How To Choose Keywords (Search Engine Optimization) For Website Profit
One of the things I hate doing for my online business is search engine optimization and you want to know why?
Because it’s not fun. First you have to do keyword research and then do on-page and off-page optimization.
And of the 3 I think keyword research is the worst. I usually spend several hours before I finally make my selection.
That’s why when I choose my keywords I want to make sure they are the best ones I can find to make my web site and business more profitable.
Now many think finding good keywords has to do with finding high search volume keywords or keyword phrases that have little competition. And this is true. Unfortunately it’s not the whole truth.
There are 4 crucial elements to finding the right keywords:
Search Volume – This is the number of searches for your search term for some period of time. Some think search volume equals the traffic you can expect if you rank in the number 1 position or, possibly, on the first page of the search results. Unfortunately this is not the case since everyone doesn’t visit the number 1 ranked site or check every page listed on the first page.
And while search volume doesn’t equal traffic it does indicate what people are searching for and those who have their page listed on the first page will get the most traffic. Of course the closer to the top you get to the top of the page, the more visitors you’ll get.
To find the keywords with a large search volume most online marketers use the free Google Keyword Tool. I’ve worked with several tools, paid for and free, and the ones I’ve used all include the Google tool for getting the search volume.
Competition – Your competition consists of the other web pages listed for the search term (keyword) you’ve chosen. Now many would have you believe you are actually competing with the possible millions of sites currently listed for your keyword. However you’re really not competing with all of them. You are really only competing with the first 10 to 20 listed by the search engines.
If those listed on the first pages of the search engines are older, established sites with high page rank and numerous backlinks, you probably won’t be able to bump any of them to obtain a good position. If however, you find you’re competing with sites that aren’t that well established you may be able to gain a good position by doing some good on-page and off-page optimization.
It is possible to manually find out the page rank and number of backlinks for a web page. And there are several tools you can purchase to do this work for you in a matter of seconds. However if you’re on a limited budget you can get a free copy of Traffic Travis to do this research. You’ll still have to manually enter each of the terms you’re considering however it’s much faster than investigating each of the pages yourself. Watch the video to see how Traffic Travis can help you analyze the competition for a keyword.
Relevant – When people use a search engine they expect all the results of their search to relate to the term they entered.
When you select your keywords you are also selecting your target market. You don’t want to surprise and disappoint those who click your link by not giving them something about what they’re looking for. For example, this article is about how to choose keywords. And while I mention off-line optimization I don’t really tell you about meta tags. Therefore the phrase “meta tags keyword” would not be relevant. Nor would the phrase “buy keywords” since “choosing keywords” and “buying keywords” are not the same.
Profit Value – Basically there are 2 types of people using search engines, those who buy things and those who don’t. You want to use keywords that attract those who do.
One of the best ways to find out if people buy things related to your keyword is by checking the Google Adwords competition. Very little or no advertiser competition for a keyword indicates those who pay for advertising don’t think there’s enough money to be made to purchase advertising for that keyword.
However internet users are a fickle bunch. So while some highly competitive keywords will always draw many paying customers, others may only bring in customers during a certain time of the year or possibly only for a limited time. And of course as new keyword phrases appear it may take hours, days or months before the true competitor competition is known.
So while using Google Adwords Competition is not 100% accurate 100% of the time, it is the best indicator currently available.
With all the millions of web pages online search engine optimization is no longer optional if you want your page found by the search engines. It is a requirement. And because choosing your keywords is one of the most important and time consuming parts of SEO you need to do it right.
To Your Success,
Susan
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Hello,
Nice post! Keyword Research is ultimately about knowledge. Knowledge about your target market, knowledge about your products & knowledge about the problems.
I think using relevant key words that are oriented to the target market is very crucial. Sometimes people try really hard to find key words that are “cool” but forget their real target market. Great article!