Researching Keywords

What’s the big deal right? Some might say that keywords are a thing of the past. Well, in some ways, keywords do not function the way they used to. There used to be a time when you probably slammed your website with as many keywords as possible, thinking this was the best method. Now, keywords must be used much more strategically.

So why research keywords? This is important to grow new accounts or existing accounts. By having the correct keywords on your sites, your price-per-click accounts should increase. Keywords are not a complete way of the past, rather, having quality keywords are very important to sites.

Looking for Themes

Instead of focusing on finding all the words that describe an object, try and open new themes about these objects. For example, don’t try to find all the very specific words that describe striped yellow and black yoga pants. Instead, branch out and use terms like work out pants, athletic wear, comfortable pants, stretching pants, leggings, etc. This will help broaden your themes and hopefully bring more potential customers. However, it is very important to keep track of these words because you do not just want a bunch of keywords that are cluttering your page. Some will be detrimental and you want to get these off of your site. Be careful of very similar keywords already on your website as these can very likely not be helpful and just clutter your site.

Monitoring Keywords

It is important to monitor keywords. You can label new keywords to be able to track what successful new keywords are. The other thing to monitor is a detrimental response to keywords. This is okay when overall traffic and production is improved; otherwise, you may want to eliminate the new keyword that is causing the detrimental response to older keywords. You also want to track poor performing keywords. You will want to eliminate these keywords from your site so they are not cluttering your site. This will make your account stronger.

Duplicate Keywords

You want to be careful you are not duplicating keywords as they can compete with each other and be detrimental for your site. An example of duplicate keywords would be “red winter coat” and “winter coat red.” Broad match keywords are the same words in different order and could potentially be competing against each other.

Practical Application

1.       Expand on keywords that are doing well

You can develop new themes off of keywords that are doing well. This will give depth and value to your account. Your top-rated keywords could give you insight into which root terms will be beneficial for your site.

2.       Talk the lingo of your customers

It is really easy to talk the technical talk of the industry, but if your customers do not know your lingo, you could be speaking a totally different language. Sometimes it is important to talk in the lingo of the industry, but this will be a case by case basis.

3.       Know your industry

You need to know your industry before trying to market your products or services. People expect you to know what you are talking about and being well versed in the industry is critical.

4.       Researching gaps in your traffic

If you can find where there is possible traffic for your product with keywords, you can place bids on these and incorporate them into your sites to increase productive traffic to your site.

5.       Research your competitors

If you know what is allowing them to excel, you can potentially use those tactics, keywords or avenues that will help generate more traffic and production for yourself.

These are simple reminders and suggestions to keep your website strong and productive. Good luck with your keyword research!