Lesson 2.3) How to use Market Samurai to do Competition Analysis for Keywords

Posted | 37 comments

FIRST CLICK ON THESE LINKS AND HAVE THEM OPEN IN A NEW TAB BEFORE WATCHING THE VIDEO:

Market Samurai (keyword research).

Market Samurai Free One Week Trial

Doing keyword research with Market Samurai is easier, faster, and more thorough, but it isn’t free like the first method I teach. That is why I am showing you both methods. I highly suggest watching both videos, since you can learn valuable tips from each of them, regardless of which method you choose.

Market Samurai is a great “all in one” tool that helps you in the entire research and execution process of building any kind of online business from beginning to end. In my video I only show you the competition analysis part of the tool, but the tool does far more than that. In addition to watching my video using Market Samurai, I suggest watching all the tutorials made by the creators of the product themselves so that you can see the full power and value of this tool.

With Market Samurai you can develop more sophisticated methods of keyword research and competition analysis, as well as develop your own methods for determining your own “blue” keyword formula. Market Samurai provides their own competition analysis tools and metrics as well, which can be learned within the tutorial videos they provide.

Note: I definitely recommend using Market Samurai and watching all their tutorials. Not only does their software provide all kinds of great information that’s useful for this kind of research, it’s the tool you want if you want to take this business seriously. Market Samurai also offers their own video training material to learn even more about the keyword research, competition analysis, as well as the later processes you will go through when expanding your online business. I only present the previous method because it is a free alternative for those that can’t afford Market Samurai at the moment.

To purchase Market Samurai, click here:

Market Samurai

To try out Market Samurai for one week, click here:

Market Samurai Free One Week Trial

Make sure you are logged into Udemy and signed up for the course before clicking the video below or you won’t be directed to the correct video (it’s completely free to register).

how to use market samurai

(Or click here: How to use Market Samurai to do Competition Analysis for Keywords on Udemy).

FIRST CLICK ON THESE LINKS AND HAVE THEM OPEN IN A NEW TAB BEFORE WATCHING THE VIDEO:

Market Samurai (keyword research).

Market Samurai Free One Week Trial

Please leave comments or suggestions, and don’t forget to share the video if you liked the information!

Mike Omar

Next lesson: Lesson 3.1) How to Make a $1000 per Month Passive Income Website using Onsite SEO (Pt. 1)

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37 Responses to “Lesson 2.3) How to use Market Samurai to do Competition Analysis for Keywords”

  1. Hi Mike-
    Frequently when I am researching the PR of the keywords, I find that one of the top 5 URls is a Youtube link. Should i count that as one of the 4/5 urls, or disregard and use the next one underneath? Also in one vid, you state to use the top 5urls, an in the market samurai vid you say to use 4. Is it best to use the PRs of 4 or 5?
    I asked this once before but i didn’t understand your answer. thank you.
    BTW-your vids are full of awesome info.

    • Hi Melissa,

      I would disregard the YouTube links.

      I would check out the top 4 URLs (although I probably suggested using the top 5 in another video because these aren’t hard rules, they are just guidelines). Remember that all of this is simply a way to get started up until you start mainly using Google Analytics to guide your actions.

      I hope this helps and thank you for the compliment!

      Mike

  2. Hi Mike,
    Sometimes the top 4 PR result is 0 0 0 5, what does that mean? in this case, does it mean I can disregard this keyword or maybe keep it and will beat 5 easily because it is not in the first rank position?

    Thanks for your help,
    Warm regards

    • In this specific case I would keep it, simply because the first three results are zeroes (therefore, I would assume that there is very little written about this keyword, that the top three websites are very weak URLs that wrote about it, and that fourth result is a strong website that is vaguely related to the keyword). Very weak competition, so go for it.

      In close cases, I consider a few things:

      Is the keyword a “buying” keyword (i.e. is the keyword a product that a person may want to buy?). If that’s the case and the top results are weak except for a very strong Wikipedia page, I would keep the keyword because more than likely the user who searched for it wants to buy the product, and they can’t do that at Wikipedia, so they would skip that result. In this case, the Wikipedia result is pretty irrelevant.

      Also, if the keyword is a close call, why not simply write a post about it and see if it starts to rank on it’s own? If it doesn’t, don’t work on it anymore (and you only spent 20 minutes writing the article). If it starts to generate some traffic, build a few backlinks to it and make it a stronger post that starts to generate passive income for you. Whether the post generates traffic for you, your website will be bigger and stronger because of it.

      In close calls, I generally write a post for the keyword and see what happens (after all, it only takes 20 minutes to do).

      These rules aren’t set in stone, they’re guidelines. Hope this explanation helps!

      • Hi Mike, Thanks for your informative guidelines, that’s very helpful!

        Cheers!
        Kind regards,
        Alex

      • Hi Mike, great content! Congratulations!

        I have a question on an example similar to Alex´s. If I get at Market Samurai 4 top results of PR like 0 0 0 5, why google just don´t show the #5 PR in first place?
        Why the order is not 5 0 0 0 ?
        Thanks!

        • Hi Andre,

          The PageRank of a website isn’t the only determining factor of what website gets the number 1 ranking (if that were true, it would always be Amazon, YouTube, etc.). There are many factors that determine where a website ranks. If the PR5 is in spot #4 and there are other websites with lesser PR beating it, that means that the PR5 isn’t THAT relevant to the keyword being searched for (and the other ones are more relevant, due to backlink anchor texts, page content, etc.).

          Mike

  3. Hi Mike,

    Do you know if the data for the trial of Market Samurai is different than that of the paid version? In looking at PRs, I noticed that on Market Samurai I was finding keywords that I thought were going to be blue, but when double checking on SEO Chrome, the PR numbers were very different.

    Thanks!

    • Hi Lori,

      The data between the free trial and paid version of Market Samurai should be exactly the same.

      Sometimes there are discrepancies between Market Samurai and SEO Chrome because SEO Chrome is going off of your personal Google search results at home. When you search for something on your home computer, Google takes into account your demographic and prior search history to personalize your results. That is where the discrepancy comes from. This is why I prefer to use Market Samurai (aside from the fact that it is also a MUCH faster research tool).

      Hope this helps.

      Mike

      • Hi Mike,

        I thought that might be the case and was jumping to worst case scenario when I saw the discrepancy . I’m now much more relieved now 🙂

        Thank you again!

        ~Lori

  4. Hi Omar,

    Got your books, good stuff.

    Why does the market samuri not do the same process you describe with the math? You would think it would.

    Also, how did you come up with the math?

    thank you!!

    • Hi Running Bear,

      Thank you for the kinds words about my books! If you have the time, a review on Amazon would be greatly appreciated. 🙂

      As far as your question, I believe you are referring to the criteria Market Samuria uses to determine the difficulty of ranking a keyword? If so, I presented what has worked for me in the videos when I built my business. By the time I got Market Samurai, I had already seen success with my methods and stuck to them. I’ve never used Market Samurai’s criteria for determining the rankability of a keyword, so I can’t say whether their method is effective or not (although I do believe in their products, so I would certainly at least take what they say into account).

      Best,

      Mike

  5. Hi Mike,

    Thanks this is really great stuff!

    As you said a lot of this work is repetitive, I wanted to know what your opinion was outsourcing this type of keyword research?

    I have used outsourcing several times before and for as little as $4 an hour through sites such as Elance or other freelancing sites you can get work like this handled quite effectively. Is this something worth pursuing in this context? or are their other factors to consider first?

    – Michael

    • Hi Michael,

      I’m a huge fan of finding ways to systemize this type of work and then outsourcing it. It’s really the only way to expand this business to a massive size while freeing up your own time (I outsource most of my work). You could even use my videos as references for training.

      Best,

      Mike

  6. Hi Mike,

    Could you please elaborate on the PR differences between Market Samurai and SEO chrome?
    For one keyword I get 0,0,0,1 on Market Samurai while double checking with SEO chrome it gives me 8,7,8,4 (first two are ebay links and the 3rd one is wikipedia).
    Can I rely on Market Samurai’s data? What exactly explains the difference?

    Thanks for your help.

    • Hi Tim,

      Those search results are drastically different…not good (they shouldn’t usually vary by that much).

      The different results usually happen because your SEO for Chrome results will be based on your personal demographics (your age / gender, past search history, location, etc.). Market Samurai will be non-biased search results. I’d rely on Market Samurai’s data over SEO for Chrome.

      Mike

      • Thanks for the quick reply.

        However, I have checked a few webpages of the first 4 results I get from Market Samurai (by copying and pasting the exact link into google chrome) and then I have had cases where the page had a higher PR on google chrome than on Market Samurai (while it was referring to the exact same link). So in this case is a PR of a website also related to personal demographics or should it be the same? Could it be that the PR on google chrome refers to the overall strength of the page while Market Samurai gives a PR only related to a specific keyword? I have seen Market Samurai giving PRs of 0 to pages like ebay or amazon (while they normally should have a high PR). Does Market Samurai in this case give a more specific PR for only a part of the webpage?

        Hopefully you?re able to give me some more info on this since I know that the research is a fundamental part of the project. Any help is much appreciated. Thanks!

        • Hi Tim,

          A PR is specific to a URL, not an entire website (in other words, the Ebay homepage will have a very high PR, but there will be pages on the Ebay website with low PR).

          In theory, both tools should give the same PR to the same URL, but in my experience, Market Samurai is the one that is correct most of the time (I’ve also noticed that SEO for Chrome will sometimes give the same PR for all pages on across a website).

          Long story short, use the information from Market Samurai!

          Mike

  7. Hi Mike,

    Thanks so much for your videos. They have been extremely helpful in my quest to have a passive income to allow me to spend more time with my family. I just wanted your advice. What would you think is more important and accurate, the average number of monthly searches for a keyword or the potential income if you rank #1 for the keyword? I have found that some of the ideas I am interested in developing into websites have keywords with relatively low searches (1000-2500) but high potential income.($100-$300)

    • Hi Robert,

      That’s a very subjective question. Some websites can make a lot of money with very little traffic if the topic is an expensive niche (just like some websites can have tons of traffic and not make much at all). There is no correct answer to this question though…sometimes the only way to find out is to go ahead and make the website. I know those aren’t the answers anyone is looking for, but that’s the truth in this case!

      Mike

  8. Hi Mike,

    I have been trying the trial version of Market Samurai. Whenever I do the SEO competition and Generate result, I get this error message “Error requesting the first page from google”. Do you know why it is doing that? Do I need to turn on or off any of the SEO competition box?

    Thanks.

    • Hi Mimi,

      That’s very odd. I’ve never heard of anyone coming across this problem. Try doing a Google search to see if other people are running into this problem (and have found a solution) or contact Market Samurai to see what’s going on.

      Let me know if you can get the issue resolved!

      Mike

    • I have noticed this a few times myself with the paid version. I have found when this happens it will happen because one of the sites is down in the top 10

  9. Mike, your book has a link to a discounted version of Market Samurai. I see it still listed as $147 on the page. How does the discount work and what is the price you can get us?

    Thanks, Mike.

    • Hi Bill,

      Sign up for the trial version, and a few days later they will send you an email with the discounted price! 🙂

      Mike

  10. Hey Mike!

    Sometimes a keyword’s top 10 sites will have something like 1,2,2,0,0,6,5,0,0,0 for page ranks. Though the top four sites fit our criteria of having 3 or less, do you know if the 6,5 on the lower sites will harm our ability to rank?

    Thanks man!

  11. Mike, how’s it going man?

    Have you experimented at all with the filters that market samurai recommends?

    The method of going after keywords with the top 4 sites having page ranks of 3 or less has most of its results disagree with the filter Majestic Title and Anchor Comp (30 or less) “the number of pages that contain the keyword term in both the page title and in the anchor text of an external, inbound link.”

    Many keywords that pass the page rank test will have hundreds or thousands of pages competing (according to the TAcomp filter above), which could be worrisome.

    Still, however, you and your friends have found that the top 4 page ranks being less than 3 trumps all?

    Thanks man. You are a genius.

    • Hi Bill,

      I haven’t tested the filters that MS recommends in a long time because my methods have been working for me for years (and I actually bend the rules for myself and go after tougher keywords as well, simply because experience is the best teacher and I’ve been doing this for years now). Not only that, all my websites are years old and have some level of authority already, making my job easier. 🙂

      If I were you, I’d test my methods, as well as the metrics recommended by MS (and your own theories as well). This business is very fluid and also somewhat capricious so testing is crucial! My recommendation is to always test things out and keep refining your methods. That is what will separate the people who make some money online and people who will make A LOT of money online.

      Best,

      Mike

  12. Market Samurai seems to be returning localized results. My city, Columbus, Ohio is coming up here and there. There is a localized box in MS that is unchecked.

    A fix? Or should I just go ahead with what comes up knowing it may not be as accurate as global. Thanks.

    • Hi Michael,

      That’s definitely odd. Did you try checking the box to see what results you get? The goal is to get the most unbiased results you can.

      Best,

      Mike

  13. I’m still figuring out my localized results. The unlocalize box doesn’t change anything. But I think it’s my keyword combo which I’m guessing would be usually used by someone looking for a particular service, say finding a photography studio. I’m just getting started and figuring this out. Not a concern.

    Something else though, and if I’m making you repeat yourself, I apologize… Market Samurai returns a PR of 0 while SEO via Moz in Chrome returns Page Authority of 45. Should I go with Market Samurai and see how it performs or trust PA and skip it.

    Thanks!

    • Hi Michael,

      I go with my own criteria through MS because that is what I know and what has worked for me, but I always encourage students to do their own testing and develop their own strategies as well. There’s no reason to believe my method is the best or only way.

      Best,

      Mike

  14. Hi Mike

    I’m really enjoying your course and have created my first WP blog, hurray!

    I’m using Market Samurai for competition analysis, and was wondering if being in the UK affects my keyword research or competition analysis. Apologies if this question has been answered elsewhere – I didn’t come across it.
    Is there anything I should be aware of, in terms of selecting keywords or analysing the competition data from MS?

    Many thanks,
    Zeynep

    • Hi Zeynep,

      Congrats on creating your first WP blog. 🙂

      If you’re using MS, the results should be neutral (i.e. not location specific). So you’re good. 🙂

      Mike

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