With much of the supposed expert talk these days revolving around social media and its SEO application, I think that “on page” optimization has suffered some neglect. Yes, the thought leadership, fresh content, and inbound links generated from social media are certainly germane to any SEO discussion, but many companies I speak with are forgetting the importance of keywords and their usage in website page titles, headers, body text and footers.
When keywords are mentioned, I think many people immediately think “OK, I have my keywords, I know my business,” now how do I deploy them on the page? While how and where your keywords are used is something that should receive the proper amount of attention, I’d like to circle back to keyword selection. Well conceived and researched keyword list will result in Google indexing more of your keywords, better search page results and increased traffic to your website
Have you researched your keywords? Have you really, really researched your keywords?
Here are a few questions and thoughts to consider during the keyword selection process:
- Are you putting yourself in the shoes of your potential customer and the terms THEY, not you, would use when searching for what it is you sell or the service you provide.
- Have you used the Google keyword tool to research keywords? Google’s keyword tool enables you to see search volumes and competition for terms, and will help you select appropriate terms good terms.
- Dig Deep: get creative and think beyond the obvious broad keywords. Targeted keywords lead to more qualified prospects
- Assess your competition on keywords. Pick keywords where you can win.
- Get Local. If it’s relevant- include your town and or county in the terms you choose to optimize for.
I am working with a company that creates designer flip-flops that are embellished with crystals, symbols, jewelry and other decorative items. When we first started their keyword project, the first two keywords the company gave me were: flip-flops and sandals. I said, “That’s great, those get a very high volume of searches, but you are competing against very well established websites and there is no way of getting on the first results page.”
I went through the questions and thoughts above with the company and our research indicated that there was great search volume and much lighter competition around more specific search terms such as: embellished flip flops, crystal flip-slops, rhinestone flip-flops, decorated flip-flops etc…
We optimized pages for each of these and the project has been a success! The number of keywords Google is indexing for the site has risen by over 100% and organic traffic has risen over 60%.
Research your keywords before doing your on page optimization! Expand your content and optimize for three keywords per page and watch your traffic increase.
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Tags: good web, increase website traffic, keyword research, keyword selection, keyword tool, Lead Generation, lose good traffic, seo, where:New-York-NY-Long-Island-NY
