Advanced Keyword Research Strategies - Places to Get More Keywords
(Page 2 of 4 )
Once you finish with site and competition analysis, move to other sources.
Brainstorm words you think people would type into search engines looking for your products and/or services.
Consider visitor intent as they visit your website. This will help with overall selection.
Use industry magazines, blogs and news publications to spot more lingo.
Thesaurus and Dictionary
Examine sites from DMOZ and the Yahoo Directory.
Dig into your server log files for more keywords. There you'll find plenty of long tail terms, but very few top level terms. I personally use log file keywords for marketing and content planning, since you can learn a lot about what visitors actually want to find in your industry. Data is limited to rankings, though, so beware.
Once you have finished with the previous stages, head out to your keyword research tools and do some more top-level selection:
On top of the keyword phrases these tools return, search with the phrases already in your list. You will always find a few more top level terms with each search. It's time consuming, but remember: you're stuck with the keywords you select.
Geo-Specific Terms
This section depends entirely on your industry. If you're a moving company in California, it makes sense to optimize for all California cities and towns, or at least for locations in which you operate. If we're talking about an online shoe store, how much can it get out of local rankings? Users searching with local terms usually aim to visit you in person, so unless you can accommodate them in person it doesn't make sense to optimize for local results.
There's another coverage factor. If you're after national markets, it doesn't hurt to have listings for each city on the map. Ouch - that's a lot of work and dough on links!
Don't go after everything at once. Select local phrases that can be achieved within your project's time frame.
Next: Making Choices >>
More Choosing Keywords Articles
More By Ivan Strouchliak
