It begins with your headline before you start the journey of your thoughts that are put forth in the article that follows. Using right keywords will ensure that you hit the right target. Keep this in view when putting together your keyword phrases list:
What is a keyword phrase?
To begin with, it is important to understand what your business needs are and what are the primary objectives. For this, we use the right keywords so that Google pulls up your site to the front list of search items whenever a user or customer types it in the browser.
For example, as a part of your business, you want to sell a white t-shirt for ladies. To appear on the top pages of Google’s search results your content should be filled with keywords and phrases such as “buy white t-shirts for ladies”, “attractive white t-shirt for ladies”, “ladies white t-shirt prices”, etc.
Further, where the number of products and services that you offer is expansive and you have an exhaustive range then you would be looking at a wider market. You may likely target shoppers at various stages of sales such as those who are researching for some specific products, those reading reviews about products and those comparing prices of products from different sources.
You can divide them into different groups and split them into buyer type, buyer stage, product type or region. Avoid keywords that are an extension of what you have already. For example, when you have used “buy white t-shirts” it doesn’t make any sense in adding “buying white t-shirts”.
Refine your keyword list
Many businesses have the habit of assigning certain keywords each time they optimize their web pages. Often these keywords are not just about SEO but also about defining a company’s marketing campaign.
Some attributes to refine your keywords list are:
- Focus on some good phrases. Keep it simple to define your products and services in the best way possible.
- Avoid vanity keywords and use more specific keywords to come up in the rankings significantly.
- Product attributes such as colour, style, design, and shape, etc. should be spelt out.
- Unique problems that people experience which your product can solve.
- Anything specific or unique to your business.
Review how competitive the keywords are
One way to figure out keywords that are worth using frequently is the words which advertisers are interested in and willing to pay for. Google AdWords allows website owners to have their ads show for specific keywords. It is a quick way to target keywords although it involves some cost.
Google AdWords Keyword Planner will give valuable feedback on keywords that you want to use in your business. You can verify the expected cost per click, i.e. the amount advertisers are willing to pay for this keyword. Where advertisers are willing to pay more than $2 in New Zealand then it becomes clear that the keyword has prominence in the market and if used can translate into sales.
It is a universal truth that advertisers don’t pay for something which doesn’t sell. And these are words which specify commercial intent which gives an indication that buyers type those keywords not for window shopping but for buying. Use highly competitive keywords for later use if you are just starting out as you need to establish in the market before taking on the big guns.
Check your current ranking
The first step begins by checking your current ranking and where you stand before you start building your website with chosen keywords. This will enable you to chart your progress in due course. It will help you also determine whether you are on the right path and whether you are getting good results.
Check your current ranking through Google search and then scan the results page by page. You can change your settings to show more than 10 results on the search homepage. Change the results set to verbatim at the top under search tools to remove personalization which tends to uplift websites that you visited previously higher up in the results. Incidentally, this is a good reason for encouraging traffic on to your website.
Periodically review your target market
Just as technology changes and customer thinking changes, over a period of time words used also change. There will be new forms, abbreviations, and thoughts which are coined in daily conversation written and verbatim. To keep abreast of this you need to be aware of the performance of your product in the market. Is it still well received? For example, “mobile-friendly” has gained popularity with the introduction of smartphones and tablets. People use hand-held devices to gather information. So you need to keep moving with the changing times.
Have in place a keyword list and keep it expanding. Put them to best use in your blogs, tags, and titles or keep it peppering on your website to draw attention. Use them also when getting links from other websites. When kicking off an SEO project or when optimizing the website, keywords have a prominent role to play.
