Search Engine Keyword Analysis Pitfalls (Page 1 of 4 )
Keyword analysis tools are great. Like spelling checkers, however, there are certain things that they won't catch, such as the word's context. Tom Dahm warns you about the issues you need to watch for if you want to use these tools to improve your standings in the search engines.
Introduction
Keyword analysis is critical to successful search engine optimization. A top search engine ranking doesn’t mean much if no one is searching for your keywords.
I started optimizing sites in 1998, when the concept of search engine optimization was new and before the advent of keyword tools. In those days, keyword selections were made strictly on instinct and without insight into how many people were actually searching for a word.
Today we have pay per click (PPC) engines like Overture and Google AdWords that let customers see their available keyword inventory. We also have tools like WordTracker that are specifically designed for keyword analysis. That’s a vast improvement over the old days.
But as valuable as these tools are, they can sometimes lead you astray. This article will cover some common traps of using analysis tools and tell you how to avoid them.
Going on Numbers Alone
The easiest trap to fall into is focusing on search popularity numbers alone. If a keyword tool shows that Word A gets 20,000 monthly searches and Word B gets only 5,000 searches, then Word A must be the better choice, right?
Not necessarily. Keyword relevance is at least as important as raw search popularity. As a rule, the more specific a search query, the better your chance of converting a search result into a sale, and sales are what it’s all about.
Consider this example: Overture’s keyword tool say that a whopping 136,960 searches are conducted each month for the term “sports cars,” while only 2,545 searches are conducted for “Jaguar XK8.” But someone searching for “sports cars” is early in the buying cycle and may just be searching for information about different makes and models. Someone searching for a Jaguar XK8 has a clear idea of what they want. This is a much more valuable customer.
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