Keyword Research Tips - How do I do keyword research?

Basic research is easy. Enter a word or a phrase that describes your business/ web site and keyword research tools will give you the results, including synonyms. For example, here’s what Google tool gave us for the word “mortgage”:

Now I know that around 200,000 people search for “mortgage brokers” in the US, every month. If I run a mortgage website, it makes sense to optimize for this keyword (though a keyword with this level of popularity will need tens of thousands of dollars for content and links).

Go through the list and spot key phrases you would like to rank for on search engines. Make a list and build an Excel spreadsheet of all the phrases. The trick is to select keywords that will deliver the most for your dollars/efforts.

For example, “shoes” is a popular phrase. People searching for “shoes” may want to find running shoes, high heels, winter shoes, boots, sandals and more. The phrase is too general to know for sure.

On the other hand, the key phrase “buy athletic shoes” tells us clearly that visitors want to buy athletic shoes! There’s no guesswork. This keyword also takes less time (or less cost) to optimize for than “shoes,” because it’s longer, less competitive and has less search volume.

Be realistic with keyword selection

We all want to rank for the word “shoes,” “car,” or “mortgage,” but competition is stiff. It would take several years of optimization and hard work to get to the first page for those keywords -- oh yeah, and did I mention that it will also take a fat budget for links and content creation? Search engine optimization companies charge at least $100,000 for those phrases, so you must have big wallet.

Unless you have big budget, you must compromise with less competitive keywords and go for local markets.

Next: Local Keyword Research Strategy >>
 

More Choosing Keywords Articles
More By Ivan Strouchliak