Keyword Research – Do it.
October 19, 2010
Sometimes it’s easy as pie and sometime its time consuming and daunting…I’m talking about keyword research people! Keyword research is the quiet cornerstone of every SEO campaign. If you don’t have the right keywords for your site, don’t even think about sitting on Page 1 with the big wigs.
Investigating and determining which words to select that are most appropriate to your site is keyword research. When researching keywords it is important to look for terms that are relevant to your site, have a fairly high search volume and that are not too competitive. If you do not keep these things in mind while researching you can end up with terms that are either too competitive, which will make it unlikely for you to get a top ranking, or too specific , so that even if you do get a top ranking, it doesn’t matter because no one will see it.
A great tool to use when conducting keyword research is Google’s Adwords Keyword Tool. With this tool, you can enter a keyword phrase and it will produce variations of the phrase you entered as well as other terms that might be useful to your campaign. For each keyword the tool pulls up, it will also display the competiveness and what the average monthly search is on Google. Looking at competitor’s sites is very helpful during this process. These are the people you need to beat for that top spot, so it’s a good place to look for additional keyword ideas. Keep in mind that just because your competitor is using a keyword, that doesn’t mean that it’s right for you. You still need to check the competitiveness and search volume to ensure you make the right choice.
As cumbersome and lengthy of a task keyword research can be, please remember that it is vital to the success of your campaign. You want to give yourself the best chance at prosperity, and if you put the effort in to choose the right keywords, you are on your way to the top of Google!