So you have decided to venture out into the world of SEO.
The first thing you will need to do is determine the direction of your campaign
in relation to the key phrases you are choosing to target. This article will
focus on how to find keywords for your organic campaign, as the process is
slightly different for PPC.
Many site owners know immediately what phrases they want. If you
feel like you know what you want, before you start take a brief step back and
assess if this really is the best phrase for your site. Yes, it just may very
well be the perfect phrase, but if it isn't, you could wind up spending a lot
of time and monëy pursuing a ranking that either will nevër happen, or will
provide very little value to your site.
There are a few key areas to look at when
choosing a target phrase:
1. Relevance – Is this phrase even relevant to your site and its
content?
2. Search Frequency – Are people even searching for this phrase?
3. Competition – How competitive is this field? Is it even a feasible
target?
Where to start – Create a Líst of Phrases
So where do you even start with all this keyword research. Before looking up
search frequencies and competition you need to create a líst of relevant
phrases. Open up an excel sheet and type out all relevant phrases that come to
mind, do a little brainstorming as there are no wrong answers at this stage.
After you have exhausted your thoughts, move
over to your website. Open it up and navigate throughout recording any keyword
phrase ideas that spring up checking your title tags and body content. Once
this is done, do the same thing with your competition. Visit some sites that
you know are in direct competition with you and go through them recording any
relevant phrases you see.
By now you should have a long líst of
potential targets, a líst that will grow further as you look into their search
frequencies.
Find a Keyword Tool
The next step is to open up your favorite keyword research tool. There are many
to choose from, two of the more popular being WordTracker and
Keyword
Discovery, although many still use the free, Overture tool. It is important to
note that no keyword tools give you 100% accurate search figures. In most cases
you will get numbers representing a sampling from various search engines. These
numbers are best used in comparing one phrase to another to find out which is
more popular, rather than determining specifically how much traffíc to expect.
Review the Search Frequency
Once you've opened up a keyword tool, begin entering your keyword phrases and
record their noted search frequency. Be sure to scroll through the results
recording any additional phrases that are both relevant and have acceptable
search frequencies. The exact number of searches required to make a phrase
acceptable depends widely on industry, and even the search tool being used. A
phrase with only 100 searches per month may be perfect for a secondary target,
but in most cases may not be the best bet for a primary phrase.
Sorting Your Líst
You now should have a very exhaustive líst of potential target phrases and
their corresponding search frequencies. Sort this líst in descending order
based on the number of searches, so that the most popular phrase is at the very
top. In many industries, the top few phrases may be completely impractical to
target due to the competition, but we'll determine that a bit later.
Review the Competition
The next step is to get a feel for how competitive these phrases are. In the
next column in your spreadsheet, place the number of results returned by Google
for each individual phrase. The lower the number of competing pages, in most
cases, the easier it may be to achieve rankings. (Note: this is not always the
case, but it is an indicator).
At this point, you will have a long líst
sorted by search frequency, along with the number of competing pages. If you
are fortunate, you will see one phrase immediately that jumps out – solid
searches with low competition. This just may be the most ideal target phrase.
Does this phrase fit well with the theme of
your site? If so, go to Google and take a closer look at the ranking websites.
Does your site fit in with the general feel of these results? In some cases it
may not, as your phrase could have different meanings (especially true if using
acronyms). This phrase may represent a completely different part of the world
if geographically targeted, or simply may be littered with mega competitors
such as eBay, Amazon, WikiPedia, and others. If you can see your site fitting
in with these results, it's time to assess the general feasibility of this
phrase.
Take a look at the number of back links, and
indexed pages each site has. Do your numbers compare? If you find that the top
10 ranking sites all have back links well into the tens of thousands, and your
site has a dozen or so, you may want to consider a different phrase. If the
ranking sites are in the high tens, or low hundreds, and your site has a dozen
links, then you have something to work with, if you are willing to work on
increasing your link counts. The number of pages indexed is less important than
links, but if you have a 6 page site and you are planning on competing with
thousand page sites, your chances of success will be much lower.
The real key is to try to find a phrase that
offers relevance, decent searches, and competition that is not way out of your
league
. Pick a Phrase to Drive Qualified
Traffíc
For organic SEO it is usually best to focus on one primary phrase that best
suits your site, while targeting more specific secondary phrases for relevant
sections of your site. With organic SEO, how many phrases you should target is
somewhat limited by the size of your site, the largër the site, the more
phrases you will have the ability to work towards.
The phrase with the most searches is not
always the best fit. This is largely true with the real estate market.
Because everyone has frëe access, I will use
the Overture Keyword Selector Tool for an example. The phrase "real
estate" saw 3,057,037 searches in January of 07. On the surface this
phrase seems like a dream come true, but you have to consider the geographic
issues.
If your office serves the
most cases no. Targeting the phrase "
much better choice as it would deliver more qualified traffíc. While this
phrase is still quite competitive, it is not nearly as difficult as simply
"real estate". Take a look at the big picture and determine not only
how likely it is that you may achieve rankings, but whether the traffíc
generated from such a ranking would actually have a positive impact on sales.
Conclusion
Doing some research to find the best target phrase is the groundwork for your
SEO campaign. Without it you'll be flying blind with no clear direction on
goals. Take the time up front to do a little research and determine whether the
dream phrase you have in mind is a worthwhile target or not. If it turns out
that it's not, it's better to find out before you invest your time and monëy on
an SEO campaign. Knowing the level of competition and search frequencies for a
target phrase beforehand will help you make informed decisions and give you the
best chances for success.
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