Keyword Research 101

Posted By Larry ~ 15th August 2012

When it comes to optimizing your online presence for the search engines, your strategy should always begin with the right keywords.

And the reason is simple: using the wrong keywords will make it difficult for potential customers to find you. If they can’t find you, they can’t hire you, buy from you, partner with you, or promote you, meaning that every time someone searches for your products and services but finds a competitor, you’ve just lost revenue.

Yet, while the reason for keyword research is simple, the process itself isn’t quite so easy. In fact, deciding on which keywords to focus on can be downright difficult, so we’ve come up with a few tips to help you get the most out of your keyword research efforts.

Lesson #1 – You Know Less Than You Think You Do

One of the most common problems I see with our clients is that they think they are keyword experts for their business. I sell widgets, our client says, so my keyword research is done.

But being an expert in your business doesn’t make you an expert in understanding how the search engines work or how your prospects and customers are using those engines to find what they need. There might be quite a bit of competition for “widgets” for example, and you’ll need to know how to use your keywords to set your company apart from the rest of the widget pack. Or perhaps you specialize in a certain type of widget… good keyword research can show you how to tap into that specialty market. The bottom line: keyword research is important and you need someone who knows what they’re doing.

Lesson #2 – Relevance Matters

Another common misconception is that the most important thing is traffic… that is, getting people to your site, by any means necessary.

This mindset often leads business owners to use high-ranking keywords to attract new visitors without really having any offers that relate to those keywords. It also causes site owners to buy lists and value page hits more than they value how “qualified” the potential prospect might be.

Your keyword research should help drive traffic, yes, but the only traffic you really want are people who are interested in what you’re selling… and that means your keywords need to be very precise and very on point.

Lesson #3 – Strengthen Your Core

While many businesses seek to optimize their sites for a long list of keywords, most experts agree that each page should be optimized for no more than three keywords, max.

The good news is that if you choose the right keywords, you can make those three keywords generate the same kind of traffic you’d get from 10 or 20. The key is in choosing the right core terms. A core term is a word or phrase that summarizes what you are offering and this can be used to create a variety of search phrases. Using core terms helps keep your content on target without sacrificing the reach achieved by using a significantly higher number of keywords.