How To Optimize Web Pages For Basic On-Site SEO – Keyword Research – Part 2
How To Perform Effective Keyword Research! Since we talked about the basics of SEO (How To Optimize Your Web Pages For Basic On-Site SEO – Part 1) and the difference between On-Site SEO and off-Site SEO, let’s talk about basic keyword research and keyword phrases. This is both an essential activity and a challenging task when it comes to
implementing an SEO campaign. Keyword research can also be used for content marketing or researching topics for blogs, podcasts, videos and any other types of materials for providing great content. Since most of us search for products, services, and any information we want via the search engine that means your clients will do that same and you have to be visible. Simply put, you need to be found when they search. When doing keyword research we have to keep in mind the following things.
General vs. Long Tail Keywords
General basically means one or two keywords. Long tail keywords means three or more keyword or keyword phrases. For example “marketing”, “business”, “co-working space” are general keywords and “marketing agency in new york”, “akimbo prepaid cards”, “digital marketing consultant for local business” are considered long tail keywords.
Relevant and Niche Based
This simply means that the keyword or keyword phrases have to be relevant to your products and services. If you’re selling golf carts you don’t want to focus on or use keywords like “new cars” or “used cars”. Those keywords have no relation to selling golf carts. So the keywords have to be targeted and relevant to your products and services.
Local Search vs. Global
Local search does not mean that the search is based on your area or that it’s even city wide. It means the number of people that searched in the United States versus an international search. So, based on your product and services select what is relevant to your business.
Volume
Volume means the number of searches per month. Keywords that have been searched 10,000 times a month does not translate to 10,000 people searching. It means the keywords were searched that many times. It could be only 1,000 people searching 10,000 times. The data is only for the search team and not people specifically.
How To Find and Perform Effective Keyword Research
When starting to do keyword research, start with general words and move on to long tail keywords. Log into Google Adwords tools (you must have a Gmail account), click on Tools and Analysis then select Keyword Tool and type the keyword “marketing agency” since this is the general keyword. Under the Match Types, select “Phrase” then put a check mark at “Only show ideas closely related to my search terms”. Put in the captcha and click Search.
Google Adwards Tools
As you can see beside the keyword we are searching, Google gave us variations of other keywords and key phrases that users are looking for. This will give you an idea about what else your clients are searching for when it comes to your products and services. Now let’s start using long tail keyword research. Let’s try with the key phrase “branding marketing agency”.
Google AdwardsTool Long tail keyword
You will notice the volume search per month for this long tail keyword is low compared to the general keywords. This is okay because long tail keywords can bring higher conversions in closing your sale than the general keywords. Keep in mind, you can also focus your keywords to a niche base. For example these terms are niche based – Hispanic marketing agency, digital marketing for real estate agency, etc…
When using the Google Adwords Tool look into the following items.
Phrase Match or Exact Match (Select phrase match or exact)
Competition (High, medium and low – select low)
Global/Local Monthly Search (select Local)
Monthly Volume
Click Through Rate (The parentage of clicking on the keywords )
Cost Per click (The dollar amount paid per click for keywords)
Dig deeper when doing keywords research and look at Google insights to find out if certain keywords are seasonal or if they are still being searched. Don’t collect just a few keywords, select and collect as many as you like. However, when it comes to optimizing your website you can pick the top 10 and the rest can be used for content marketing.
Now it’s your turn to perform keyword research . Log into Google Adwords and run some research for your products and services. Feel free to share your keywords below the comment section and let us know why you selected those and how you can implement them. I’ll be happy to guide and advise you on which keywords you need to focus on.