Search Engine Optimization

It’s important when you start your keyword research that your first few keyword lists are created using a broad keyword as the seed. If you start with too long tail or niche of a keyword, you won’t be able to come up with enough viable (and actually searched for!) variations. It’s also important to not let company ego get in the way when conducting keyword research and only use keywords the management likes.

Watch this week’s SEO video lesson here!

For more keyword research lessons from Nick Stamoulis, check out the Brick Marketing keyword research video lesson archive.

A problem I have run into with many website owners during the keyword research phase of their SEO campaign is that they are hesitant to incorporate new keywords into the mix. They have a core list of 10 keywords they want to rank well for and want to know why those keywords can’t be targeted on every page of the site. Surely the more times those keywords are used the better, right? Here is the thing, sure, you can target whatever keywords you want on any page of your website but if the content doesn’t back them up you won’t get very far. The search engines look at the page as a whole, not just what keywords you have in the Meta tags. If you say the most important for a page is “apple” and the page is talking about “banana” there is a disconnect and your site won’t be successful.

Don’t be afraid to add new keywords to your website (provided they are relevant to the content), even if they don’t have the most search volume. Long-tail keywords may not look as impressive on a spreadsheet when compared to how much activity surrounds broad keywords, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be incredibly useful. For one thing, searchers using long-tail keywords are a much more targeted visitor and more likely to be further along in their buying cycle. Long-tail keywords are, in essence, a form of lead qualification. If someone finds your website through a long-tail keyword you can be pretty confident that they are the kind of customer you want finding your site.

Secondly, just because a keyword has a low monthly search volume, that doesn’t mean that it can’t have a positive impact on your visitor growth over time. Let’s say through the course of your keyword selection process you incorporate an additional 40 (brand new) keywords throughout your website. Even if each of those keywords only brings 5 new visitors to your website each month, that’s an additional 200 targeted visitors every month. In a year that is going to be an uptick of 2,400 new visitors, just from those long-tail keywords! Visitor growth aside, imagine what your online business could do with an extra 200, highly targeted and well-qualified visitors each month!

Another problem website owners run into when conducting keyword research is that they think they have to get it right the first time. There is no rule against going back and redoing the keyword research on underperforming pages (provided you’ve given them enough time to gather some solid data). That is where your Google analytics account can come in handy. You not only see how many visitors each keyword is bringing to your site, you can also see what keywords you are NOT actively targeting that are driving traffic.

B2B websites have to be sure to include those long tail, niche industry keywords in their B2B keyword research. Even if those keywords don’t have a high search volume, it’s important that your website be positioned well for when someone does search for those B2B keyword phrases. Someone using those highly targeted keywords is most likely your exact target audience.

Watch this week’s SEO video lesson here!

For more keyword research tips and advice, check out the Brick Marketing Keyword Research Video Lesson Archive.

Brand new websites that are just beginning their SEO campaigns should undoubtedly begin with onsite SEO, the first step of which is keyword research. The keywords you choose (based on the content of your site) will ultimately help determine what search phrases your site rank for and what kind of searcher will find your site. Because new site’s don’t have 6 months of analytics to jumpstart their keyword research, here are 4 tips to keep you on track:

Use your competitors as a starting point.
If you’re website is relatively new, you don’t have a deep pool of analytics and data to base your keyword research on—the numbers just aren’t there yet an it’s hard to pull the right keywords from thin air. In order to get started with your onsite SEO, take a look at the competition and see what keywords and keyword variations they seem to be targeting. Older, more established sites that have been around the SEO block a few times have a pretty good idea on how their target audience is searching. While you shouldn’t assume their keywords are an exact match for your site, it’s as good a place as any to get started with your keyword research. You can always go back 6 months down the road and swap out under-performing keywords for new ones.

Don’t assume industry jargon is the best way to go.
A well optimized website should use a mix of broad and long-tail keywords, including industry jargon. Just because you know the language of your industry, company and products, that doesn’t mean your target audience does. They might be using a completely different set of keywords to look for your product/services. If you fail to take user intent into account when conducting your keyword research, you’re bound to miss the mark.

Consider who you are targeting.
Who is your target online audience? How do they use the Internet? What sites do they frequent? What are they looking for online? The better you can understand your online audience, the more you can think like them and the better you can steer your keyword research in the right direction. Just like any other marketing tactic, SEO is designed to make your website appealing to your audience. If you don’t know what they are looking for and how they are looking for it for you’ll never get your website off the ground.

Give your keywords time to perform.
Don’t assume that just because one particular keyword isn’t driving hundreds of visitors to your site overnight that you’ve completely missed the mark with your keyword research. SEO is a long term process and it can take a while to ramp up. I would recommend giving it at least three months before going in and really analyzing the data you accrued over that time. If you change keywords too quickly you’ll never really know what is and isn’t working.

In my opinion, on site optimization should be the first phase in any SEO campaign. What is the point of building great inbound links if your site isn’t ready to convert visitors? A sloppy navigation structure, weak content and limited call-to-actions aren’t going to help your online business grow, not matter how good your offsite link building is. With Christmas just 48 hours away, I thought I’d bring up the flipside of failing to optimize your website—over optimization. And the easiest way to over optimize your website is to stuff it full of keywords, as if you were stuffing a Christmas stocking.

It makes sense in theory; if the search spiders look for specific keywords to determine what a website page is about and how well it should rank in the SERP, shouldn’t a page that targets the same keyword more frequently do better? But what looks good on paper doesn’t always work in practice. Yes, it’s important to target specific keywords and their variations on each page of your website, but overdoing it will actually negatively impact your SEO. While I can’t tell you that using the same keyword 5 times on a page is just enough while 6 times is too many (there is no magic number when it comes to optimizing content), it’s pretty obvious when someone has stuffed their website with keywords.

Let me give you an example using Christmas stocking as the keyword:

Looking for new Christmas stockings for your family? Order your custom Christmas stocking from the original Christmas stocking manufacturer, Christmas Stockings Inc. Our Christmas stockings come in a variety of traditional and modern Christmas stocking patterns and colors. Order your Christmas stockings from Christmas Stockings Inc. today for guaranteed Christmas stocking delivery by Christmas.

Looking for new Christmas stockings for your family this holiday season? Custom stocking makers Christmas Stockings Inc. have a wide variety of traditional and modern patterns that your family is sure to love. Order your new Christmas stockings today and receive guaranteed delivery by Christmas! Give Santa something to stuff this holiday season with a custom stocking from Christmas Stockings Inc.

Which paragraph reads more naturally to you? The first paragraph uses the keyword 9 times while the second paragraph only uses it 4 times, plus 2 “stocking” if you want to count that as a keyword variation. Personally, I would much rather read more of a website that had the second paragraph as part of their page content. It is targeting “Christmas stocking” but not at the expense of the reader, which is one of the most important rules of onsite SEO—never write content for the search engines, always write for a human visitor.