29 October 2008
Comprehensive Guide to Keyword Research, Sele...
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Article by Search Engine Guide : Small Business Search Marketing at http://www.searchengineguide.com/by Stoney deGeyter
This is part 9 of a 12 part series on keyword research. This series will guide you through four distinct phase of the keyword research process, providing you step by step guidelines to help you gather, sort and organize your keywords into an effective marketing campaign.
Yesterday we began Phase III of the keyword research process discussing several elements of key phrase analyzation. We'll continue today looking at a few more considerations when determining how valuable any particular search phrase is.
Phrases that convert
Your job here is to make sure that the searcher finds precisely what they are looking for on your site. If your site cannot satisfy the searcher's intent, they will quickly leave in favor of another more 'relevant' site in the search results. Targeting keywords that delivers traffic that can't find what they intended are a waste of resources and should be deleted or benched until you can satisfy that particular query.
While high-converting terms are usually not searched as often as the general one-word search phrases, they are more likely to achieve top listings and therefore more likely to produce sales. Why? Because when a searcher types in exactly what they are looking for, they are more likely to find exactly what they want, provided you have what they want. If the visitor lands on a page most relevant your site is relevant and clicked, you just likely made a sale.
It's often tempting to try and optimize for keyword phrases that are not necessarily represented on the site but you feel will bring traffic that is looking for something similar to what you offer. An example of this would be if Adidas tried to optimize their site for 'Air Jordan' under the belief that anyone searching for Nike Air Jordans might be able to be sold a pair of Adidas instead. This is a mistake and borders on deception if you target these "incorrect" keywords . At the very least the searcher will come to your site see that you don't offer what they were led to believe. At worst, you push a negative branding experience on the visitor.
There are some situations when you can get away with doing this type of keyword targeting but you have to proceed carefully. The most legitimate way to take this approach is to provide information on the alternative products, comparing them with your own. You could then try to sell your product as the superior one. While doing this still won't bring in the most qualified traffic to your site you would at least have a chance at converting visitors this way than by not providing any such information. In any case, always check with a lawyer before optimizing for some else's trademarked terms.
Another example of targeting improper phrases is when the descriptive words don't fit what you sell. Let's say you sell high-end ski clothing. The terms "wholesale" or "cheap" and "discount" don't apply. For this reason you don't want to target keyword phrases with these words. Again, doing so would be misrepresenting yourself and leaving a sour taste in the mouth of the searcher as they leave your site for another.
Eliminating keywords that don't drive targeted traffic to your site is essential to ensure that you're focusing your efforts on the terms that will provide visitors that are more likely to become customers. The more targeted the phrase, the more likely you are to get a sale. And with that you are building a positive experience with your customers while also ensuring that you get the best ROI possible out of your marketing efforts.
Volume keywords
Time after time I've seen people be adamant about going after certain search terms because they felt that the terms were very specific what their site offers. The problem was that the terms were too specific and virtually nobody was performing a search for them. The top listings were easily achieved but the end result was disappointing. You need to balance out choosing specific keywords with actively searched terms. They are both equally important.
You have probably heard the phrase "the long tail" when referencing keywords. This simply means going after the lower volume, but highly targeted phrases. Depending on your industry long-tail keywords can produce 50% or more of your total traffic. While each long-tail keyword produces less traffic than the primary keywords, combined they can add up to a significant portion of your traffic.
The long tail strategy is a good one but just be sure that any long tail keywords you specifically target will be searched enough drive traffic in the first place. There is nothing wrong with covering your bases on sporadically searched phrases such as "kids winter boots" but stay away from never-searched phrases such as "kids sheepskin winter and snow boots".
Informational queries
While this kind of traffic isn't the best at creating immediate revenue, building the audience can be crucial for long-term success. Some of these informational searches provide ways to capture traffic from those who are very early in the buying process.
Anyone searching for "best digital camera" is generally a comparison shopper, or is gathering product information for a later purchase. Bringing in this kind of traffic will produce an extremely low conversion rate but you can often get some visitor loyalty out of it. A fraction of those searchers may bookmark your site (or even give you a link. Yay!) and come back to you when they are ready to finally make their purchase.
When it comes time to go after these phrases you want to be sure to have a library of helpful information on your website. You could have a section of your site dedicated to product reviews, comparisons, how-to articles, etc. You could smartly use these pages as a means of up-selling your visitors to your own products or services.
Again, these are not ideal first pass keywords to optimize because of the low conversion rate but they do make great blog fodder, which builds up your community, trust, and links, which all assist with exposure and rankings, which is what drives targeted traffic.
Missed one of the steps in this series? Click here to go back to the introduction and follow the links at the bottom.
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