how to do keyword research
KEYWORDS AND CONTENT
There is no
denying the importance of keywords used in any content that is placed on the
Web. Keywords allow you and everyone else who uses the Web the ability to find
what you are looking for. If you need just one bit of information, you likely
would spend countless hours in research trying to find it if it was not for
keywords.
As an Internet
marketing professional, how do keywords relate to your own business? Usually,
if you are using the Web as a marketing tool in any way, keywords are an
important component.
In this book, we
will examine the importance of keywords. We also compare it to the importance
of quality content. Is it possible to have great content and still have great
keywords in your final copy? It is possible, and in fact, it is necessary to do
this if you wish to have a successful website or blog. Before getting into
these details, let's start at the beginning.
WHAT ARE THEY AND WHERE TO USE THEM
What are
keywords? These are words individuals will type into a search box when they are
looking for something online. For example, let us say you are looking to
purchase a table. You get online, go to the search box, and type in the word
"table" into the search box.
The search engines start looking for websites that relate to your search. Within seconds, there is a long list or
results in front of you (called the search engine results page) that you can
choose from.
Now, on the flip
side of the coin, if you owned a website selling tables, you would want to
attract this person to your website. To do so, you need to have your website
displayed on the search engine results page. To do this, you need to have the
most appropriate keywords on your website. So, for example, you need to have
the world "table" used properly on your website for the search engine
results to actually see your website as valuable to this search.
Using keywords
will help you prove your value to the search engines. The key is to know what
helps you to rank well and what may not help you. Less than a decade ago, people
took advantage of the keywords. Pages and pages of websites had virtually
nothing but keywords on them. The problem is, when a website is packed with
just keywords, it is likely not to be packed with information.
Here is an
example to consider: John designs a website to attract visitors who he hopes
will visit the affiliate pages he is linking to. So, he plans to put lots of
keywords on his page. That way, his website will rank well, right?
There are two
problems with this process. First, there is little chance that anyone who comes
to such a page will feel it valuable enough to stick around and click onto
affiliate links.
Second, Google
and other search engines have made significant changes to their complex
algorithms. Websites that have too many keywords on them will be ranked lower
in the search engine results pages.
The key is to
know what the actual best percentages are. Of course, Google is not going to
tell you just how many keywords to use. They do offer a lot of in-depth
information that you can use, though. It is this information that you want to
rely on to get the results you are looking for.
Google is not the bad guy: They want to provide individuals who use
their search engines with the best websites online to solve their
inquiries.
In the following pages, we will go over
some of the best strategies for getting keywords into your documents readily
and appropriately for the best overall strategy.
WHERE TO USE KEYWORDS
Where should you
use keywords? Keywords should be found in virtually anything you place online.
Here are some places to use them.
•
Place them into each article on
your website.
•
Place them on your home page
and sales pages.
•
Place keywords in your blog
posts.
•
Use keywords in your product
descriptions.
•
Use keywords on your website
and in your blog tags and headings.
•
Use them on contact pages, FAQ
pages, and just about any page on your website.
Doing this is
essential to getting a high page ranking in the search engine result pages.
Yet, you do not have to make this a complex process. In fact, it is often best
to put keywords in the back of your mind while writing content for your
website. Write what really matters and then come back to keywords later.
CONTENT IS KING
One of the
earliest phrases used still stands true. "Content is king" when it
comes to Internet marketing. If you are putting up a page on your website, you
want the person who visits your website to say, "Wow, this is great. I'm
bookmarking this page to come back here often."
The best way to
do this is to include quality information on each of the pages of content you
provide to your readers. In a few minutes, we will go through the process of
providing quality content. Before doing so, consider what would happen if you
did not have good information on your website.
1.
You use keywords on your pages,
but fill them with fluff content. Your reader gets to your page and thinks,
"this does not help me," and moves on.
2.
The reader gets to your website
and finds errors. You can no longer be trusted and they leave your site.
3.
The affiliate programs you are
working to earn money from visit your website. They find it poorly designed
with little information. They decide that you are not a good fit for their
company. They no longer offer you membership in the affiliate program.
4.
You get no inbound links to
your website. Inbound links are those which are pointing to your website.
Google finds these to be valuable when ranking websites. If another website (or
several of them) find your website to be a good resource, they definitely will
rank your website higher. But, other websites will not do this if your content
is poor in quality.
5.
You make little to no money at
your website since it is poorly ranked and is not attracting any repeat
visitors.
Content for your
website needs to be well-written and organized. It needs to be informative and
useful to anyone who will visit and read it.
