Never underestimate the importance of keywords in your online marketing strategy.
What exactly is a keyword
A keyword is a word or a phrase that someone types in to a search engine i.e. Google, Bing or Yahoo! in order to locate information on the internet.
Think about what you do when you need to find something online. You go to the search engine and enter a few words or a phrase into the box and then click search.
Those words you entered are collectively called a keywords or key phrase.
The success of your website often depends on people finding it through search engines and therefore, it is important that you choose the appropriate keywords or phrasing for your website copy to improve your ranking and effectively capture the attention of your target market.
Before you formulate your list of keywords, it is extremely important to perform critical research.
How to do this?
Follow these four simple steps and you’ll be on your way to learn how to research keywords to assist with website search optimisation.
Step 1 ~ Create an initial list.
Prior to actually starting the process, try to first come up with an initial list of keywords that you think you may want to go after. These should include obvious keywords that are most relevant to your business and words and/or phrases that pertain to your industry.
Coming up with a list of the perfect keywords, or combination of words, takes time. Some website owners often think this is the easiest step in the website optimization process. However, they couldn’t be more wrong.
This step should be the most difficult.
Why?
Because anyone can come up with a list of keywords related to your business, but not everyone knows exactly what your customers are looking for.
When creating your list of keywords, you have to put yourself in the shoes of your customers and actually think like them, rather than try to sell to them.
The trick is to come up with a list of keywords that not only apply to your business, but actually work. You may start with a list of 100 words, but in order to drive customers to your site, you will have to cut it down.
A great tip is to take a look at some competitors’ sites. Try to get a feel for what keywords they are focusing on and how you might be able to improve upon and/or top them.
Definitely don’t limit yourself to single keywords.
Search Engine Optimisation (SE) is about the recognition of single and multi-word phrases. For example, if you are in a hospitality business in the Barossa Valley, you wouldn’t only optimise for words like “function”, “weddings” or “catering”. Instead, you might focus on keyword phrases like “Barossa functions”, “wedding reception Barossa” or “fully catered functions Barossa”.
You’re not alone in your SEO efforts as there are many useful tools available to help you develop the best, most effective and easy to rank keywords possible. Google in particular, provides a tool that allows you to research how often keywords are searched.
What you want to avoid are keywords that are impossible to top. For example, a very broad word like “functions” is searched over 3,300 times a month (according to Google AdWords keyword tool). This makes it nearly impossible for your site to come up within the first few pages of a search engine because the competition is so fierce. But a phrase like “wedding venues South Australia” is searched 6,600 times a month, making it easier to compete for a high ranking spot.
Therefore, optimise for phrases and keywords that are searched often, but not so often you lose your ability to be found.
Step 2 ~ Find out with how well your site is currently ranking.
There are a number of valuable tools available on the Internet that will allow you to find out how well your website is ranking. You can find out where your site currently falls within searches as well as which keywords are allowing your site to rank.
If you are already ranking for particular keywords, start with a focus on improving your rank with those. However, don’t limit yourself. You will probably need to optimize for new, additional keywords in order to truly improve your rankings.
Step 3 ~ Use a keyword suggestion tool.
While you don’t want to conclude your keyword list with hundreds of words that are unattainable and unrealistic to top, keyword suggestion tools can be extremely helpful in the creation of your list. They are a great way to also discover keywords and phrases you may not have thought of.
Google and Wordtracker are the most popular tools, but others are available.
Step 4 ~ Finalise and prioritise your keyword list.
Once you finalise your catalogue of keywords, you will want to prioritise that list.
Begin by assigning a priority percentage to each keyword, with the most relevant keyword having the highest percentage to the least relevant keyword with the lowest percentage.
Think of it this way: What percentage of customers are searching for each particular word? Are 100% of your customers searching for any particular keyword? Probably not. Just use common sense.
Step 5 ~ Your list of keywords should be ever-changing.
Once you go live with your new SEO efforts, you will want to keep a close eye on how well your new keywords are performing.
- Which keywords are being searched the most and generating the most traffic?
- Which keywords are performing as expected?
- Which keywords are exceeding your expectations?
- Which keywords are not doing as well as you expected?
Pay attention to trends, good and bad, and revise as often as necessary without harming your efforts that are working. Google Analytics is very useful in assisting with how your keywords are tracking.
Successful SEO is a continual process that takes patience and most importantly, it requires a lot of attention. But ultimately, it will pay off if you not only keep up with it, but truly invest your time and energy into making it the best it can be.
How are you tracking with your keywords?
Until next time…..
