How To Do Proper Keyword Research
First, lets define SEO once again: Search Engine Optimization
, is the process of structuring a website so that it ranks higher in the SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages) for specific keywords and/or keyword phrases that relate to a particular market. Websites and web pages that rank higher in the SERPs have a tendency to get more traffic from searchers seeking information for that particular topic. The vast majority of searchers do not go beyond page 2 or 3 when performing queries on the search engines. So, appropriately, it is a search marketers desire to be within those results, or even more desirable, be in in the first 5 results of the first page. The ultimate goal is to gain top position for the most competitive keyword in their arsenal.
Keyword Targeting
Gaining top position for just any old keyword won't do. However, targeting and ranking for numerous long tail keywords with lower search volumes and equally low competition can produce a substantial amount of highly targeted traffic. To get the best out of an Internet marketing campaign, its important to make sure to target keywords that are extremely relevant to your business, products, and/or services. Generic keywords, like "car" or "shoes" get an astonishing number of searches but are also extremely competitive and very non-specific. The terms are very vague and will not provide insights into what exactly a searcher is looking for in "cars" or "shoes". Are they looking to buy it, repair it, rent it, etc?
Competitive Keywords
Unfortunately, the more competitive a keyword is, the more pages you will have to compete with to rank well in the search engines. These pages will be highly optimized and have extensive link profiles. You will have to put forth serious, focused effort in order to meet or beat these pages. For those highly competitive keywords you should consider creating multiple pages or posts around different aspects relating to that particular keyword and work to rank them all. For instance, take the term "search engine optimization" which is a very competitive keyword phrase; there are many pages or posts that can be crafted around the subject because it entails so many different aspects. The searcher could be looking for SEO services or how to do SEO for themselves. They could be searching for tips on crafting search engine optimized content for their websites or blogs. So the possibilities there are plenty. Just using "search engine optimization" as an example is still a pretty vague suggestion for a keyword. This is why its is recommended to get into the more descriptive (long tail) keywords, to further pinpoint the intention of your target audience.
Improved Conversions With Targeted Keywords
Keyword targeting is not just about ranking, its about converting. The ultimate goal of this is to provide what the searchers are looking for. So optimizing to more specific terms and crafting relevant content around those terms while keeping true to your businesses product and service offering will ultimately result in higher conversions and more popularity for your business. It may even mean gaining referrals from those conversions. You first must attract the visitors to your site and then you must keep them there by making sure that the keywords you are targeting are relevant to your business.
Keyword Research Tools
There are many tools you can use to help you in performing keyword research for your businesses website. Google's keyword tool is just one of the tools but is also free for anyone to use if you have an Adwords account. Its free to sign up for Adwords as well. Another free tool that can help with further analysis of keywords and keyword trends is Google Insights. I will go into further detail about exactly how to use these tools to help you with keyword research in another post in the near future. Using these tools together you can find variations of your target keywords as well as additional related keywords and phrases you may want to include in your campaign. You can find out how many searches are performed every month and how easy or difficult Google thinks it would be for you to compete for ranking with a particular keyword. With Google Insights you can even get down to the state and city levels of search if the volume is high enough to support it. The fact that these tools even exist should provide a clue to how important keyword research is for search engine optimization.
Keyword Research - Structuring Each Page Separately
Each page of your website should be treated as a separate project in terms of SEO and keyword research. Every page on your site will attract different searchers searching for different terms. Your keywords for the page should not be just general keywords for the content of your entire site but tailored to fit the content contained specifically on that page. Product pages will often attract users who are in a buying mode. Structuring your page and keywords for that specific purpose will prove more beneficial for you and the visitor because the page is relevant to the search term and thereby increases the possibility of converting that visitor into a paying customer or getting them to perform the desired action.
Using Your Keywords
Though it is important to make sure you actually use your keyword term in your content, it is equally important to make sure that you are crafting your content so that your visitors can read it an understand it. Your keyword usage should be natural. If you have to absolutely force the use of any given keyword phrase in your content to the point of sacrificing readability then you should consider going back to the drawing board and finding a more appropriate keyword or keyword phrase. For this reason, it is suggested that you first choose the keywords you would like to target before crafting your content. This way, your keywords phrases will fit naturally into your content because you content is crafted specifically for the given term. You will eventually find that you are attracting visitors to your page based on other terms included in your content that you may not have been targeting. People tend to search in the way that they speak or think of something. So being as natural as can be in your content is vital. Don't be too concerned with the density or frequency in which your keyword terms are used. Sometimes there will only be once opportunity to use your keyword on a page. This is enough if the content surrounding it is relevant to the term. Often times there will be more than opportunity to use a term, but what is most important is just remembering to keep the flow of your content natural and readable.
You cannot do good SEO without doing good keyword research. Your keywords are what tell the search engines to show your pages for the terms that you choose. This is how you get visitors to your site. With certain long tail keywords, little optimization may need to be done if the term is hyper-specific and the competition is low. With enough of these types of keywords you may be able to get a fair amount of highly targeted traffic with little extra effort.
by: Chriss Stewart
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