Keyword Research: Understanding your Audience
Alright, so you’ve decided to join the crowd and figure this SEO thing out…now where do I start?
Let’s look at it like this…there are probably thousands of people already looking for your product or service and all you have to do is get in front of them. THIS, is what keyword research if for…to understand exactly how your audience searches for your offerings. Whenever I begin a project, be it consulting or one of my own…the very first thing I do is conduct keyword research.
Where do I find these keywords?
It seems that the general consensus among SEO’s goes something like this. You can and should use the major Keyword Research Tools like these:
• Wordtracker
• Keyword Discovery
• Wordze
…as well as the Google Adwords Keyword Suggestion tool! Just don’t assume that the numbers are exact, rather look at them in proportion to each other.
The last tool is not a subscription based service or some crazy toolbar plugin add-on that “Joe the Search Marketer” wrote. It’s you!! And all of that incredibly valuable industry knowledge you bring to the table!
This is why I suggest that when doing your keyword research, start out by making a list of all of the terms that you “think” people would search for. Next, take a look at your competitors and see what words and phrases they emphasize. Then, take that list and run them thorough the various tools. Once you have your master lists, group them by topic and viola…Keyword Research!
Where do I put these keywords?
This goes back to the idea we spoke about last week regarding helping Google to understand what your site is about. On any given page, there are a few major places that you want to make sure to include your keywords. These include:
• URL
• Site Copy
• Meta Title
• Meta Description
• Meta Keywords
• Header Tags
• Image alt Text
Now I can’t emphasize my next point enough, so I will do the unthinkable and put it in all caps: DO NOT SACRIFICE READABILITY FOR KEYWORD USAGE!! Google…as well as your readers…likes things to look and feel natural. I like to think of it as building a site for users while keeping Keywords in mind, rather than the other way around.
Well, that does it for Keyword Research… up next Site Architecture!
Cheers!
