Keyword Research
Website Optimization Secrets
Keyword research is the cornerstone of
search engine optimization. When someone searches "fishing,"
your fishing site better be in the first 30 results, or it won't
be found. You need proper keyword density, use of headings and
meta tags, and incoming links with good "anchor text"
(more on that in future issues), but keyword research is where
you start.
Learn From My Mistakes
The Overture Keyword Suggestion Tool seems
to be gone now, but Wordtracker is better in any case, and usually
has some sort of free trial. I once optimized a site for "mountain
hiking," and only later discovered, with Wordtracker, that
"mountains hiking" was getting over half of the traffic
shown by Overture for "mountain hiking." I wasn't optimizing
for "mountains hiking." In fact, there are four things
to be careful of when using Overture.
1. Singular and plural forms are lumped
together.
2. Misspellings are sometimes lumped together.
I just searched for "perseverence," and it displayed
results for the correct spelling, "perseverance." Had
I not noticed, I might have optimized for the misspelling.
3. Keyword phrases are sometimes alphabetized.
Careful here. If you saw "bag lightweight sleeping,"
you might realize that people actually searched "lightweight
sleeping bag." What if you see "optimizing website."
It might be searched for that way, or it might be "website
optimizing," and you need to know. The worst part is that
the search tool only alphabetizes sometimes, so you never
know.
4. Overture seems to often show more monthly
traffic for a keyword than Wordtracker shows for all the search
engines put together. I'm not sure which is more correct, but
given Overtures other flaws...
Note: All of the above may be irrelevant
now that the Overture Keyword Suggestion Tool is no longer available,
but watch for these problems with any keyword tool you use. Also
the principles discussed below still apply with any keyword research
tool.
SEO and WSO
A good keyword has good demand, and not
too much supply. "Fishing" had 289,000 searches on
Overture last month, but can you compete against the 35,000,000
results that come up on a Google search? "Bass fishing tips,"
with 3,700 searches, and 31,000 results is a more likely winner.
(Wordtracker rates them for you, with anything over a "10"
considered a good keyword.)
Do the Google search in quotation marks,
by the way. Without them, the term "bass fishing tips"
will pull up all the pages with any of the words, and a page
about cars with the word "tips" isn't your competition.
On the other hand, search for your pages without quotation marks,
because you want others to see you in the first 30 results when
they search that way, as most of them will.
(Note: another good thing
about Wordtracker is that they give you supply figures for MSN
and Google separately. Interestingly, you can sometimes compete
easily on MSN for a term that's over-supplied on Google.)
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) experts
don't often mention it, but it isn't just the SEO potential of
a keyword that's important. Think WSO (Web Site Optimization)
too. "Fishing tips," may bring in traffic, but "fishing
poles" might bring in more money. Consider the terms and
what people are looking for when they use them. Who's more likely
to buy your products or click on your affiliate links, a searcher
for "fishing stories," or "fishing gear?"
One more thing. No matter the demand/supply
ratio, a keyword must have enough demand to base a site or page
on it.
On my backpacking site, I easily get
half the traffic in the world for "dirtbagging," but
that means ten visitors a month. Fortunately, my dirtbagging
page is just one of many pages. Minimum demand necessary to make
a decent income is tricky to figure. It varies by topic or product,
and you have to consider the cumulative demand for all secondary
keywords (your other pages). I'll have more on this in a future
issue. Generally, don't base a site on a keyword with less than
1000 searches a month, or a page on one with less than 100.
Next Time: You chose your keywords, now how do you optimize
your pages? The latest tricks.
P.S. This course is now
entirely on-site. To get the other secrets, you can go here to
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Website Optimization Secrets.
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