Like many folks, I have been using KEI for some time now to determine what keywords I should target with my web site. And this has led me to becoming concerned with the results KEI provides and the keywords it suggests. I need to say here that my concern is very subjective as many folks are happily using KEI and don't seem to have a problem with it.

My main concern with KEI is that, by the way it works, it strongly favours demand numbers without, I feel, sufficiently taking into account the corresponding supply numbers.

I need to say here that I interpret supply numbers as a representation of how competitive a keyword is. For example, if keyword 1 has a supply of 200,000 while keyword 2 has a supply of 5,000,000, then I would consider keyword 2 as being more competitive than keyword 1.

And all things being equal, I would prefer to target a keyword that is less competitive and with less demand, rather than a highly competitive keyword that has a higher demand. The reason for this is that I feel that I have a better chance of cornering a section of a less competitive market than I do that of a highly competitive one.

Based on my concern with KEI, I have decided to create an alternative. I have called this alternative "Competition Indexed Demand" (CID). Now, CID works out the marketing potential of keywords in a similar way to KEI but it uses a different formula, one that takes more into account the supply numbers of keywords (or their competitiveness).

For example, using "ranking" as the starting keyword with Overture, KEI suggests the following top 3 keywords,

Keyword........................Demand.....Supply.......KEI

nfl quarterback ranking........43,474.....75,800......24,934

nfl power ranking..............43,171....122,000......15,277

college basketball ranking.....71,149....541,000.......9,357

while CID suggests the following top 3 keywords,

Keyword.................................Demand......Supply.......CID

dick vitale college basketball ranking..16,983......33,400.......640

nfl quaterback ranking..................43,474......75,800.......427

vote nba power ranking...................3,129......30,200.......394

Comparing the 2 sets of results, you can see how CID favours lower competition compared to KEI. I have now used CID for quite a number of keyword research projects and have found that not only it favours lower competition, but it also suggests keywords that, I feel, have a better demand-supply balance.

Given that CID is an alternative to KEI, you now have to make a decision when doing your keyword research in order to determine the marketing potential of the best keywords to use. The decision is: shall I use KEI or CID? The answer to this question is straightforward: if you want to focus on high demand then use KEI, and if you want to focus on lower competition, then use CID.

Furthermore, based on my obervations of KEI and CID results, I have felt the need to come up with 2 rules to avoid both KEI and CID generating what I feel are inappropriately high numbers. My observation has been that these high numbers are generally generated because the demand and/or supply numbers are too high.

These 2 rules are:

- "the 100 thousand demand rule" which states that "any keywords whose demand numbers are above 100 thousands should be ignored",

- "the 10 million supply rule" which states that "any keywords whose supply numbers are above 10 million should be ignored".

Applying these 2 rules to KEI and/or CID will help you determine more realistically the marketing potential of keywords.

In conclusion, CID should be seen as an alternative to KEI and not as replacement for KEI. The reason for this is that CID focusses on the competitiveness of keywords while KEI focusses on the demand.

Serge M Botans

Contact: author@cattle-ramp-seo.com

Phone: 61-03-9478-7088 or 61-0415-642424

Web Site: www.cattle-ramp-seo.com

PS. I have not currently released the CID formula. However, you can download my program Keywords Analysis to research your keywords using KEI and/or CID www.cattle-ramp-seo.com/KeywordsAnalysis.zip

Copyright ? Serge M Botans, Melbourne, Australia, February 2005

Serge M Botans is the CEO of the self-help search engine optimisation web site http://www.cattle-ramp-seo.com