Search Engine Optimization

Choosing the right keywords for your SEO campaign is critical to you website’s success. You could rank #1 for “free web hosting” but it won’t matter much if you sell paid web hosting because people searching for free hosting are obviously not interested in forking out cash for the service.

Think Relevant and Popular

It’s essential to select keywords that are relevant and popular if you want your website to succeed in search. Keywords that are relevant to what you’re selling will help to drive targeted traffic to your site.

The popularity of the keywords you choose is also important, however. Even if you target a highly relevant keyword in your SEO campaign, it won’t bring you the results you seek unless it actually gets searched for on a regular basis. Doing keyword research to determine which keywords are popular is imperative. Generally speaking, keywords that receive around 1,500 to 20,000 searches per month are worth targeting because they get searched for often but are not overly competitive.

Avoid Generic Keywords

Generic keywords may bring you a lot of traffic, but they won’t help you increase sales. For example, if you are a web designer in St. Louis, ranking for “web design” won’t help you as much as ranking for a more specific phrase like, “web designer in St. Louis.” The key is to find keywords that have the greatest likelihood of converting into sales.

Use Geo-Targeted Keywords

Is your business local or regional? If so, be sure to use geo-targeted keywords. Include your city and state name when you’re using a keyword tool to find relevant, geo-targeted keywords in your industry.

Select Keywords That Represent Your Most Profitable Products/Services

What are your best-selling products/services? It makes sense to select keywords that represent those products/services since they are your bread and butter.

Check out the Competition

What keywords are your top-ranking competitors using? Researching the competition is a great way to get keyword ideas. You can check their content, as well as their meta tags, to determine what search terms they’re targeting.

Install Web Analytics

Another great way to find keywords to target is by installing a web analytics program and analyzing incoming traffic. An analytics program like Google Analytics will enable you to determine what terms people are using to find your site, what search engines they’re using, etc.

Target Common Misspellings

When you’re doing keyword research, you’ll notice that many people misspell popular search terms. In some instances, you can significantly increase sales by optimizing the content on your site for common misspellings. For example, rather than optimizing your site for “top dating sites,” you could optimize it for “top dateing sites.”

Use Purchase Modifiers

Use purchase modifiers in your keyword phrases to attract searchers who are in buying mode. Purchase modifiers include “buy,” “compare,” “shop,” and “reviews.” People who search for products/services using purchase modifiers are more likely to click on the “buy now” button when they get to your site since they’re already serious about making a purchase.

Use PPC to Test Keywords for SEO

Prior to targeting keywords in your content for SEO, consider testing them out first by using PPC, or Pay-Per-Click Advertising. You can analyze the results of your PPC campaign to determine which keywords bring your site the most traffic and sales and then use the top-performing keywords in your SEO campaign.