Egol!

I wish it was so easy to come up with good SEO content. Might have to get my creative head on and see if I can delve back to my copywriter days.

-Andy

[EGOL]

We don't take phone calls from customers, but we give very fast and detailed email support.  This allows us to answer questions in writing and by kicking that writing up a notch by refining it on subsequent questions we then have an article to post on the site.   Add a few photos or drawings and its ready to go.

No phone calls reduces the number of interruptions.  Then as your content library grows you get fewer and fewer questions and many of your email questions can be answered with a link to one or two articles.

Our email messages to customers look like the answers to questions that Patrick Delehanty posts in Moz Q&A - and I think people appreciate that.