Keyword selection is crucial to the success of any search engine optimisation campaign and is always the first place to start.
Some experts recommend beginning your keyword research even before you build your website. While this may not be practical for
everyone, it certainly makes sense to start your keyword research at the earliest opportunity.
There are various strategies for choosing your keywords - some or all of which may be useful.
As a general rule it makes sense to split the process into 2 stages. First draw up a large list including all the possible
combinations. Then use keyword tools to focus in on the most effective keywords for your business.
Expanding your Keyword List
Start by drawing up a list of words and phrases that relate to your company, your products and
services. Ask other people to help as well, for example, staff members, friends, family, and anyone else you can think of.
If you are in the position to do so, find out directly from your existing customers.
It is important to recognise that the most suitable keywords are not necessarily the ones which
you think are the best, but those which will bring you the most customers. The keywords you want to focus on are the
ones which people type into the search engines when they are looking for the information, products or services which you
have to offer.
If you have access to your server logs or a web statistics programme you may be able to find
out which keywords visitors are currently using to access your site. You can capitalise on this information by optimising
your pages to further promote the products and services that people are already interested in.
Another approach is to learn from your competitors. If you already know who your competitors
are take a look at their websites to determine which keywords they are using. Or try searching in Google or Yahoo for the
products and services you offer to see which websites appear at the top of the search engine results. This way you can
learn from companies who are already leading the field.
Keyword Research Tools
A number of software tools are available to help in the keyword selection process. Once you have an
initial list of keywords you will want to analyse them in more detail. Here is a small selection of the most popular tools available:
Most of these tools are free so you can experiment with your keywords and phrases to get a feel for how the different tools work.
All of these tools will help you to expand your keyword list. Type in some of your main keywords and you will be shown a list of
alternative, additional and related terms and phrases. You will also be able to see how many people are searching for the terms listed. Make a list
of any new phrases appropriate to your business as well as the number of searches.
Selecting the Best Keywords
Having got to this stage, you should now have a long list of keywords and phrases. But which ones are the best to use? At first sight it may
seem that the most popular search terms are the best terms to target. However, if there are too many competing web pages with the same terms it
will be harder for your site to achieve a high ranking.
The best keywords to choose should have a high popularity (a large number of searches) without being overly competitive (appearing on
fewer web pages). This is sometimes called the Keyword Effectiveness Indicator or KEI. At least to begin with, it will be easier for you
to rank higher for less competitive terms.
Another mistake is to focus on keywords that are too general. General phrases tend to be less targeted, so although you may attract visitors
to your site, they may not be the right sort of visitors. Instead choose highly focussed keywords that are directly relevant to your business.
This way, when visitors arrive at your site, they get exactly what they are looking for, and you get a customer who is more likely to buy your
products and services.
Finally, you may find that your keyword research actually generates new ideas for your business, by uncovering popular terms that you had not
previously considered. In this case, you may want to expand your site content by building themed pages around your newly discovered keywords and
phrases. This will enable you to tap into new markets and attract even more customers.
