Keyword Research An Overview
A fundamental aspect of any SEO campaign is carrying out effective keyword research. This is a key element of on page optimisation. The initial step in the process of formulating a keyword strategy is to brain storm and research the targeted keywords that are relevant to your market niche. At Goy Media when we carry out an SEO audit, we will also carry out some in depth keyword analysis to identify the keywords that our potential client is already targeting.
We also use a variety of tools and assessments to identify other keyword opportunities that are competitive and that will also drive targeted traffic. It is important to ensure that we have a list of core terms or ‘money terms’ that are relevant and popular search terms that potential customers will use to look for what you offer. These keywords will be the most competitive to rank for but will drive the most traffic to the site. Initially identifying a core list is a good starting base.
Keyword Research | Building A Successful Strategy
- Be Realistic
There are many useful tools to use when carrying out keyword research with the Google keyword tool being the most widely used. Generally a good technique can be to identify and target the top keywords with high search volume. These high competition keywords can however be very hard to compete for unless you have a good budget or have employed a leading SEO company such as Goy Media.
A good tip for smaller businesses that are starting out can be to target less trafficked and less competitive keywords. Targeting these keywords will help to build up your rankings and overtime it will be easier to then compete and rank well for the more generic and competitive keywords.
- Using the Google Keyword Tool
When using the Google keyword tool, it is important to look at the search volume which is of course a very important metric when it comes to keyword research. One common mistake not to make is using broad search volumes instead of the exact match figure when using tools like Google's Keyword Tool. A typical example can be that every month there are 132,000 broad matches for dog leads but 14,000 exact match searches for the same keyword.
Using exact match gives you the best data available when assessing how viable a keyword is to target. The Google's Keyword Tool isn't entirely accurate when it comes to search volumes but it is a free tool that can be a good starting base for anybody new to keyword research. There can be a huge difference between broad match and exact match search traffic so using the exact match is the best solution.
- Singular and Plural
In many cases a website will be targeting the plural version of a keyword even though in most circumstances, it is the singular version of a keyword that people are searching for. Targeting both is a good strategy by starting to target the singular followed by the plural.
- Targeting Keywords that Convert
A good keyword strategy will target keywords that are converting well. For example there would be no point in having a keyword bringing lots of traffic to the website if that traffic is not converting into sales. The online world of internet marketing is very competitive and it's only going to get more competitive. Search engines are now becoming more advanced and user’s behaviour is forever evolving. It is very important to have industry experience and SEO knowledge when looking at keywords that are going to convert.
There are some very basic indicators for example prefixes such as 'buy' might be a sure indicator that the traffic from this keyword is going to convert. At Goy Media, one method that we use to identify keywords that will convert is to run a PPC campaign. The analytics data will show the click through rate and conversions. In some cases we have had keywords that are ranking no 1 and driving lots of traffic to the site but there are very few conversions.
In other cases we have had keywords ranking lower with less traffic but the conversion rate is much higher. In this case it is important to analyse and to interpret the data and make effective SEO decisions. Analysing data effectively is a major component in successfully building a good keyword and SEO strategy. It is generally perceived that what works for PPC will normally work for Organic search. Having goal tracking setup with Google Analytics is an easy way to determine the highest converting keywords your site currently gets traffic from.
- Select Keywords that are focussed and not out of Context
There are many opportunities for confused targeting and people that use a broad term could be looking something completely different. It is therefore essential that the keywords you decide to target are highly-relevant and much focused towards what your business offers
- Keyword Review
Regular keyword reviews are essential to any business as markets shift, new opportunities arrive, search engines become more advanced and customer search behaviour develops. At Goy Media we are constantly keeping ourselves ahead of the game and trying out new techniques. We will target clusters of keywords focussing and optimising on a group at a time whilst researching new opportunities. Reviewing keyword performance and analysing important metrics such as search volume, competition, conversion and bounce rate are important factors.
