Keyword Selection
Overview
Keyword selection is the most important factor determining your search engine optimization. Through keyword research you are basically making an educated guess about industry-specific terms your target audience enters into search engines.
Your goal as a marketer is to utilize these keywords and rank as high as possible on Google when potential customers search for services or products that your company offers. Thus, if you are in the gardening business, for example, your website should be among the first to appear when customers search for landscape design. In the end, the purpose of relevant keywords is to win you lots of organic traffic and enhance your Web presence.
Step by Step
Conduct research
In order to enhance your SEO efforts, you have to conduct keyword research that will define the keywords your customers are searching for. By doing some basic research on your buyers and then creating content that appeals to them, your site will be much more effective.
Brainstorm ideas and make a list of potential keywords that you consider relevant and potentially searchable. Try to come up with phrases that are frequently used, yet targeted enough to your company. Make sure to analyze your website’s search activity in terms of winning search terms. Consult with business partners, co-workers and friends who can provide valuable feedback on the keyword list.
Tools to Use
There are many tools you can use to conduct a more sophisticated keyword research. Analytics reports like Google’s AdWords Keyword Tool, KeywordDiscovery and WordTracker can help you to not only improve your keyword selection but to also research recent trends in online markets.
According to KeywordDiscovery, "Over 80% of all online transactions begin with a keyword search." So you really need to be using optimized keywords and measuring their impact on your lead generation. Keyword tools will get you in the customer mindset and teach you the communication linguistics of your target audience. In this sense, you are “optimizing your web pages for the language of your customers."
Choose Favorites
After you have created a list of relevant keywords, try to choose favorites. Optimize the top most profitable keywords for Pay Per Click (PPC) campaigns and observe how they rank on the keyword effectiveness index (KEI). Such PPC adjustments can significantly increase lead conversions.
You can also use a more complex Keyword Grader to analyze monthly searches and levels of competitiveness. Thus, you can track your keywords, filter out the unsuccessful ones and experiment with new wording combinations.