Keyword Mania
The concept of keywords sounds very simple. When a person types in a word or series of words, such as ‘Power Widgets’ into the search box on Google, the search engine will find every web page which has these two words on it, even if they are not next to each other on the website – even if they are on different pages of the website. What is not so simple about keywords is figuring out which are the right words your customers will use to look for your product or service. Those are the ones that need to be on your website for Google to find.
There is a false belief that there are some ‘magic’ words which can be put onto any webpage which will cause it to be number one on the search results page on Google. Some people recommend putting words such as “SEX” or “Jessica Simpson” on a web page to increase it number of visitors. There is debate whether or not this really works these days, however, even if it does work in raising your hit count, is it truly increasing the number of real customers that are visiting your website?
The true art of keywords is figuring out what words potential customers use as a search term when looking for your product or service and insuring that those words are not just scattered on your website, but placed correctly to ensure that you, and not your competitor, will be on the top of the search results page.
Where to start? Start by looking over the words that make up the company, product or service of your website and create a list of words based on this. I often refer to this as my priority words list. If a person knows about the website they will normally type in this information first. I then make a list of words which are about the product or service, but not company specific and refer to these as my secondary word list. Some of the words might overlap with the priority list but that is alright. I then give those words much more attention. I then make a third list of words which I call my outside list. This is a list that made up of words, such as possible typos, which people might type in looking for a product. I would also include competitor’s products and any other non-obvious words that research reveals as likely search terms.
Assuming that this is for a website that has been up and running for a while, after I have my lists I would then look at both the website statistics and Google Analytics and compare my list of words with what is in these other reports. By going though the comparison process one can see which Keywords are been actively used and which ones can be improved upon.
It should be noted at this point that people should be careful of not falling into the trap of Google Analytics being the sole guide to creating keywords. Google only captures active information and what Google thinks is important. I also like to look over a website server’s raw statistics to see if there is extra data that Google is not capturing. Based on Google Analytics and the server’s stats a good deal of information can analyze and processed.
What are you looking for in this data? You are looking to see what words people are really using to find your website. You need to recognize that all words on your website are keywords.
This means that every word and sentence is important especially on the home page, landing pages and main pages of a website. Do not underestimate the need for well written content. If writing isn’t your strength, hire someone to do it for you. Don’t pass off this important job to just anyone. Money spent on improving your website will be paid back in hits and sales.
In the next article we will discuss how to focus and target your choice of Keywords.
Technorati Tags: keywords, seo, website, web site, b2b, business-to-business, web marketing
This article was first published October 9, 2008 on the Tatum Marketing blog
The concept of keywords sounds very simple. When a person types in a word or series of words, such as ‘Power Widgets’ into the search box on Google, the search engine will find every web page which has these two words on it, even if they are not next to each other on the website – even if they are on different pages of the website. What is not so simple about keywords is figuring out which are the right words your customers will use to look for your product or service. Those are the ones that need to be on your website for Google to find.
There is a false belief that there are some ‘magic’ words which can be put onto any webpage which will cause it to be number one on the search results page on Google. Some people recommend putting words such as “SEX” or “Jessica Simpson” on a web page to increase it number of visitors. There is debate whether or not this really works these days, however, even if it does work in raising your hit count, is it truly increasing the number of real customers that are visiting your website?
The true art of keywords is figuring out what words potential customers use as a search term when looking for your product or service and insuring that those words are not just scattered on your website, but placed correctly to ensure that you, and not your competitor, will be on the top of the search results page.
Where to start? Start by looking over the words that make up the company, product or service of your website and create a list of words based on this. I often refer to this as my priority words list. If a person knows about the website they will normally type in this information first. I then make a list of words which are about the product or service, but not company specific and refer to these as my secondary word list. Some of the words might overlap with the priority list but that is alright. I then give those words much more attention. I then make a third list of words which I call my outside list. This is a list that made up of words, such as possible typos, which people might type in looking for a product. I would also include competitor’s products and any other non-obvious words that research reveals as likely search terms.
Assuming that this is for a website that has been up and running for a while, after I have my lists I would then look at both the website statistics and Google Analytics and compare my list of words with what is in these other reports. By going though the comparison process one can see which Keywords are been actively used and which ones can be improved upon.
It should be noted at this point that people should be careful of not falling into the trap of Google Analytics being the sole guide to creating keywords. Google only captures active information and what Google thinks is important. I also like to look over a website server’s raw statistics to see if there is extra data that Google is not capturing. Based on Google Analytics and the server’s stats a good deal of information can analyze and processed.
What are you looking for in this data? You are looking to see what words people are really using to find your website. You need to recognize that all words on your website are keywords.
This means that every word and sentence is important especially on the home page, landing pages and main pages of a website. Do not underestimate the need for well written content. If writing isn’t your strength, hire someone to do it for you. Don’t pass off this important job to just anyone. Money spent on improving your website will be paid back in hits and sales.
In the next article we will discuss how to focus and target your choice of Keywords.
Fri, Nov 6, 2009
Conversion Rates, Traffic
Written by: Eric Gerds