By Mike Thompson, Digital Director, TRAFFIK
When you are looking for a product or service, where do you begin? In this day and age, you probably start your search online. But what do you type into the search engine? Do you use geographic terms or do you look for online directories that rate and recommend services?
What about the opposite end of the spectrum? How is your product or service getting found online? Can you quantify business leads to online searches? Are you able to justify how important your web presence is—or could be?
Optimizing your site with keywords and using aggressive optimization tactics is important if you are trying to improve your search rankings and ultimately bring in new business. This process is known as Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, and in the last few years, it has gained an enormous amount of popularity for a few simple reasons:
- Unlike pay-per-click (PPC) ads, you cannot pay for organic search rankings
- PPC has become saturated with competition, which sometimes produces poor results
- Organic placement is more credible because it wasn’t paid for
Search Engine Optimization is something that most companies have been exploring more and more in order to bring in new business. However, getting the right tactics, strategies and keywords in place can be daunting. Below, I will break down a few early steps that will help you understand what search engines are looking for in terms of keywords.
Keyword Authority
Keyword authority is assessed by understanding the link profile of your site versus those other sites’ rankings for the keywords you are targeting. External (inbound) links from other websites are the single most powerful ranking tool among search engines today.
- Number of links to a website (multiple domains is better)
- Number of inbound links to a specific page
Keyword Relevance
Keyword relevance is characterized by looking to see if the other sites are specifically trying to rank for the keyword term(s) in question. On-page relevancy can be quickly assessed by looking at a few simple elements:
- Keywords in on-page content versus title of page
- Keyword matches to site’s internal navigation
- Keyword matches to domain name
Choosing Keywords
Here are some broad steps to consider when choosing the keywords that will most effectively improve your site’s SEO:
- What is the competitive advantage for that product/service?
- Profitability of the product/service associated with the keywords
- Try listing root brands and product/service names (e.g. if your website is promoting your legal services, start with “lawyer”)
- Brainstorm variations of product- and brand-related keywords
- Talk to your clients to determine what terms they use in search
- Study your competitors’ sites to see what terms are popular
- Add geographic variations to narrow in on your specific target (e.g. Miami lawyers, Dade County lawyers)
- Add descriptive variations to further hone in on your specialty (e.g. personal injury lawyers, slip and fall lawyers)
- Take all of these variations and enter them into the Google AdWords Keyword Tool, which will suggest numerous other variations
This article has only skimmed the surface of SEO, and by no means is enough for you to execute on behalf of your own company. If you would like to reach out to us personally and discuss your product or service, let us know. We are a phone call away.
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