Search engines are the tools by which any one now looks for things they need online. For any internet based entity, online marketing strategy starts with understanding how anyone can find you online. Here Search Engine Optimization (SEO) comes into play. SEO is the most important process which optimizes your site to be found for specific search terms, relevant keywords that pertain to the product or service that you promote on your website.
The most important question that one faces is which Keywords should be targeted. Here in this article we will cover what’s, why’s and how of Keywords.
Why is Keyword Research important?
It is very important to narrow down which keywords target for your website or landing pages. The first question you need to ask yourself is: how much it is worth for me to get more traffic to website? It is better to assign a monetary value to it, that will help you better utilize your resources. If the time & effort is too much or you find it too difficult, you can always work with best Internet marketing company out there.
Keyword research is all about maximizing efficiency for your Internet marketing budget whilst improving your search relevance for your target audience. There is no one-size-fits-all approach, so be prepared to roll up those sleeves and get those hands a little dirty with data.
Keyword Research and Target Audience
Your website is an extension of your business selling products & services and to accomplish that you’re going to need actual human visitors. So the ultimate purpose of your Internet Marketing Strategy is to attract “right” visitors to your site. And to get such audience keywords research comes handy, for you must find relevant keywords matching to the services or products your are providing, in a manner that is comprehensible and hold relevancy for the customer.
Before selecting a keyword one must keep in mind the target audience, their preferences, the manner in which this group of target audience go around looking for what they need. The nearer you reach to actual search term used by your potential customers the better your chances are for conversion of the visit into an actual sale. The long tail keywords are often low volume but generally the traffic they bring in is often of those visitors who are ready to buy.
Google Keyword Tool and Ad Planner
There are several tools that you can use for determining what makes a “good” keyword. The first, and perhaps the most popular, is Google AdWords Keyword Planner. With Google Keyword Planner, they have combined the functionality of Keyword Research Tool and Traffic Estimator to make it easier to plan search campaigns. Though this tool is made available for paid advertising, it is also used as a source of data that is relevant to searches conducted in Google overall. Google Analytics, Google Trends & Google Insights are few other tools that can provide information for your keyword selection process. Also SpyFu, originally GoogSpy is another search analytics tool which shows the keywords that websites buy on Google Adwords as well as exposes the search marketing secret formula of your most successful competitors.
Competition analysis is another area and there are various tools available at varied level of paid services. They provided critical information about who your competitors for the keywords are and how are they using their keywords. This helps you to plan your strategy to be more effective some of the more popular tools in this category are :
- Open Site Explorer
- Majestic SEO
- Compete
In the end it all boils down to the fact about what you want to achieve via your selected keywords. If you are just starting and want to make if you’re aiming for brand awareness, it makes sense to go for more “general” keywords, but if you sell specific, well-known brands, it makes sense to go after the longer-tail brand-specific keywords.
