If you are ready to begin an SEO campaign, then choosing the right keywords is a very important decision. While you might assume that the Google Keyword Research tool is the first and only stop on this journey, you might want to make room for some other considerations.
Before you even start to research keywords, it is important to find out how many keywords you expect to use, and then what words are most appropriate for targeting traffic. In SEO, targeting traffic is the name of the game. It’s pointless to pay for any keyword if you can’t identify what audience that phrase is going to bring in. So for starters, create a list of keywords and then run a comparison with a keyword research tool, taking notes of how many times the search is run.
The keyword research tool will also give figures about the competition. However, there’s no reason to limit yourself to the research tool’s site. You can do some competitor scouting on your own and determine which words they are using, as well as how these words apply in targeting an audience.
You also have to put yourself in the mind of your audience and determine if anyone is realistically going to type the phrases you’re going after. Be sure to track the results so you can quickly determine if there’s been a miscalculation. Further reduce your list by eliminating words that are not relevant, and words that do not actually match any content on your page. The search engines do notice this and will penalize you for “false advertising” in SEO.
Last but not least, don’t forget about personalization. Community and location are important factors. Why, search engines are now using user web history to further focus keyword results. Study your market and your users and you will naturally be drawn to the best keyword phrases!
