In the age of online businesses, SEO is a key focus in most marketing strategies. SEO stands for search engine optimization, which is a fancy term for how easily your company or product can be found online. The companies that show up in the first few links on Google, or any search engine, tend to be the most successful and bring in more traffic than those lower on the page or not present at all.
SEO is an important component of marketing and it begins with keyword creation – knowing which words your audience will search and tailoring articles based on those words. Here are seven tips for great keyword creation.
- Keyword research revolves around related words and what people are currently searching for.
- There are a number of products which provide analytics and help visualize search traffic on multiple platforms.
- Like anything in business, knowing your product and clientele is the first step on the path to choosing the right keywords.
Know Your Business
The first key to keyword creation is knowing your business inside and out. You must know what you do and how you do it, and, just as importantly, how your customers perceive your business. Put simply, the goal of keyword creation is thinking of words customers associate with your products or topic.
The more accurate you are to their needs and questions, the higher likelihood your business will be found when searched for. Don’t try to impress anyone with fancy terms of jargon which only a handful of insiders will understand; keep the words simple, pleasant, and to the point.
Test Out Keywords Any Time
You don’t have to take stabs in the dark about which words the general population is googling. You can go to Google, or another, less popular search engine, and test keywords yourself. Take the type of business or product you have and type in some preliminary keywords into the search bar.
Your basic search will lead to suggestions which are based on terms people have recently googled all over the world. Take these extensions of your basic keyword search and brainstorm posts, blogs, and articles that can be written to both fulfill these searches and forward your brand.
Keywords Everywhere
On top of the simple search for keywords, there’s a product you can use to find in-depth data and analytics about the keywords you might want to use. Keywords Everywhere is offered in the Google store and is designed for Chrome and Firefox. The product is user friendly and intuitive; search some keywords you’re thinking of using and Keywords Everywhere will relay a bounty of information to you: search volume, advertising data, related keywords, and competition from other advertisers. This information might sound complex, but Keywords Everywhere presents the data in a straightforward, actionable format. It’s worth checking out for any serious marketer.
Check Out YouTube Results
Google is not the only search engine on the web. YouTube is another highly trafficked site with keyword-based results. In addition to searching Google for your keywords, hop onto YouTube to see the keywords and ideas people on the platform are generating for themselves. The beauty of checking both sites is exploring the different ways in which people who use the platforms think and act.
YouTube is often used for do-it-yourself projects and taking instructions from other professionals who put out tutorials and show themselves in action. Checking out a few videos and combing through their keywords will give you an idea of just how many other keyword possibilities there are for your business.
Wikipedia, the Secondary Google
While Google answers search questions and is the first step many think of when using the internet, Wikipedia is often the site they find themselves on to gain insight into a particular topic. Wikipedia is one of the most trafficked sites in the world and answers questions of nearly all varieties. The most useful tool for marketing purposes is the table of contents, located at the top of the page.
The table of contents will offer categories and subcategories relating to your business and acts as a handy guide to easily read through the topic of choice. Creating keywords based off of the table of contents is a quick and simple way to generate traffic and be confident that your keyword is useful and searched for often.
Answer the Public
There’s one more site marketers should use extensively while creating keywords – Answer the Public. The site is similar to Google Analytics but illustrates its information and answers questions of traffic from many different angles. Just type in the keyword you have in mind and comb through the many different ways that keyword can be implemented, from “who, what, where, why, how” to prepositions, to comparisons.
You’ll also be able to check an alphabetical list of related terms. While similar to other keyword testers, Answer the Public is probably the simplest way to sort through keyword terms and their related counterparts. The site requires no download and is totally free to use.
Using Your Results
Once you’ve thoroughly researched your keyword strategy and have the keywords you need for abundant, specific traffic, it’s time to put your research to good use. Comb through old content and tweak words and phrases to more closely align with the keywords you’ve chosen.
Make sure any new content is designed around your keyword and can be used to directly answer any questions your audience or clients may have. Finally, create some hub pages. These pages are guides on the topic, pages which lead to other resources from your site and organize the flow of the topic. Think of them like an engaging table of contents, people should use them to quickly and easily get where they need to go.
While keywords may seem arbitrary or like too much work, researching and implementing effective keywords is an important step in driving traffic to your website and your business. Sufficient research using the resources above will give you all the information you need to choose some helpful, often-searched keywords.