Selecting the proper keywords to optimize on your website may be the most important component to getting the right traffic to your site. While many claim that keyword selection is a bit of an art, there are several initial steps you can take to choose the right keywords. It does take a little practice but it’s well worth the effort to learn.
When people type a search term into a search engine, that search engine generates a ranking of all relevant sites and provides that ranking to the user. Keywords are a major component of that ranking. Whether you realize it or not, as far as the search engines are concerned, your website is already targeting certain keywords. Let’s make sure they’re the right ones.
- Brainstorm a list of possible keywords. The longer the list the better. Think of every possible keyword that a customer might use to find you. Consider geographical variations, particularly if the business in question only has walk-in customers, like a dentist, for instance.
You’re not screening right now, even if it only seems marginal, go ahead and throw it out there.
Keyword tools, like Google Keyword Tool, will provide additional suggestions based on your primary search term. See what they have to offer.
- Assess relevancy. Now go through your list and eliminate any keywords that aren’t relevant.
- How likely is a potential customer to use a term?
- How frequently does that term actually get searched?
If you think you have a great keyword, but it only receives 3 searches a month…. Well, you’re probably wrong; it’s probably not a great keyword. Don’t fight the data.
Some keywords get a high search volume, but are likely to be used by those that are only looking for information. Ask yourself if those are the people you want to target. Those that are looking to make a purchase right now may use an entirely different set of keywords.
- Assess competitiveness. Take the remaining keywords and use a keyword tool like Market Samurai or Micro Niche Finder and look at the competition. You’re not only looking at the number of searches per month, but also at the strength of the competition.
A keyword may only have a 100 searches a month, but if you’re competing with 20 authority sites like www.wikipedia.org and www.amazon.com, then it’s probably not going to happen. Likewise, a term may have a very high search volume but relatively poor competition. This is every website owner’s dream come true.
The tools above (there are many others) do a good job of assessing basic keyword competition.
Keyword selection should be done before you even begin construction of a website. Your site should be build around your keywords. By using the preliminary process above, you will be ahead of most of the websites out there. Most sites don’t seem to give this aspect of site design any attention. Finding the right keywords is the first step to getting the traffic you desire.