Andy Parkinson’s World

What’s the most important factor of success in any search marketing effort? The right keywords. Without them, nothing else matters. And yet so many people just want take the first words that come to mind and call it done.

But you’re too smart for that, right?

Steps for discovering potential keywords are much the same regardless of whether you intend to use those keywords for organic listings (SEO) or paid listings (pay per click advertising). But the criteria for choosing the best words is different.

In this post I’m going to talk about choosing the right words for search engine optimization.

To state the obvious, you want keywords that attract the right people in the right numbers. There are five factors that affect this.

1. Relevance.

One of the most rewarding things about search marketing is its ability to put you in touch with people who are actively looking for you. No other marketing tactic does this as well. Keywords tell you exactly what the searcher is looking for. That should be you – or your product or service.

If the keyword isn’t relevant to what you’re offering, your listing might get viewed by a lot of people; but they aren’t going to click on it.

2. Popularity.

No surprise here. You need enough people looking for a particular keyword to make it worth the effort to get a page one ranking. Showing up on the first page of Google for a keyword with no search volume is like placing first in a race with only one contestant – so what.

This point is so obvious you might wonder why I even bring it up. It’s because nearly everyday I talk to people who are so obsessed with top rankings they don’t bother to look at the search volume. As Eric Gerds mentioned in a previous article on this blog, it’s easy to get ranked number one for Limburger cheese socks.

3. Used by your prospects.

One of the easiest mistakes to make when selecting keywords is to choose the words you would use to find your product. Since you are not your target market, that’s no good. Get out of your own head and into the heads of your customers and prospects to find the words they use.

You can find these keywords and phrases in a number of places. Start by asking your sales people, customer service and technical support staff, and anyone else who interacts with your customers. Talk to your customers yourself. Look at your web analytics. They’ll show you what words people have used to find you in the past.

4. Achievable.

Some keywords have so much aggressive competition you could kill yourself trying to get ranked for them. Don’t bother. Instead, add some qualifiers to the phrase and work on ranking for that. Search volume might be less but would you rather be in the top three listings for a phrase with 5000 searches or a higher than 200 listing for a phrase with 50,000 searches?

Here’s an example. “Credit card payments” might be tough. “Credit card payments online” is more achievable. (And potentially more relevant).

5. Profitability.

Ultimately, whatever keywords you choose must be those that drive traffic with the potential, desire and means to buy your product. This is another place your web analytics might be able to help you. Can you track traffic from specific keywords directly to a purchase?

You can also use pay-per-click advertising to find out if certain keywords have good potential. Run a quick Google campaign to see if those keyword phrases drive visitors who turn into qualified leads or buyers.

It takes some effort to find the right keywords, and it’s worth it.

Technorati Tags: keywords, seo, search engine optimization