So you’ve decided to launch a SEO campaign for your business. Congratulations! You’re on your way to an effective internet marketing strategy, and the next step involves picking the right keywords. Keyword research is an underappreciated part of the SEO process, even though it has a significant impact on the success of an SEO campaign. Whether you’re taking on the project yourself, or hired an SEO specialist to manage your campaign, here are some important factors you should know about keywords before you start the process:
Be precise
Let’s say you’re a shoe salesman in Chicago.
…not that shoe salesman
You want to improve your rankings, so you assume that the only logical keyword to choose is “shoes.” Shoes may seem like a great keyword to focus on, but there are going to be literally millions of people searching for the word shoes. Well known shoe retailers like DSW and Nike may already rank for shoes, but your small local business won’t.
Describe your product
If you want to attract more customers and improve your rankings, you need to make sure that you’re aiming for keywords that accurately describe what you sell. If you mainly sell high-end shoes for special occasions, keywords like “men’s dress shoes” and “ladies high heels” would make sense for your campaign. Athletic shoe retailers would aim for words like “women’s cleats” and “men’s basketball shoes.” If you’re having trouble picking keywords, think about what terms you would enter into a search engine if you were searching for something you sell.
Remember your location
As a shoe salesman in Chicago, you’re going to want to target people in the Windy City. A keyword like “women’s evening shoes” is good, but “women’s evening shoes Chicago” would be even better. Adding a location to your keyword won’t just ensure that you’re reaching the right customers, it can also be easier to get a higher rank for your search term.
Don’t make your business name a keyword
We know what you’re thinking. “Wait a minute, why wouldn’t I use my company name as a keyword? I want customers to find me!” Your business name is important in terms of branding, but means very little in the SEO realm. Any person that would type your name into Google already knows about your business and products, so there’s no reason to target them.
An SEO campaign doesn’t work overnight, ranking for a keyword and seeing a spike in web traffic can take time. If you keep these tips in mind when you plan your strategy, you’ll be happy with your campaign results.
