With many
new business owners and webmasters exploring SEO for the first time,
this series of articles looks to assist with the basic information needed
to start a search engine marketing campaign.
In the
first part of the series, we will discuss the importance of a solid
foundation. When starting any SEO campaign it is tempting to leap straight
in and start tweaking meta tags and changing text. However, like any
successful marketing strategy, it is vital to ensure that you know whom
your audience is and how to reach them. In the same way traditional
advertising agencies survey their demographic audience, search engine
marketers must ensure that their SEO campaign targets the correct keywords
or search phrases. Target the wrong search phrase and you could end
up with great search engine rankings for keywords that have no search
requests. A few hours now spent ensuring that the correct search phrases
are targeted, can save months of useless optimization.
Brainstorm
When you
started your company you would have been foolish to stubbornly press
ahead with your products without first testing the market to see if
there was a demand. Likewise, when you start out on your SEO campaign
it is important to brainstorm search phrases that are likely to bring
qualified visitors to your website. Sit down with your co-workers and
business partners and discuss which keywords are relevant to the products
and services you offer. Compile an initial list of 5-10 search phrases
that you feel best represent your company and which you believe people
would type into a search engine when trying to find you. Consider the
following factors when brainstorming:
·
Is your audience likely to search for industry standard terms or simple
layman phrases?
· Which of your products are in stock?
· Which products have the highest profit margin?
· View competitors' websites.
· Analyze any date you have collected from your pay-per-click
(PPC) campaigns to determine which keywords convert well.
Expanding your Keyword list
Once you
have completed your brainstorming and have compiled your list of 5-10
core keywords, it's time to move on and expand that list. At this point,
you need to turn to the search engines themselves and research which
search phrases are actually being typed into Google, Yahoo, MSN et al.
While few search engines will openly tell you which search phrases are
the most often searched, there are a couple of very useful tools you
can use to expand your list.
The first
and most well known, is the Overture Search Suggestion Tool. This great
little research tool is primarily for the use of Overture PPC users
and if you have ever endeavored on a PPC campaign with Overture, you
will no doubt have come across it. While useful, and free, it does have
limitations.
If you
are serious about your SEO campaign, you will consider a subscription
to WordTracker to be a worthwhile investment. The biggest advantage
with WordTracker is that is uses Meta-Crawlers when sourcing search
phrase frequencies. This eliminates inflated search phrase frequencies
from Overture users checking their own rankings and thus artificially
increasing the popularity of certain phrases. In addition WordTracker
offers the following advantages:
·
Offers a "thesaurus" and "lateral" search. Allowing
you to view search phrases that are related to your main search term,
but not necessarily containing that term.
· Shows search frequencies for both singular and plural phrases.
· Identifies which form of punctuation is the most popular.
· Has an exclusive KEI analyzer that allows you to compare the
popularity of the search phrase with the number of websites competing
for that keyword.
Determining
Competition
Once you
have identified possible additions to your search phrase list, you must
research further to determine if there is a good chance you will achieve
your prized top search engine ranking or if the competition for that
phrase is already saturated. There are two ways to do this:
·
WordTracker's KEI (keyword effectiveness index) allows it's users to
analyze their chosen search phrases to determine the level of competition
for that phrase.
· If using Overture for keyword research, there is an alternative
answer. Enter each identified search phrase at Google, using quotations
around the phrase (e.g. "discount computers"). Google will
then display the search results for all pages that target that phrase
exactly as entered. These are your competitors.
Selecting
Your Keywords
By now,
you should have an expanded list of search phrases to target, taken
from either Overture or WordTracker. In addition, you should also have
a good idea as to the competition for each of those keywords, whether
you used the KEI or Google format. Now is the time to start selecting
the search phrases that will form the foundation for a successful SEO
campaign. Ok, deep breath, we're almost there.
When selecting
the keywords to target, there are many factors you must take into consideration.
You will no doubt have your own unique considerations, but you must
also take into account the following:
·
Is the search phrase relevant to your website and the page that you
are optimizing?
· Is there a page within your website that would be particularly
suitable for targeting the selected search phrase?
· How many other websites/web pages would you be competing against?
· Do you offer competitive pricing for the product or service
that relates to the keyword?
· Will top search engine ranking for the search phrase generate
enough revenue for your company?
Once you have asked yourself the above questions, it will become easy
to narrow down your list to the main search phrases that you wish to
target. When doing so, remember that you should not try and target every
selected search term on your index page. Identify the most relevant
page for your selected keywords and use that page for targeting rankings.
In summary
When researching
search phrases and targeting keywords for your SEO campaign, it is important
to follow the steps above. Research your industry, talk to your potential
customers and make use of the themes within your website. In addition,
consider these final tips:
·
Determine the intent of the visitor
Thoroughly research all search terms to ensure that the searcher intended
to find your product or service. E.g. reconsider targeting the keyword
"DVD" if you store only sells blank DVD discs, the chances
are the searcher intended to find DVD movies rather than blank media.
·
Don't always rely on the numbers
Both Overture and WordTracker use historical date when displaying search
phrase frequencies and neither archive more than two months back. Therefore
you must know your industry and account for any seasonal or other trends.
·
Look for opportunities
Identify the search phrases that have been untapped by your competitors.
Some search terms may have slightly fewer searches, but may have dramatically
fewer competitors.
I hope you have found the above useful. This series is designed to help
the beginner, but I hope a few experienced SEO marketers will find something
fresh to consider. In the next installment of this series, we will look
at the use of Meta Tags. These once champions of SEO have recently taken
a battering, but are still extremely important for the success of any
campaign. We'll look at how they are used, how to construct them and
why they can help achieve top search engine rankings. In the meantime,
you should have enough information to assist you in your search phrase
research and build the foundation for a successful search engine optimization
campaign.
Bio:
Andy Beal
is Vice President of ProRanking.com, specialists in professional search
engine optimization. Highly respected as a source of search engine marketing
advice, Andy has had articles published around the world and has spoken
at Danny Sullivan's Search Engine Strategies conferences.