Jill Whalen started a fabulous thread at HighRankings Forums asking if there is any formula or calculation being used to figure out how competitive she or any SEO can go with a specific client. Jill explained that when it comes to having a Fortune 500 customer rank well for very competitive keywords on their PageRank 8 domain, it is a no brainer. But when it comes to brand new web sites, for new clients, how competitive should an SEO company go with their keyword ranking goals?

Typically she determines this based on "gut feeling" she said:

I typically have no problem doing this mostly by intuition. I'm sure somewhere in my brain I'm calculating a number of different factors as to where to start/stop on the AIT numbers, but it's at a gut level.

Does anyone have a more scientific formula they use to do something similar? I don't need it for myself, but I'm putting together a teaching presentation on choosing keywords, and there's no real way to explain how to use your gut instincts!

The thread now has several members listing out variables that can be used in such a formula. Those variables can include PageRank, allintitle numbers, paid listings, and so much more. It clearly needs to be measured against the power of the current site wanting to rank for those keywords and what the competition is out there. It would be nice to see someone attempt such a calculation tool.

Forum discussion at HighRankings Forums.

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