People say “Google it” for a good reason, search engines like Google and Bing are the standard way for most people on the planet to find information. With smart phones, tablets, smart watches, laptops, and yes- PCs there are multitude of ways to access search engines; that is why keyword research matters. You want to be sure that your company is among the top results on any search engine. Why? Over 59% of organic clicks go to one of the top 3 search returns. Here are some suggestions on how you can improve your SERP rankings through keyword research.
Keyword Research is the Lifeblood of SEO
Keywords are the engine that drives SEO results, so they need to be carefully researched. It’s a straight forward process in creating a strategy for SEO, the first part of which is to research keywords. Once you have found keywords that will be beneficial to your results, the next step is to create content around those keywords. Then you will want to improve content revolving around a primary keyword. There are both free and paid keyword research tools that you can use. Google has perhaps the most popular free keyword research tool with Google Keyword Planner. Once you have researched keywords you will be able to string together phrases related to your business that will get targeted results. Say you own a classic car dealership and want to get the most out of your content. Using the keywords “Classic Cars” is too general a term and you won’t rank very high in any search engine results. Using a long tail term like “Black 1935 Ford Pickups” would yield narrower results, which are more likely to produce a paying customer. Short tail terms can be used in a similar manner, it depends on which works best with your content.
Organic is Healthy for Content Too
Free is always better than paid when it comes to search engine results. A pay per click campaign can quickly become expensive and show minimal results. When people arrive at your content organically it is because they are engaging with it. This is why it is vital to attract organic traffic. When your content is working to its full potential across blog posts, landing pages, and other content; you will see higher rankings in search engine results on a regular basis. Part of this is making sure your content is high quality and not too spam like. Search engines penalize content that uses too many keywords and that are too similar in meaning. Google and Bing don’t want content that reads like spam ads to be among their top search results. With that in mind, be careful not to overuse keywords.
Bad Keyword Research = Bad Results
You can easily get bad leads when you don’t use keywords that are specific to your product or service. Using our classic car dealership example from earlier with the phrase “classic model cars” could bring hobbyist to your site looking to build a scale model of a 1957 Chevy. Even if poor keywords drive an increase in traffic to your site, it would be the wrong kind of traffic and would be unlikely to bring about any return on investment. Visitors who find they are at a site that does not have what they are looking for will not stay long.
When creating keywords, you need to research them well, or your site may end up being Robinson Crusoe, on an island alone among a sea of other search results. If your keywords don’t match what your company does, it is likely no one will know you are there. Make sure your content is not using generalized terms or terms that resemble spam. If that is the case, your website may never be seen.