Targeting the RIGHT Keywords for Your SEO Campaign

Hey folks, I read on the feedbacks that you guys wanna have more articles on search engine optimization.

While I do have some decent knowledge of SEO, that’s not really my core marketing interest.

But nevertheless, I got you a very very good article on SEO from EarlyToRise.com.

I’m sure you will enjoy it. So read on!

By Edwin Huertas

Keywords are the most basic components of search engine optimization (SEO). Once you know how to use them, you can drive your site to the top of the search engines… get more targeted traffic to your website… more sign-ups… and, eventually, make more sales.

Keywords describe your content – what your website is about. They should be embedded in each and every one of your Web pages to allow search engines tofind your site. For example, ETR’s website keywords might include business tips, business advice, home business, and so on.

Now picking keywords to help optimize your site involves a little more than just thumping out a list. You have to do a little research. But it’s not very time-consuming. And it can have huge returns.

In my experience, researching words that are suited to your product prior tobeginning your SEO work will give you a better perspective for performing yourSEO tasks. And you don’t have to optimize your site for the broadest, most popular keywords around.

Popular Is Not Always Best

I would NEVER begin my SEO process before carefully researching the absolute best keywords to use. After all, what good is it to optimize your website if your potential customers hardly ever search for the words you’ve chosen? Some website owners optimize for words THEY think are important. But the simple fact is that YOUR words might have a low search volume … or may never be searched at all.

I started optimizing websites over 10 years ago (before most people knew what search engine optimization was), and it always drove me crazy when a client would want to rank for a "single" keyword and nothing else. If, for instance, you have a website that sells hiking equipment and you try to rank only for "hiking equipment," you’ll miss out on a lot of targeted visitors. There are literally hundreds (if not thousands) of keyword combinations you could use to develop a good keyword list – like "snow shoes," "hiking boots," "walking sticks," "lightweight tents," and so on.

Limiting yourself to single keywords is not the way to go. Those keywords are likely to be highly competitive – so, by using them, you’ll have a hard time getting your website within the top 10 results of a search engine. As a result, they’ll get you almost no traffic. Instead, generate a broader range of keywords and spread them throughout your site’s Web pages.

When researching and developing a good keyword list, you can make your job much easier by taking the following into account:

The competition you will face for a particular keyword. Don’t be afraid to use keywords that are not searched for as often as the more popular ones.

Let’s use the keyword "mortgages" as an example. If you type "mortgages" into Google, you’ll get around 86 million results. So sites optimized for this single keyword are competing with over 86 million other websites for the same traffic. But sites targeting "New York mortgages" instead are competing with only 5 million other websites. And sites targeting even narrower sets of keywords have an even better chance of ranking higher in the search engines … and getting more targeted traffic.

The specificity of the search term. When people search for a single keyword, they usually get too many results – and not always the results they are looking for. So most fine-tune their searches by including more words.

Let’s say you own a bakery that specializes in cupcakes. If a potential customer for your cupcakes searches the word "bakery"on Google, they will be presented with nearly 40 million results. If they fine-tune their search to "cupcake bakery," Google will return less than two million results (which makes the searcher’s job a lot easier). At the same time, by being more specific with your keywords ("cupcake bakery" instead of "bakery"), you get less competition from other bakeries. That means your chances of attaining a good search engine position will be higher … and you’ll be more likely to attract a customer who will buy from you.

How to Pick the Best Keywords for Your Site

There are many free online resources you can use to find the right keywords for your site. Just do a search for "keyword tool" on any search engine and you’ll have plenty of options. I like Word Tracker (wordtracker.com), but you might prefer one of the following:

• adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
• keywordspy.com
• keyworddiscovery.com
• tools.seobook.com/keyword-tools/seobook/
• selfseo.com/keyword_suggestion_tool.php
• submitexpress.com/keytracker.php

I once took on a client who was trying his hardest to get his site to the top of the search engines. He manufactured prefabricated steel structures, and had been hoping to achieve high search engine ranking with a few variations of the keyword "steel buildings."

By doing my research, I found that many people were searching for relevant keywords that he had never even considered. For instance, more people searched for "metal buildings" than "steel buildings." And there were thousands who searched for "steel pole barns," "metal garages," and "metal carports."

We reworked his SEO efforts, focusing on the alternatives I had found. And in less than two months, his site was getting lots of new traffic and leads from people looking up those keywords. For one of them – "metal carport"- he ranked in the top 5 spots on most major search engines. And that, alone, brought in about 500 new visitors per day.

Remember… there are probably thousands of keyword combinations you can use for your website. Even if the keywords you choose aren’t the most popular… or don’t get millions of searches every day… they can still help drive thousands of targeted visitors directly to your site.

So take your time and do it right. Compiling the perfect combination of keywords for your website will help you immensely with your SEO efforts.

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[Ed. Note:

Send your SEO questions to AskETR@ETRFeedback.com. Include your name and hometown, and one of ETR's SEO experts just may answer your question in an upcoming issue.]

Let me know your thoughts on this article.

I’m all ears.

Tags: Business, Marketing, E-MoneyMarketing, Online Marketing

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Great article, thanks for sharing.

Keyword research is a must these days, and if done properly it can bring very good results. And as you have stated targeting long tail keywords will give you better conversions, as people will find exactly what they were looking for.

US Citizens last blog post..Owning a Business in the U.S.

i totally agree with you that now a days keyword research is necessary for seo campaign, its helpful for campaign driving towards success.

This is a great article! I see too many place more importance on their PR than on their keyword selection. By ranking well for keywords that will bring in traffic you will get way more sale than if you struggle to get that PR up and worry about highly competitive keywords.

That’s a great article – thanks. When researching keywords I also start with the AdWords tool, especially as it now includes approximate search numbers.

It’s amazing how searching for keywords to target can also help the creativity process, particularly when it comes to what new articles to write.

particularly when it comes to what new articles to write.

Instead, generate a broader range of keywords and spread them throughout your site’s Web pages.

Great post on choosing keyword guide. I only use adword keyword external tool. Others are still new for me. Learned something new from you today.

Work At Homes last blog post..Search Engine Traffic

Right Keyword searching is the major thing for seo compaign, it will give the inventiness to the compaign. Its a good article showing the right tips to choose right keyword.

I appreciate you finding this for us, I’m bookmarking it to read later!

Great thoughts on keywords.I have bookmarked all the sites you have mentioned.Hope this works out well

spyfu user reviews last blog post..AdSpy Pro

Keyword is the heart of the seo. Every site must have related and competitive keywords. Your article explained lots my friend………. So people choose best keywords for your site and optimize and get gain for your site.

Keyword is the soul of SEO.A good online mareketing agent should make optimum use of keywords.The sites u suggested are fantastic!!!

spyfu reviewss last blog post..AdSpy Pro

I couldn’t agree more, KR is the key to a successful website, and focusing on “long tail keywords” is the only way to go if you want quick results. Keep up the informative posts.

Keyword analysis is the vital factor in Search engine optimization…Alwaya we should concentrate on popular keywords count with less competitors

I himself use Google adwords keywords tool and seobook keyword research tool to try various keyword combinations

Health insurance Indias last blog post..FAQs on Personal Loans

I also usually use google’s keyword tool and wordtracker in researching for keywords. I found this sometimes to be confusing, as there are lot of things to consider when choosing keywords (popularity, competition etc.).

Webmaster Staffings last blog post..Outsource Domain Registration and Management

Search engine optimization is not depend on Keywords selection but there are also so many important things which are play very important role in search engine optimization.

And also there is important thing is off page optimization.

So try to write some content on same title due to that user will get some clarification about search engine optimization.

Keyword research is allways the first thing I do when starting a new campaign. Its a good way of focusing your resources and time with the keywords that have the highest potential of driving traffic to the site in question.

I totally agree with “Hot Mobile Store”
Keyword is the utmost important in SEO. We should give a very good keyword to appear it in search result.

Jill Hins last blog post..Gifts For Someone You love

yeah i couldnt agree more you’ve got to do the key word optimization to do good!

Wall Street Stock Kings last blog post..Things you probably need to know about the Fed.

thanks for mentioning this topic here… it has lot to learn… i m doing seo…… things of mine interest here..

I’ll buy you two beers:)) Nice post!

Great links, and wise advice.

FYI, Keyword Discovery tries to ‘hide’ their free version, which is actually here: http://www.keyworddiscovery.com/search.html

I bookmark that page instead of the home page.

The article is great. You are right that you can’t get more traffic and results with only popular keywords, sometimes unique keywords that others don’t use will give you good results and conversion. Long tail keywords and local targated keywords will be better always from the conversion point of view. If you are working for client then use only what client wants. :)

Thanks for sharing, it’s really a good article. Your opinion about unique keyword is exellent, i’ve never thought about it. Thanks for idea.

Thanks for sharing, great article.
BTW I was looking for that Keyword Discovery page. Thanks Airsoft.

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That’s a great article! Choosing the right keywords is as important as search engine optimization itself. The qualities of good keywords are high search volume, low competition, and relevance to your product. That way you get huge amounts of targeted traffic easily. If that isn’t important, I don’t know what is.

Thanks, Very Nice post!

Thank you so much for the article, I agree with you because after days of research I have finally found a way to go for the correct keywords, easy to rank and get the most sales.

Quite interesting ! Keyword Stuffing is using your keywords too often on your web page. I think it shouldn’t be increased.

alexaldons last blog post..What is earnings per share

Thank you for sharing. Will definatley use it. Hurry up and post again! =)

Great post. Thank you very much for sharing. I am looking forward for more posting.

Real Estate Wordpresss last blog post..Summer Nights

Hey man very use full article for seo champion and i am totally agree with you for keyword research. and we can get good result. and one more think about found our competitor in market.

Thank for share this article

Keyword is the main source of seo marketing. But right use can give results or more traffic. Overuse may hurt.

nice info thx

Ten years is SEO is quite god. You must have achieved alot.

Are keywords with high search results always the best for you? How do you find the competition for a keyword?

Lillas last blog post..Looking for experts

I went for a keyword that only had a few competition and got up there in no time, but for the larger keywords, it took a longggg time.

Jordanss last blog post..Original Fake Pillow – Companion

Keywords research is the main part of seo. This is not very easy task. Keyword research is a very tuff task. We have to put efforts for it. You have post extremely good. Thanks for this information.

Thanks so much for the information. It is really helpful.

Liver cancer symptomss last blog post..What are the symptoms of liver cancer?

Good post and thanks for the link Airsoft Rifles.

This guy Edwin that wrote the article REALLY knows his stuff! I’ve worked with him in the past.

@Michelle:

Yes, judging from the article, he definitely knows his stuff. And that’s why the article is here. =)

Cheers,
Jag

I personally pay for wordtracker and would recommend it to others. It’s well worth it for me.

keyword research is very important when doing seo, but you must also use LSI keywords also during seo that way google apprecciates your site as a legit authority.

I totally agree with you regarding keyword research. I generally use Google analytics to research more profitable keyword for my sites. I can get list of search terms used by users to visit my site and promote those keywords more and more to get better rank.

google analytics can be very useful when narrowing your kw list to target only the most profitable keywords, it definitely will help when optimizing for rankings.

Agree that we don’t need to be afraid to use keywords that is seldom search by people.It’s easier than competing with people for the words that are commonly search.

keywords is main key to support our success online, thanks for recommend and link