5 September 2009
We all want High Search Engine Rankings… right? All say Yeah! You want as good a search match as possible between what your prospective customers are looking for and what you are offering as they are more likely to ‘bite’ when arriving at your site. Then it is VERY IMPORTANT to choose the right KEYWORDS / PHRASES that web surfers may use in order to FIND your website. If you target the wrong keywords, you’ll waste a lot of time, energy and money !

Search Engine Optimisation #1 Task

The first thing to consider in any Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Strategy is your KEYWORDS or SEARCH PHRASES. Ask yourself what your potential visitors are likely to type into a search engine ? If you know that, you’re already on with the next task.

But don’t be hasty, YOU MUST INVEST TIME in choosing the right keywords as it’s not usually that easy or obvious for most web site owners, particularly if you sell / offer something that is very common or competitive or even “so new” that its unclear what keywords people will use to find your site.

What are Keywords?

Keywords or phrases are the words that people type into a search engine query box to find websites or information about the topic they are interested in. Keywords are SO IMPORTANT to matching up their search query with your web site. So it’s pointless to optimize your web pages for keywords that nobody uses in the search engines even if YOU THINK they are better keywords !!

* Keywords need to relevant to your site’s subject and in your actual textual content. So if you sell mobile phones make sure your keywords are related to mobile phones.
* Don’t choose Keywords that are not even mentioned in your site - that’s a “Black Hat Trick” that will do you harm later. So if you sell Nokia mobile phones only, don’t be tempted to choose keywords relevant to other manufacturers… that’s cheating !
* Choose keywords that consider the visitors intention if they land on your page. Is it for information / browsing? Are they visiting to compare prices? Are they so specific that the page is for buying?
* Choose keywords for buying / will tempt a sale / enquiry of your service. So if you sell Nokia mobiles, it may be wiser to optimise a page for a key phrase such as “Nokia 7100 Supanova” which suggests the person knows what they want and this phrase is going to get him/her right where they want to be – they’ll be impressed !!
* Consider 3, 4 or 5 word Key Phrases as they are much more effective. For instance “Mobile Phone” is too vague BUT “Nokia 7100 Supanova Mobile Phone” is very targeted and research shows that this type of key phrase is more likely to get a sale / enquiry.
* Optimise keywords for the page NOT JUST the web site as a whole. So you may have very generic keywords for a page about mobile phone services BUT your keywords for the actual “Nokia 7100 Supanova” page will be very specific… i.e. people who are not interested in the “Nokia 7100 Supanova” don’t want to waste time on that page !

Take Your Time – Don’t Rush Keyword Selection

It’s very important that you take some time and do research to find the best keywords for your website. The time and efforts that you invest in finding the right keywords will pay back in the long run.

If you already have a web site look over the LOG FILES or your Hit Counter Stat's… there should be plenty of historic clues (and probably surprises) there to help your Keyword Selection.
Related SEO Keyword Resources:

* Google Keyword Tool
* Statcounter.com Free Visitor Stats
* Google Analytics

You should try to stick to 1, 2 or 3 keywords or phrases - as it's near impossible to get one page to be top for lots of different words. So if your page is about pearl necklaces, then optimise it with keywords or phrases about pearl necklaces, not diamonds or earrings...