Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

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• Hollande Wants to "Get Things Done" by Decree, Not by Passing Laws
• 102 Police and Firefighters Caught in Disability Scam
• Fund Flow Records Smashed: Equity Funds Get Record $352 Billion Inflow, Bond Funds Lose Record $86 Billion
• Google Glass: An Apps to "Glassholes" Review; Borglike or Beautiful? Virtual Reality Contact Lenses

Hollande Wants to "Get Things Done" by Decree, Not by Passing Laws Posted: 07 Jan 2014 11:43 PM PST Via translation from Les Echos, inquiring minds may be interested to note Holland wants to "get things done" in 2014 by decree or order, not by passing laws. The first cabinet meeting of the year was held on Friday. François Hollande recalled the objective of reducing public deficits, without new taxes. To get things done despite a 2014 parliamentary calendar constrained by elections (local and European), Hollande called on ministers to pass laws only when strictly necessary, and to advance policy in other ways: by decrees or orders, said Najat Belkacem-Vallaud, minister of women's rights and governments spokesperson, leaving the first Council of Ministers. The decree is an instrument made ​​by the President or the Prime Minister, which specifies the conditions for the application of a law. The order is mentioned in the Article 38 of the Constitution: "the Government may, for the implementation of its program, ask Parliament for permission to make orders for a limited time, measures that are normally the domain of the law." An order comes into force upon its publication, but gets legislative value when it is ratified by Parliament. Well, let's just issue orders, then hope parliament gives legislative approval later. Two Questions Was president Obama inspired by Hollande or was Hollande inspired by Obama?  Why have parliament, or Congress, if this is the ways the legislative process works? Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific.

102 Police and Firefighters Caught in Disability Scam Posted: 07 Jan 2014 04:26 PM PST In what I believe amounts to a mere 100th of a percent of the disability fraud problem, CNBC reports About 100 people accused in NYC disability scam. More than 100 people were rounded up and arrested Tuesday morning as part of a massive investigation into disability fraud in the New York City area, authorities said Tuesday. The alleged ringleaders, which included 83-year-old Raymond Lavallee, a former Nassau County assistant district attorney, and retired police officer John Minerva, surrendered to the Manhattan District Attorney's office, according to prosecutors. Approximately 80 additional police and firefighters, mostly from the tri-state area but some from as far away as Florida, also were arrested in the multiagency sweep that started at 5:30 a.m. Most of the police and firefighters arrested are former New York City workers, prosecutors said.  Millions in claims over decades, prosecutors say According to the allegations, police and firefighters falsely claimed stress-related illnesses to pocket tens of millions of dollars in disability benefits. Many of the suspects also received 9/11 pensions, sources said. As the case unfolds with potentially more arrests, the fraud dollar amount could rise even further, authorities said. From swordfishing to martial arts The Manhattan DA's office also released pictures of several suspects, who received hundreds of thousands of dollars in benefits. In one picture, a man named Richard Cosentino is seen on a boat and swordfishing. He received $207,639.70 in payments, according to prosecutors. Another image shows Louis Hurtadoin inside a martial arts photo. He pulled in $470,395.20, prosecutors say. And in yet another photo, a man named Glenn Lieberman is sitting on a WaveRunner, with both middle fingers raised, smiling into the camera. He received $175,758.40 in benefits, according to prosecutors. A spokesman for the NYFD union declined to comment. At best the union will choose not to respond. More likely, the union will protest the arrests when the story dies down, just as unions protect child molesters in LA and New York. See the LA Times article L.A. Unified pays teachers not to teach. Also consider Student exodus in Michigan school district where teachers defended child molester. Please check out the above link, it's really quite amazing. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific.

Fund Flow Records Smashed: Equity Funds Get Record $352 Billion Inflow, Bond Funds Lose Record $86 Billion Posted: 07 Jan 2014 11:10 AM PST In yet another example of the extreme bubble optimism regarding equities, Trim Tabs reports (via email), Fund Flow Records Smashed Across the Board in 2013. TrimTabs Investment Research reported today that U.S.-listed equity mutual funds and exchange-traded funds took in a record $352 billion in 2013, smashing the previous record inflow of $324 billion in 2000.  Meanwhile, U.S.-listed bond mutual funds and exchange-traded funds redeemed a record $86 billion, topping the previous record outflow of $62 billion in 1994. "The Fed finally succeeded last year in its long-running campaign to coax fund investors to speculate," said David Santschi, Chief Executive Officer of TrimTabs.  "The 'great rotation' that some market strategists long anticipated is under way." In a note to clients, TrimTabs explained that U.S. equity mutual funds and exchange-traded funds received $156 billion in 2013, the first inflow since 2007 and the biggest inflow since the record inflow of $274 billion in 2000.  Global equity mutual funds and exchange-traded funds received $195 billion, edging past the previous record inflow of $183 billion in 2006. "Retail investors are particularly enthusiastic about non-U.S. stocks, which should make contrarians wary," said Santschi. "Global equity mutual funds took in $137 billion last year, which was more than seven times the inflow of $18 billion into U.S. equity mutual funds.  These highly disproportionate inflows occurred even though non-U.S. stocks as a whole badly lagged U.S. stocks." TrimTabs also reported that bond mutual funds and exchange-traded funds redeemed $86 billion last year, the first outflow since 2004 and the biggest outflow on record, surpassing the previous record outflow of $62 billion in 1994. "Bond funds have suffered seven consecutive months of redemptions for the first time since late 1999 and early 2000," noted Santschi.  "Nevertheless, the outflow of $196 billion in the past seven months reverses just a fraction of the inflow of $1.20 trillion from 2009 through 2012." It's fitting that the previous record was set in 2000, right at the top of the dotcom bubble. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific.

Google Glass: An Apps to "Glassholes" Review; Borglike or Beautiful? Virtual Reality Contact Lenses Posted: 07 Jan 2014 10:10 AM PST A link about a new app by Hyundai got me thinking about Google Glass. What is Google Glass? Google Glass is a voice activated computer eye-wear system capable of many voice activated functions such as photography, videos, navigation (better than and easier to use than car GPS systems), hands-free internet, and automatic translation of menus in foreign languages. Many apps are available and more are coming. Hyundai released an app for "pre-driving". Google Glass is likely to replace car GPS navigation systems at some point, and it's great car companies are looking in that direction. The rest of the car manufacturers will follow, and probably are already. Images The product is currently in beta mode, with early users reporting on their experiences. Some initial users loved it, some hated it or grew to hate it, and some were bored with it after the initial excitement wore off. Still other users complained that people were suspicious of them while wearing Google Glass. Different arouses suspicion say one "Glasshole" about his trial. Google Vision I am an eyeglass wearer which got me to thinking about just plain glass - as in eye glasses. How many people have truly horrific vision, so bad that eye glasses can only offer partial correction? I have a friend with 20-200 vision after correction. Could "Google Vision" project an image to a person's eyes in precisely the manner required to overcome whatever extremely poor eyesight one had? Better than eyeglasses can? I suspect "Google Vision" could correct for brightness, astigmatism, and severely distorted eye shapes that currently take inch-thick lenses to correct, and then only partially. For the vision function, an image would have to be projected into each eye, perhaps requiring two photographic lenses, perhaps a single photographic lens and two projector lenses. Borglike or Beautiful? If people are treated like Martians, "Glassholes" or Borgs for having  a single Google Glass camera above one eye, what would happen to those with lenses sitting over both eyes (the way vision actually works)? Yet, as I browse through images of Google Glass wearers, many are far more beautiful than "borglike". Of course, no matter how people are treated now, if enough people start wearing Google Glass when prices fall (and prices will fall), the stigma of "Google Glass" would likely wear off quickly. Virtual Reality Contact Lenses And what if there were no glass at all, just contact lenses? You would not be able to talk to your contact lenses, but CNet reports Augmented-reality contact lenses to be human-ready at CES Anyone who has ever dreamed up a sci-fi future in which neon interfaces float in front of us and information exists not on screens, but projected onto our eyes, is likely watching the blossoming wearable technology market with great anticipation. With its iOptik system, wearables startup Innovega has sighted in on that futuristic vision, designing special contact lenses that will read the light from projectors fitted to glasses. In doing so, it's inching closer to a product that may rival even Google in its wearable ambition. "Whatever runs on your smartphone would run on your eyewear," Willey said in an interview with CNET. "At full HD. Whether it's a window or immersive." The contact lenses can also serve the purpose of vision correction as normal contact lenses do. That means those already using them -- a growing fraction of the global population that relies on vision correction that also, Innovega claims, includes more than 100 million contact lens users -- can swap them out for prescription Innovega lenses. The company will rely on a partnership with a major contact lens manufacturer, though has not yet disclosed the status of any relationships with any eyewear companies. In addition to contact lenses, Innovega also has something that looks similar to Google Glass. Here is an image. Inquiring minds may be interested in some articles and videos about "Google Glass". Video: How It Feels Wearing Google Glass Video: Google Glass User Guide Inventor of 'Winky' App Explains: What It's Like to Use Hipster Review: Williamsburg Hipsters Pass Their Own Minority Report Hyundai App: Hyundai to Add App for Google Glass Into Vehicles Treadmill App: New smart treadmill controlled by Google Glass Wedding Experience: Bride Walks Down the Aisle With Google Glass "Glasshole" Experience: I, Glasshole, My Year With Google Glass Final Thoughts I would like to test out "Google Glass" or the Innovega iOptik System provided I don't have to pay for the privilege. It would have to fit on top of the glasses I normally wear, but some of the images suggest that is already possible. User Robert Scoble says Google Glass is Doomed. I will take the other side of that bet. I can think of all kinds of apps. Virtual Reality Sharing What about virtual reality sharing? One person wearing Google Glass can share their experience with a group of others far away. What one person sees, everyone sees, as if they were there, real time. That app alone has numerous possibilities. Want to know what it's like to climb Mt. Everest? The possibility awaits, and many would pay for the experience, without going through the cold and training of being there.  I suspect everything I have thought of is already being worked on. Google Glass will evolve in more ways than people can imagine. Wine Country Conference II The second annual Wine Country Conference will be held May 1st & 2nd, 2014. We have an exciting lineup of speakers for this year's conference. John Hussman: Founder of Hussman Funds, Director of the John P. Hussman Foundation which is dedicated to providing life-changing assistance through medical research Steen Jakobsen: Chief Economist of Saxo Bank Stephanie Pomboy: Founder of MacroMavens macroeconomic research David Stockman: Ronald Reagan's budget director, best-selling author, former Managing Director of The Blackstone Group  Mebane Faber: Co-founder and the Chief Investment Officer of Cambria Investment Management Jim Bruce: Producer, Director, and Writer of Money For Nothing: Inside the Federal Reserve  Chris Martenson: Reknown speaker and founder of Peak Prosperity Mike "Mish" Shedlock: Investment advisor for Sitka Pacific and Founder of Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis In addition, we expect confirmation from a number of other highly respected fund managers and speakers. This year's event is two days and will include additional "break-out" groups. For speaker bios, please check out Wine Country Conference Speakers. This Year's Cause: Autism $100,000 of the money raised last year came from a generous matching grant from the John P. Hussman Foundation. Some of us in the industry who have done well are making an effort to give something back. John Hussman is at the very top of that list. One of John's kids has severe autism. This year, all net proceeds will go to support autism programs. Conference Details For further details about the 2014 conference, please see Wine Country Conference May 1st & 2nd, 2014 Nothing Like It! This event is not just another "come and hear someone talk" kind of thing. Attendees and their significant others can expect an educational, fun, and relaxed time. Last conference, we arranged wine tours. They were a big hit. We will do so again. One of the wine estates we visited had a Bocce Ball court. On a couple of miracle shots, I won both games I played. Stay an extra day and golf or travel. I did. The conference hotel is a fun place in and of itself. Unlike many other conferences, you will have easy access to speakers. Want to chat with me, Steen, John, or anyone else at the conference? You will have an easy chance. Not only do we have an excellent lineup of speakers, you will have an opportunity to meet with them, have intimate discussions on important investment topics, with a lot of fun on the side, including wine tours and great wine. There's nothing like it in the investment business. And your money goes to a great cause! What can be better? Register Now for Discount We extended our $200 "early bird" discount through January 10, for those who register early. There will be no further extensions. Please Register Now! Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific.

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Damn Cool Pics

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The World Needs More People Like This Posted: 07 Jan 2014 11:59 AM PST

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Why Is It So Important to Extend Emergency Unemployment Insurance?

Here's What's Happening Here at the White House           DAILY SNAPSHOT Tuesday, January 7, 2013             Featured Why Is It So Important to Extend Emergency Unemployment Insurance? Unemployment insurance is a vital economic lifeline for millions of Americans who are looking for work -- and because Republicans in Congress failed to act at the end of 2013, that lifeline was taken away from 1.3 million Americans. They can fix this before it affects millions more.  Take a closer look at why this matters:       Top Stories The Clean Energy Economy in Three Charts Over the last five years, American inventors and investors have delivered significant progress in developing and deploying key clean energy technologies, supported by Administration policies. Electricity production from solar and wind has doubled. Our cars and trucks go further on a gallon of gasoline, saving families money at the pump. And in 2012, U.S. carbon pollution fell to its lowest level in nearly 20 years. READ MORE We the Geeks Takes a Look at the Future of Computing This week, all eyes in the tech industry will focus on Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show 2014, or CES, where we can peak into the future as new computing breakthroughs will be unveiled and showcased. READ MORE New Report Shows 2012 Continued Trend of Slow Growth in Health Care Spending New data released today by the Office of the Actuary at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services today shows that national health expenditures grew by just 3.7 percent in 2012. READ MORE       Today's Schedule All times are Eastern Time (ET) 7:30 AM: The Vice President and Secretary of State John Kerry meet for breakfast 10:45 AM: The President receives the Presidential Daily Briefing 11:30 AM: The Vice President delivers remarks  11:40 AM: The President delivers remarks on Emergency Unemployment Insurance 12:15 PM: Press Briefing by Press Secretary Jay Carney 4:15 PM: The President and the Vice President meet with Secretary of Defense Hagel Facebook    Twitter   |   More Ways to Engage Did Someone Forward This to You? Sign Up for Email Updates This email was sent to e0nstar1.blog@gmail.com Unsubscribe | Privacy Policy Please do not reply to this email. Contact the White House The White House • 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW • Washington, DC 20500 • 202-456-1111

From Keywords to Concepts: The Smart SEO's System for Themed Keyword Research

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From Keywords to Concepts: The Smart SEO's System for Themed Keyword Research Posted: 06 Jan 2014 03:02 PM PST Posted by Cyrus-Shepard If Google's Penguin update and Knowledge Graph have taught us anything, it's that concepts have become more important than individual keywords for search marketing. Many people in the SEO space mistakenly assume that because Google withholds keyword referral data in the form of (not provided), keywords no longer matter. Nothing could be further from the truth. Every search begins with keywords. Over 5 billion Google searches a day. Consider the following: Google's entire business is based on selling keywords â€" over 40 billion dollars a year, most of it from keyword sales through advertising. (not provided) affects only post-click analytics. It doesn't influence the pre-click keywords users type into search boxes. Keywords and their meaning remain the primary input search engines use to deliver answers to users (while other inputs such as location data and app integration are on the rise). Marketers who invest in smart keyword research will continue to have a huge advantage over the competition. The trick today is turning those keywords into concepts. From single keywords to themed concepts When most of us first learned SEO, we learned to research one keyword at a time. We optimized our page for that keyword by placing it in the title tag, in the headline, a few times in the body, and maybe the alt text of a photo. If we were really fancy we'd optimize a page for two keywords. Oh dear. In truth, optimizing pages with a single keyword mentality hasn't worked well for a long time. Content today has to be about something. The difference today from years past is the shift from individual keywords to concepts. Concepts relate to search marketing in three primary ways: 1. What the user intends Search engines try to better understand what the user asks by relating that question to concepts. If I search for "movie about tiger on boat" Google will likely understand that I am asking about the movie Life of Pi, not about pages optimized for those specific keywords. 2. What your content is about Search engines read the keywords on your pages to try and figure out what those pages are conceptually about. 3. Relating concepts to one another The Knowledge Graph shows us how Google relates concepts to each other. In the case of Life of Pi, this may be showing how the film relates to ratings, reviews, actors, writers, and the cast. Keyword targeting: the dumb, hard way In the post How to Rank: 25 Step Master SEO Blueprint, I first addressed the concept of themed keyword research. The guide lists the biggest mistakes people make when choosing keywords. Here's what we want to avoid: Choosing keywords that are too broad Keywords with too much competition Keywords without enough traffic
 Keywords that don't convert Trying to rank for one keyword at a time Instead, let's take the opposite approach. The basic idea is that we're going to focus our content around ideas instead of keywords, and thus give us the potential to rank for 100s or 1000s of keywords at a time. The smart system of themed keyword research Let's explore a new way of thinking about keywords. It requires discarding some of our old ideas and taking advantage of how Google may likely decide what our content is about. To accomplish this, we'll leverage some obvious truths about search traffic. Truth #1: Over 70% of the traffic you earn for any given page will come from keywords you didn't try to optimize for. If you've ever seen a keyword report in your analytics platform or Google Webmaster Tools, you know this is true. What are these keywords? They may be synonyms, thematically related, or closely related ideas that search engines thought best matched your content. Sometimes they are way off base, but we won't concern ourselves with those. With this in mind, optimizing for a only a single keyword means ignoring the majority of your potential traffic. Truth #2: Ranking number one is not a requirement for earning thousands of visits. Given what we know about point #1, it's often better to rank in position 2 or lower for hundreds or thousands of long tail keywords than it is to rank number one for a single keyword. Truth #3: The best keyword tools in the world will only show you a fraction of the keywords you can potentially rank for. Have you ever compared your long tail keyword data with data from Google's own Keyword Planner? Most of those keywords will show little potential search traffic or won't even register, but you know this isn't true because these are the same keywords that brought you traffic. Relying on keyword research tools alone wont bring you to your full ranking potential. You need content that fully explores your themed concepts. Truth #4: Search engines sell keywords grouped into concepts and themes. We can learn from this strategy. When you purchase keywords through AdWords, Google suggests keywords to you in tightly grouped themes and ideas. In fact, they do everything they can to discourage you from bidding on individual keywords. Of course, this is one way for Google to make more money, but it's also because Google knows that concepts are often a better indicator of searcher intent than individual keywords. Part of this is due to the fact that 15% of all Google searches, or over half a billion per day, have never been seen by before. Now let's put these ideas into action. Step 1: Gather your keyword seeds Folks talk about different processes of keyword research depending on whether you are going after Traffic: good for pure pageviews and ad-based revenue sites, or Conversions: for example, when you sell goods or services or need brand awareness Most of the time, you already have a good idea of what your keyword topic broadly covers, especially if you're working with an established business or website. For our purposes, let's explore ideas around the keyword "seo tools" â€" a term near and dear to our hearts here at Moz. In reality, this is an extremely competitive keyword, and for your own research you'd likely want to begin with a longer-tail, less competitive term. Brainstorming There are literally hundreds of keyword research tools out there to experiment with, but a few SEO favorites include: Ãœbersuggest Google AdWords Keyword Planner Bing Keyword Tool Keyword Spy Wordstream Google Display Planner SEO Book keyword tools Google Trends Soovle SEMrush In the end, you will likely rely heavily on Google AdWords Keyword Planner, but you never want to rely on it as your sole tool. It's best to explore and play around with many tools to discover new ideas. Here are keyword suggestions from Grepwords. There are no rules except to have fun and try to discover new keywords you haven't considered before. Step 2: Get specific with modifiers This is basic stuff, but it bears emphasizing: The more specific your keywords, the easier it typically is to rank for those keywords. Sure, it would be great to rank for the keyword "SEO tools" itself, but most people aren't searching that way. Instead, they are likely looking for something more specific. Common keyword modifiers include: Time and Date: "SEO Tools 2014" Quality and/or Price: "Free SEO Tools", "Fastest SEO Tools" Intent: "Buy SEO Tools", "Find SEO Tools" Location: "SEO Tools Online", "Canadian SEO Tools" Your chosen keyword research tools will uncover these and many more qualifiers, but you'll want to include them in your searches as well. Case Study: the $70,000 keyword modifier Seasonal keywords are often super-effective. I discovered this myself a few years ago as an independent SEO with the keyword "IRA contribution limits." The keyword had good volume but was super-competitive, so I knew I was never going to rank for it. Using Google Trends, I found that usage for this keyword spiked at certain times of the year, and that in fact people were looking for information for a specific year, i.e. "IRA contribution limits 2012." Using Google Trends is a great way to validate any keyword idea, as it will often reveal hidden patterns and insight not present in other tools. Armed with the new knowledge, I found many more date-specific keywords themed around this topic and built an entire domain around them. Although it took a lot of hard work, the site eventually drew tons of seasonal traffic and I was able to sell the site with a significant profit. It's a good idea to validate all your important keyword ideas through Google Trends, as it will often reveal patterns and insights not present in other keyword research tools. Step 3: Using Google AdWords Keyword Planner For small and medium-sized research jobs, nothing beats going directly to Google's AdWords Keyword Tool for relevant suggestions and search volume. (For larger and enterprise-type projects, see the alternatives at the end of the post.) This is basic stuff, but you'll want to search for New Keyword and Adgroup Ideas and head straight to the to the Keyword Ideas tab. For a more complete guide to using the planner, Kristi Hines wrote a great guide here. Hint: While most seasoned SEOs skip over the Ad Groups tab, there's a wealth of ideas there tightly grouped into themed keywords â€" exactly what we are looking for! Traditionally, marketers use Google's keyword tool because of search volume and competition scores, but most web marketers underplay one of the most powerful features of this tool: the ability to sort keyword suggestions by relevance. This gives us a huge advantage in creating themed keyword lists, and helps us create more targeted content. Because the top suggestions often contain your core keywords, it's helpful to use negative keywords to discover more variation. Step 4: Defining the concepts further Now that you have your basic keyword idea, the next step is creating your keyword theme by finding keywords that are conceptually related. There are several ways to do this. For our example of "SEO tools" let's try the popular methods to build out our themed list. Google's Related Searches At the bottom of most Google results is a section called Related Searches. This is a gold mine of conceptually related concepts. By clicking through the results and then examining those related searches (and repeating this process over and over) you can quickly find many long-tail opportunities much easier than using Google's AdWords Keyword Planner. Google Trends At the bottom of each trends report is a "Related Searches" section that can be used to discover conceptually related queries. Wikistalker This cool tool introduced to me by Peter Bray "illustrates the relations between different things by visualizing the semantic relevance between the inter-connected structure of their Wikipedia entry articles." So if we search Wikistalker for "Search Engine Optimization" it shows us the following Wikipedia articles with the highest semantic relevance. Internet Marketing: 85% relevant Google Webmaster Tools: 70% relevant Marketing: 59% relevant Other tools In fact, many other keyword research tools like Deeperweb Search, SEMRush, YouTube Analytics or WordStream can help you discover related keyword phrases. Step 5: Empathy, your secret keyword weapon Ask yourself what a visitor wants to find on this page. As Rand explains in this excellent Whiteboard Friday, putting yourself in the visitor's shoes and anticipating their needs provides a wealth of conceptually related keyword ideas. Searchers of "SEO tools" are usually asking a number of similar questions: How much does it cost? Free, plans and pricing, free trial What kinds of tools are there? Link building, crawling, and indexing Who are the tools for? Agency software, small business How good are the tools? Best, endorsed by, customer review By answering as many searcher questions as we can, we continue to build our themed keyword concept. Step 6: Can you rank? Getting strategic with competition In this case, it's much better to go straight to the search engine results page (SERP). This was covered in How to Rank, so let me plagiarize myself by repeating the important points here. You have two basic methods of ranking the competition: Automated tools like Moz's Keyword Difficulty Tool Eyeballing the SERPs If you have a paid subscription to Moz, or even a free trial, the Keyword Difficulty Tool calculates â€" on a 100-point scale â€" a difficulty score for each individual keyword phrase you enter. If you run a full report you can break down the SERP for each keyword and judge the individual strengths of each URL that ranks. You can even add your own URL to see how you stack up. Keyword phrases in the 60-100 range are typically very competitive, while keywords in the 30-40 range might be considered low to moderately difficult. Manual method: the eyeball check Even without automated tools, the best way to size up the competition is to simply look at the top results currently ranking. Run a non-personalized search query for your keywords. Examine the top few results and ask yourself the following questions (SEO toolbars like the MozBar or SEOquake can help speed up the process): Are the first few results optimized for the keyword? Is the keyword in the title tag? In the URL? On the page? What's the Page and/or Domain Authority of the URL? What's the inbound anchor text? Can you build links and/or mentions around this keyword? Can you deliver a higher quality resource for this keyword than the top ranking sites? The last question is the most important: can you deliver higher quality content for this keyword than the competition? The answer must be yes if you expect to deserve to rank. Step 7: Pulling it all together By this point, you've probably analyzed hundreds or thousands of keywords and organized them into themed, related groups. You've found keywords that relate to your business or website, around which you can create shareable content, with a high enough search volume, and that you believe you can rank for. Often, the keywords that you choose depend as much on your business or website as they do on the competition. We chose the keywords above not only because they relate to our primary keyword, but also because they relate to our business. Google may rank keywords based on relevance, but only you can decide if those keywords relate to your audience, product, and brand. In the case of our "SEO Tools" example, our themed keyword list might look like this. Free SEO Tools Best SEO Software Keyword Research Search Engine Optimization Link Building Toolset Best SEO Tools in 2013 Online Marketing SEO for Google Best SEO Tools for Agencies Remember, we started with a very broad keyword. In practice, your final keyword will be much more tightly focused. We'll now use this list for creating content around our keyword theme. In a future post, we'll discuss integrating these concepts for optimal on-page SEO. Tips for scaling and large sites The above method works if you're building out keyword lists for small to medium sites, but scaling this process for large and enterprise sites requires a different, more mathematical approach. If you want to research tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of keywords at a time, I highly recommend the looking into the following resources: Grepwords â€" Keyword Suggestion API with search volume SEOGadget for Excel â€" Link Research and Keyword Data. Integrates with Grepwords and SEMRush How to do Keyword Research for SEO â€" Written by Nick Eubanks, this $37 guide is well worth the money and offers a number of tips and tricks. Conclusion The above method is only one method of keyword research. There are hundreds more and you'll likely invent your own method. Regardless of the method you use, thinking about keywords in terms of concepts and themes represents a hugely important step in content development. What are your favorite keyword tips to organize content around concepts? Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

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