Keyword Research:
This is the key (excuse the pun) to successful Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
The aim of this term is to compile a list of keywords that perform very well for your site. In essence this means that using these keywords in a Pay Per Click or organic search engine optimization campaign yields high click through rates (CTR) – the amount of clicks your ad or site receives relative to the amount of times visitors come across your advertisement or search engine listing.
Furthermore we are trying to drive qualified, I repeat QUALIFIED visitors to our site, because a good click through rate does not equal a good conversion rate.
The first step in our SEO keyword process is to come up with a concise mission statement for your company, product, service or site, if you have not already made one that is. It should be no longer than three sentences. Takeout the key terms or defining words / phrases. These will be the basis upon which we will be combining and branching from in order to compile a good keyword list.
Now enter these keywords into Google, MSN or YAHOO and see what comes up. The chances are that you probably see some names you recognize. That's because they are probably your competitors. The next step is to click on a few of the first entries on the SERPS (Search Engine Result Pages), and see what keyword metatags that they are using to get where they are.
To do this:
1) Click on a link
2) right click somewhere on their page
3) then press "" view source ".
4) find, within the headers the metatag with description "keywords"
This is a list of keywords this website has used as part of its Search Engine Optimization Campaign. Now, we want to take these and save them in a text document, as we will be adding to them again. Repeat the above process with some more sites which are similar in content with what your subject matter is.
After doing this you should have a long list of keywords. However these are obviously not exactly what you want. Remember that this process was done in order to get a good start, and you should avoid exact copying of any site keywords. Now, go through the list, deleting any words which do not suit your content matter, and of course any duplicates. Arrange them in order of relevance to your site. You will probably see a lot of words relevant to your site that are missing, so add them.
After doing this entire process, take only the top thirty words, try not to use more as you may be penalized for keyword stuffing – which will not help your search engines ranking. Keep the rest of the list as you may need these keywords for other pages or PPC campaigns.
Online Keyword suggestion tools: Google keyword tool
Another great way to generate a list of keywords which produce high CTR's is to use the Google keyword tool. Elovation highly recommends having an AdWords account even if you are primarily concerned with organic search result – simply for the amazing tools Google has developed to help web developers and internet marketers.
After compiling your initial list – based on keywords you think you should be targeting, this tool allows you to see which terms related to your subject are being advertised on, at what price, and how much competition there is for individual keywords. Remember each keyword is a niche to itself, and finding some of these which produce high CTR's should be your aim.
The trick here is to use Google AdWords to speed up keyword research. Because organic or the left column SERPS takes some considerable time to update or change rankings, experimenting with optimizing your site for certain keywords is simply impractical. You may have to wait weeks or even months before you know if a new page or section was worth the time and effort. Adding new experimental keywords to a test campaign, with the same adds your running on your standard campaigns allows you to see if there are any keywords which produce high CTR's. You may find that a few of the keywords suggested by Google return some surprising results.
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