In a recent article, A Simple Guide to Search Engine Optimization, I listed the first item under THINGS TO DO as:
“Think about the words your target customer will use when searching for what you have to offer. These are going to be your “keywords” and “key phrases.”
In this article, I’m going to go into more detail on this topic, so you can choose the keywords and key phrases that are going to help you get the most qualified and targeted visitors to your website.
It might seem like common sense to figure out which words people will use to search for your business online, but in reality, there is a very real science behind keyword research. Finding the keywords and phrases that are going to help you achieve higher sales is big business on the web--and has become extremely competitive.
If you want to do this on your own, it will take time and research on your part, but it is well worth the investment. The words you choose will serve you over the long term, and you’ll use them not only on your website, but also in your online advertisements, links, press releases, and much more.
There is a huge difference between getting a ton of traffic to your website, versus getting the right traffic--the people who are going to do business with you. You want to make sure the keywords and phrases you choose are relevant to your website content, so that whatever the searcher is looking for will be found on your website. Otherwise, you are just wasting their time, and losing credibility for yourself and your business.
GETTING STARTED
The first thing you want to do is make a list of your keywords. Take out a sheet of paper and write down:
* the purpose of your website, including your product and/or service (if you have more than one, do this for each)
* words and phrases you think people will use to find your product/service
* the questions you think people will ask about your product/service
* what you think visitors want to accomplish by visiting your website
* the problems your product/services solves
* the needs your product/service meets
* local and geographic phrases people might use when searching for you (city, county, state or other references such as city districts or zip codes)
* information people might search for that pertains to your industry (for example, search phrases that begin with “how to..”) that you can provide on your website (if you provide valuable content, visitors are likely to bookmark and/or share your website, and remember you when they are ready to make a purchase
Next, use a keyword research tool such as Google Adwords Keywords Tool to find:
* related keywords to add to your list
* search volume (how often a keyword/keyword phrase is searched daily, monthly, or yearly)
Conduct a search for your keywords and key phrases. If you see a lot of ads along the top and right-hand side of the search engine results page, you know the words on your list are competitive, but also high value. You probably won’t rank very high for these words in the beginning, but with time and persistence, these words will bring you qualified traffic down the road.
Check out your competitors. The websites that are ranking high in the search engines results for your keywords are worth investigating. You want to discover what they are doing to achieve high ranking for your key words and phrases.
Once you have done all of this and noted your findings (use a spreadsheet to track your research), pick out the keywords and phrases that you think best describe your product and/or service. Be sure to consider:
* the products/services you offer that have the highest profit margin
* your target audience
* if the words and phrases are actively being searched for
* their apparent value in the search engine results
Next, you’ll want to organize your keywords and phrases by page according to what each page will focus on (for example specific products or services that you offer). Once you have this figured out, it is time to get busy placing the right keywords and phrases in the right spots on your website.
WHERE TO USE KEYWORDS
* Title Tag
o first thing indexed by search engines and shown in search results
o short and descriptive – identifies your business
o use 70 characters or less
* Meta Description Tag
o brief description of your website, business and services
o use 155 characters or less
* Meta Heading Tags
o h1 has the highest importance
o h2 next highest and so on…
* Link Text
o use less than 100 unique links per page
* Website Copy
o you can use bold or italics to place increased importance on keywords/key phrases
* Image Tag Alt Property
THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND
* single-word searches get the highest volume of searches, but the lowest targeted traffic
* more people search using phrases, and the more specific the search, the more highly targeted traffic to your website
* two-four word phrases are a good rule of thumb
THINGS TO AVOID
* misspellings
* plural and singular forms of the same phrase grouped into a single page
* keyword stuffing (putting too many keywords/key phrases on your website – use no more than 1-3% of your page content)
There you have it - a simple guide to something that has become pretty complicated in recent years. Of course there is a lot more to the subject than I can begin to cover here, but if you follow these steps, you are going to be doing much better in search than you would be otherwise--I can promise you that!
