In this analysis I'll be using Utah SEO as my example because that involves the keywords and market I'm most familiar with. The analysis can, of course, apply to almost any market and any set of keywords. It is simply the principles of the Utah SEO race, or any other SEO race for that matter, that deserves study.

In the Search Engine Marketing arena the competition for a given keyword can be intense, depending on the size of the market, the popularity of the product or service, and the number of companies in competition for the term.

Terms like SEO, Internet Marketing, Search Engine Marketing, and other similar terms will require months of work just to start making a move up the rankings. Now Utah SEO or Utah Internet Marketing, on the other hand, are something completely different. Now we're talking about some keywords that we have a real chance at some real rankings.

Of course, there's a bit of a difference here. There are thousands of people searching for the term SEO every day. The number of people searching for Utah SEO, however, would drop down to somewhere around 4.

On a good day.

When I've called all my friends and asked them to search for Utah SEO.

The Search Engine Optimization world isn't the only industry that makes a good example. Consider the online dating industry. Currently one of the largest and most profitable industries on the Internet. On average, more than 10,000 people are searching for “online dating" every day. The top spots are held by sites that have worked hard and developed hundreds and even thousands of links, search engine friendly content, and a loyal following.

Not an easy thing for a newcomer to overtake.

On the other hand, what if you were to localize your targeted keywords? Put a city name in front of the term and you suddenly have a much greater chance of reaching the top of the search engine results.

Why? Because there isn't as much competition for these kinds of keywords. It's really just that simple. You can start targeting these keywords even even though the total searches for them are minute in comparison. There are benefits to targeting your campaign this way. It's called grabbing the low hanging fruit – going for the prize that's within reach.

It's a solid strategy. One that has shown, historically, to be sound. Why does it work so well? Because even though there are not a lot of searches being made on those low hanging keywords, the people who do search for them are the ones who are clearly more interested in the more specific keywords, and are thus more likely to actually choose your site when they see you, and then actually follow through and purchase your product, service, or whatever else you'd like them to do.

So here's the question you have to ask yourself: do you want to take a shot a getting the whole pie – the keywords that receive tense of thousands of searches – or would you prefer a smaller slice of the pie, but one you know will keep on coming?

Shooting for Utah SEO will put you in front of a very specific audience, but it wouldn't let the world at large know about your services.

Is that good enough for you?

As you begin your SEO campaign there's a few things that you need to take into account. Do you need the whole pie, or are you better off with a consistent, smaller piece? Can you make your business work by targeting Utah SEO, or will you only see a good ROI when you aim for the biggies like “online dating"?

On the other hand, there's no reason not to incorporate both strategies.

Some good low hanging fruit can eventually be included in a great pie.

Just remember, a good pie (no matter what the filling) can take a long time to bake. And there's nothing wrong with shooting for the big keywords, just understand that the bigger the pie, the longer the baking time.

In other words, Utah SEO is a good start, but if you don't do something with the low hanging fruit you've already grabbed it will go bad. But if you've got the right recipe, you can make something great.