Are You Targeting The Correct Search Keywords?
People always ask me about keyword research and why it is important to their web site. Not targeting keywords and optimizing for those terms is a missed opportunity at getting more targeted traffic to your site. You start most SEO projects with basic keyword research. It involves finding terms that relate to your web site or product and to what extent those terms are searched on search engines. You optimize for those terms in your title tags and body copy.
Many companies misunderstand or overlook keyword research. Sites that rank well in search engines are targeting and optimizing for a set of keywords. Some of the most successful companies online target specific niche markets. Keyword research is also an ongoing process. You can't just do it once and forget about it.
Are you targeting the right keywords for your web site? There are a number of web sites and companies who choose to target the wrong keywords or not target at all. This isn't intentional, but most likely because of a lack of knowledge. I know of one major US Corporation that is missing massive opportunities because they are targeting the wrong keywords. They are missing out on millions of dollars in potential sales.
There have been numerous times when a company gloated about being at the top of search engine rankings for a given phrase or keyword. When someone showed them that nobody was searching for their keywords the mood quickly changed. There is little or no value on targeting on keywords that nobody searches. One rare exception is when you target a word or phrase that might become buzz worthy in the future.
Your keywords should be specific to your target market. Check that your keywords are generating enough searches monthly. How many searches are enough? It depends on the market. You should concentrate on a variety of niche market terms that pertain to your company or service. There is a great deal of value in keywords that bring highly targeted traffic.
Let's use the example of the keyword "soccer." An estimated 1.5 million people search on this every month between Google, Yahoo, and MSN. Most people assume if you can get on top of this list you are all set. The answer is maybe. Yes, you will have a tremendous amount of traffic if you ranked well for the term "soccer" and you are a soccer site. Keep in mind your visitors might be looking for soccer clubs, soccer news, soccer equipment, or soccer history. In short "soccer" is a very broad term. You are better off targeting more specific terms that pertain to specific niche markets.
Target "Soccer" Keywords
- International Soccer News
- Ireland Soccer Jersey
- How to play soccer
- USA Soccer
- Soccer Shirt
These terms get far less searches than "soccer" but bring higher quality visitors to your web site.
Concentrate on optimizing keywords for each individual page on your web site. One to two keywords or phrases per page is usually a good place to start. Gone are the days when you could use the META keyword tag to your advantage. Your keywords need to appear in your title tag and throughout your body copy.
Your log files can show you what terms people are searching to get to your web site. There might be a term you find that if optimized will bring you more traffic.
The very basic concepts outlined above are merely the tip of the massive SEO iceberg. Hopefully some of the information provided will get you thinking about your site.
Additional Resources:
For additional keyword research tools you can also use: http://www.keyworddiscovery.com/ KeywordDiscovery which offers a free trial and similar (monthly and yearly) subscription options like WordTracker. Key difference is that KeywordDiscovery has a much larger keyword database and provides historical data for the past 12 months for every keyword.
Posted by: Rob Gunayan | 01/28/2007 at 19:37
KeywordSpy.com a try for a keyword research tool, with results actually reflecting what advertisers are using at the current time.
Posted by: susan | 09/05/2007 at 13:46