Selecting keywords and Understanding the Language Your Customers Use
We have all had the experience where we call a business who provides a service we are yet not familiar with. We fumble and stumble and try to help the person on the other side of the phone understand what it is we are looking for.
I built a house over the winter and this conversation repeated itself over and over as I learned the vocabulary of contractors and construction professionals. As I learned the vocabulary it became easier to communicate my needs. When speaking to skilled salespeople on the phone the right questions would be asked and despite my lack of knowledge of the subject matter my needs could be determined.
Every business and industry has its own specialized nomenclature. If your target audience is the general public and not professionals within your industry, we need to determine what phrases and euphemisms are in general use by the target audience.
Take a moment to write down the kinds of phrases and euphemisms your customers typically uses to describe your product. Naturally these phrases won’t always be the same as the ones used by industry professionals. If your target audience is not industry professionals is essential that you speak the language of the general public.
So the challenge is to develop a list of key phrases which we can target as we develop your website. As we research key phrases online we may discover that phrases which appear relevant to you may be completely irrelevant to your target audience.
When brainstorming key phrases to target in your marketing plan do not include the name of your business. Internet searchers who are using the name of your business are quite likely either existing customers or at the least people who are already familiar with your business. They are likely being referred by their memory of you, the established strength of your brand in the market place or by friend’s, family, and colleagues who have used your service. The other downside of using your business name in this list, is that it will give you a false sense of security. It is quite likely that Google is already aggressively ranking you in the search results when the name of your business is used as a key phrase.
Geographic qualifiers
If your Internet marketing campaign is targeting a limited geographical area it is appropriate to use geographical qualifiers. For instance if you the own a shoe store in Kingston Ontario and your target audience lives in Kingston Ontario and the surrounding area, you might use a key phrase like, “shoe store Kingston Ontario”. Savvy Internet searchers will often use geographical qualifiers to limit their search to geographically relevant results. Think about the way you search for services in your community.
Product line qualifiers
Unless you are a manufacturer of goods, it is quite likely that you purchase products to be resold. As such, it is useful to include key phrases which indicate the lines that you resell. Customers who are looking for specific brands combined with geographical qualifiers, for instance “Nike shoes Kingston Ontario” will find you more easily with those product line qualifiers included in your targeted list.
Pivotal key phrases
TTo get started try taking a pivotal key phrase. A pivotal key phrase is the most obvious phrase someone might use to find your business in search engines. In our example of the shoe store the most obvious phrase would be “shoe store”.
Secondary key phrases
Secondary key phrases might include synonyms of the primary key phrase or phrases and words which are not in common use by those within your industry but are in common use by your customers.
Researched phrases
This is where things get interesting. We are going to research the key phrases that are actually being used by Internet searchers right now on Google. Do a quick search on Google for the “Google adwords keyword selection tool”. Since Google favours its own services when returning search results the Google adwords keyword selection tool should have just come up first. (Google provides this information at no charge because it is an invaluable tool to Google’s advertisers who are thinking about purchasing ad words advertising on Google’s website).
You will notice that towards the center of the page there is a box where you can put in one keyword or phrase per line. Begin by entering your pivotal key phrase. Click “get keyword ideas”.
Google has now returned a list of the key phrases which it feels are related to the primary key phrase you have supplied. The advertiser competition column refers to the volume of competition which is currently using Google’s paid advertising service to drive traffic to their website.
Local Search Volume
The local search volume column shows the approximate number of results for each key phrase search query. This statistic applies to searches on Google in the most recent full month they have data for. It’s specific to your targeted country and language. If Google doesn’t have enough data for your particular keyword, it will display the phrase “not enough data”. By clicking on the column heading text “local search volume” Google will order the data in the chart descending by volume. This will give you a clear indication which of the phrases being used are producing the most search volume. If your target audience is geographically limited to your country and language this column provides the most relevant data for you.
Global monthly search volume
The global monthly search volume column provides the same data as the local search volume column except it does not limit the results by geography. If you are marketing your products and services globally you are obviously most interested in the global search volume. Click on the global monthly search volume link to list those results descending by volume.
At this point you can grab a pen and start writing the keywords down in descending order. From time to time this list will also include phrases which have nothing to do with you or your product. If you are technically inclined, you may also save yourself some time by scrolling to the end of the chart and clicking on “download all keywords” using the text or CSV (for Excel) or plain CSV links. You may also notice an “Adderall 150” link. This will open up the results to a full list of 150 suggestions which can be subsequently recorded or downloaded.
Set these keywords aside and we will move on to research what other high-ranking websites are using these key phrases in your marketplace.
Researching Using Competing Sites
Let’s start by visiting www.google.com. Type in your pivotal key phrase and a geographical qualifier, such as “Kingston Ontario”.
Google returns two types of results when you do a typical search. The first type, natural results, occur within the larger search results column on the left. The second type, paid results come up within the narrower right-hand column.
As you look over the search engine results page you are likely already getting new ideas for key phrases which are perfectly relevant in your marketplace, that you hadn’t thought of yet. Take a moment and record these phrases in your list. If you are using a text editor or Microsoft Word to create your list, try to keep the list in order of relevance and importance as you go.
Let’s dig deeper.
Click on the first result on the search engine results page. In our shoe store example our first relevant link is: shoe-store.net. We are interested in examining the key phrases which shoe-store.net targeted when they developed their Internet marketing campaign . When you look at the top of your browser you will always find a one line description of the website you are currently on. In the case of shoe store.net that description reads “shoes, boots, clogs and more shoe-store.net”. this description is stored in a little compartment called the “title tag” on this page. Often the most important or pivotal phrases in an Internet marketing campaign are placed here alongside the name of the business and the geographical area the business is targeting, if applicable.
We are also going to look at some of the hidden text which has been placed on this page. To do so, follow the following steps.
If you are using Mozilla Firefox, hold down the control key and the U-key at the same time. If you are using Internet Explorer, click on the view menu at the top of your screen, then select source.
In either case, what you should now be looking at is the source code of this website page. Pretty wild eh? In the case of shoe-store.net there is a terrible flurry of nonsense before we can get to some readable text. Do not let this deter you. There are some juicy nuggets of insight which we can gain from this exercise.
The TITLE TAG
Scroll down until you see the text we read earlier at the top of our browser. You should see it nestled between two title tags. It will look something like this:
You'll notice the title opener followed by the content of the title tag and then a title tag closing tag. As you go through your keyword research you will become more comfortable with looking at this code. It is by no means necessary that you understand it in its entirety unless you have a burning desire to learn HTML.
Meta Description
As you scroll down you will find another text container called the "Meta Description". It will look something like this:
The meta description tag contains information which is used to describe the website when it is returned in search engine results. Notice how the above code displayed in the Google listing for shoe-store.net.
Shoes, Boots, Clogs, & More | Shoe-Store.net
Shoe Store offers a wide selection of Shoes, Boots and Sandals from Dansko, Naot, Earth, Clarks, UGG Australia and more! Fast Delivery & Free Shipping on ...
www.shoe-store.net/ - 94k - Cached - Similar pages -
At this stage it is sufficient to acknowledge any new key phrase suggestions which we might get from the description tag. Lets keep scrolling down.
Meta Keyword
The next stop on our HTML odyssey is the meta keyword tag. While there is ongoing argument about the value of using the meta keyword tag to store keywords it is still often used by webmasters just to be on the safe side. Let’s have a look at the keyword tag for shoes-store.net:
Here shoe store.net has targeted the phrases “fine dress shoes, athletic shoes, comfort shoes, Dansko, Naot, Clarks, UGG Boots and Shoe Store”. Shoe store.net has made a point of including product line and qualifiers describing product lines which they represent and resell such as “Dansko, Naot and Clarks”. Make sure the product lines which you represent end up on your list of targeted key phrases.
Wash and Repeat
In order to get a complete picture of the key phrases in use by your competition continue this process to examine all of the websites that come up within the first two Google search results pages for your pivotal key phrase.
Anecdotal Research
Once you’ve completed your keyword research online, it is extremely useful to talk to your friends, family and anyone else you might know who is not directly involved with your industry. Ask them what phrases they might use in a Google search to define the type of product and services that you provide. The results will likely shock you.
Also make a point of asking your customers what kind of phrases they use in Google searches to locate services such as yours.
This will help you get a human perspective early in your Internet marketing planning. Later as we examine your website statistics we will discover other astonishing phrases which Internet searchers are using to find your website.
Ask a thesaurus
A copy of a thesaurus and of some of the words that make up your principal key phrases. Jot down any new words this process provides you.
Buying Keyphrases Vs Research Keywords
By now you should have a fairly long list of key phrases research and recorded. If you haven’t already order them by importance.
