SEO Guide on Keyword Research and Selection
A Website Marketing Guide to Keyword Research and Selection
11. Give low numbers a shot.
When using WordTracker or other web site marketing services, don't discount some of the low numbers you'll see - at least not without some consideration. Sometimes the WordTracker sample search data can become more insightful if you test a few keywords. For example, if a search term comes up with a 0 count or maybe 5 searches in WordTracker, you may actually get visitors. The search term may be so descriptive that it accurately reflects what you sell and can help send qualified traffic your way. Again, you may not need many visitors, depending on what you produce or offer. Try optimizing for a few search terms and see whether they show up in your log files and/or conversion tracking.
Tip: This web site marketing strategy is especially easy to check out when adding a local search word (like a major state name and/or city to a national search term).
12. Learn how to form search terms.
You can start with "automobile" all you want, but build on your core phrase when performing web site marketing for your site by adding on other words like "suppliers," "products," "services," "companies," "firms."
13. Think through brand names.
Your brand names should rank well on their own without any extra help, partly because they're often well represented in the visible page text and because the competition for your own words should be limited. Before making these terms a major strategy, see how you're ranking. Our web site marketing staff suggests that if needed, add them to the META description (at the end) and avoid placing them in page title tags that should be reserved for non-brand name search terms that usually need all of the support you can give them.
14. Know how people search.
You very well may know what your customers search for. Or do you? Is it a description of "shoes" or "footwear?" One may be searched more often than the other, but why not target both? How about "executive gifts?" Maybe "desk accessories" will broaden your web site marketing strategy.
15. Don't get excited about misspellings.
Years ago, this may have been a great web site marketing strategy. Tuck misspellings in your META keyword set and watch your traffic grow a bit. But search engines don't put a lot of stock in the META keyword sets. They do favor page titles, META descriptions, visible text and anchor text with links. But wouldn't it be embarrassing if you deliberately misspelled common search terms in your common copy?
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