SEO Guide on Keyword Research and Selection
A Website Marketing Guide to Keyword Research and Selection
16. Be careful when mining keywords from competitors' Web sites.
The reality is that your competitors will select outstanding search terms that will confirm your own ideas for search engine positioning keyword phrases. If you get in a creative mood, their terms may even inspire new combinations. But we urge you to be cautious because your competitors also insert lousy keywords (often broad) in their page titles and visible text.
17. Don't use competitors' corporate names or brands.
Besides being "old school," unethical and possibly illegal, it's not going to be an effective search engine positioning strategy, unless you are willing to work the strategic term into a combination of the page title and/or META description as well as visible page text.
18. The singular vs. plural debate.
Sample searches will reveal that the singular and plural forms of search terms will produce different rankings. As always, your search engine positioning strategy should consider all of the ways and methods with which people search.
19. Ask people - all kinds.
Get advice from management, employees, customers, vendors, friends and family on how they would search for effective search engine positioning keywords. Ask them how they would search for different products and services.
20. Dust off your Thesaurus (or go online).
With all of your intuitive thinking skills and resources, you don't want to overlook a Thesaurus (online or in print). You'll get plenty of clues about potential search terms to help with your search engine positioning efforts.
Read excerpts from this SEO guide online:
Get your printable free copy of the SEO study in its entirety.