Keyword Optimising: First Catch Your Keywords…

So, if you want to get listed in the right places in the search engines, each page of your site that you want to appear in the engines has to be fully optimised.

The keywords that you decide to target will be used throughout the optimisation process. If you don’t choose the keywords your customers are searching on, then the right customers won’t find you in the search engines. If you can’t be found in the search engines, then how will anyone find your site? So, choosing the right keywords before you start optimising is essential. No pressure!

Don’t fret! Since keyword choice is so important for your site, I have put together a couple of tips to help you make the right choices. Remember that each page on your site that you want to appear should be optimised for different keywords and keyphrases, that is, the words and phrases that are relevant for each page. If you sell apartments in California , Florida and New York , and your site has a page for each area, then your campaign will be far more effective if the California page has California apartment related keyphrases, the Florida page has Florida apartment related keyphrases and so on. Each page will then have a different mix of keywords. Also, for converting visits into sales, the quicker you show them what they want, the more likely they are to go ahead and buy.

Also, let me politely but firmly point you in the direction of thinking keyphrases rather than keywords. People often refer to keywords when keyphrases would be closer to the mark. Keyphrases are made up of two, three, four or more keywords. There are two killer reasons why you should use longer strings rather than simple keywords.

First , the competition on ‘holidays’ or ‘mortgage’ is so intense that you’re not likely to get a sniff at a good ranking. If you change your term over to ‘holidays in antalya ’ or ‘ uk second mortgage bad credit’ you stand a much better chance of being visible. And it’s SO much better to be high for these terms than on page 79 for ‘holidays’.

The second reason dovetails beautifully with the first. If someone just types ‘holidays’ into a search engine then my guess is that they’re not that close to buying a holiday. They don’t even seem to know what country they want to go to! However, if they type in a more targeted keyword or keyphrase, such as ‘holiday villa antalya august’, then they already know what they want to buy. If your site is the one they choose from the results page of a more targeted search, then you’ve got a golden opportunity to sell them exactly what they want to buy!

To get your target audience coming to your site, put yourself in their shoes! What terms would they search for? It is important to focus on what your prospective customers are searching for and not what YOU would search for, or even what you WANT them to search for. You need to come up with as many relevant keyword phrases as possible for each page you are optimising.

How do you find the best terms? Research, research and research!

• First, start close to home. Ask your friends and family what they would type into a search engine if they were searching for your product. The less technically-minded the better, as the vast majority of internet users are not techies but normal, well-adjusted people! Conversely, ask them what else your keywords suggest to them. You might find it useful to see what associations other people derive from your keywords.
• One of the most useful tools is the Overture suggestion tool, which shows you how many searchers have typed in a particular keyword or keyphrase in the previous month for the engines covered. Although seasonality is an important issue here (for more on this see the LG Search Index), this tool can be a valuable guide.
• Let your competition help you get ideas. Put keywords that you already know you want to use into search engines, and visit the top sites that appear. You can view any page’s metatags by putting the page URL into http://www.widexl.com/remote/search-engines/metatag-analyzer.html. Remember that each page should have different tags. See anything you like? Then get the best use out of that keyword by incorporating it into your text. Make sure to only use the keywords that relate to the page you’re optimising.
• If your site is already live, you can put a search box into your site and record the terms your users enter. This is a gold mine of genuine search phrases that you should take into account when optimising.

Use as many sources as you can, and cross reference to find the keywords that will bring great business to your site. This masterlist of keywords now becomes one of your most valuable assets.

Next time we’ll take a look at how to write a successful title tag in
Part 3: Whetting The Appetite: Your Title Tag

Bon appetit!

Huw Thomas

Huw Thomas is the SEO Officer at LeadGenerators and knows more about Keyword Research than is strictly healthy.