Keyword Research Service
Why is keyword research so important for SEO?
You’ve heard it before: the first step to any effective Search Engine Optimization campaign is good keyword research. But, what is keyword research, and why is keyword research so important for SEO?
Keyword research and the effective use of keywords is the most important factor in determining what information your website relays to search engines. Finding the right keywords and choosing which to focus on is the key to leveraging your website’s ranking on search engine result pages.
So what is Keyword Research?
Keywords are the terms that users input into search engines to find information online. Keyword research seeks to determine how, exactly, your potential clients are searching for information relating to your product or service. Keyword research asks: “What “phrases” are searchers using?” “What type of information are users looking for?” and “How can I best leverage my website to appear when potential clients research my industry online?”
Keyword research also entails determining which keywords to emphasize for exposure on search engines, based on relevancy, competition and traffic potential. The best keyword research takes into consideration the varied types of search queries to “catch” clients with myriad search M.O.’s.
For regional focused businesses, local keyword research makes more sense. No matter what kind of online keyword research you conduct or which keyword research tips you follow, the bottom line is that effective keyword research can make or break your business.
Why Does Keyword Research Matter?
Knowing how your potential clients search for products and services online is essential to ensuring that yours is the business they find. Keyword research is a chance to get into the mind of your potential client and to discover what they’re searching for. What products do they need? What questions do they want answered? What problems are they facing? How can you solve their problems?
Importance of Keyword Research
There are many keyword research companies out there and many of them are very good, but unfortunately, many customers don’t realize the importance of this step and are often reluctant to pay for the keyword research service. Effective research on profitable key phrases takes time and involves understanding your business, your customers and your goals and objectives. It even involves competitive analysis. Skipping this all too important step often results in precious time and money being wasted on ineffective keywords. Comprehensive keyword analysis can answer all of these questions. An SEO Company can look at your product or service to brainstorm the search terms (or keyword categories) that address the potential customer’s needs.
These keywords will then be tested and measured against each other based on relevancy, traffic potential (monthly searches), competition and conversions online. Of their newly narrowed list, our expert SEO Optimization Consultants will then determine which keywords to focus on.
Imagine how pleased your potential customers will be, when their search query turns up exactly what they’re looking for – your informational answer (with a call to action).
Stop wasting time and call us today to see how we can help you find more customers.
Choosing the Right Keywords
Effective keywords are focused to outrank your direct competitors. It may seem like a no-brainer to optimize for the most popular keywords, but a good keyword researcher will take a realistic approach to keyword usage. The most popular keywords often have the highest competition.
If you are a small start-up, you can’t hope to compete with the national or international brands that might dominate the results for a popular search query. Instead, a good SEO Company may focus on a less popular, but more relevant search term that gives you a better chance of ranking.
Focusing Your Keywords for SEO
Say you own a bed and breakfast located in Tampa Bay. What keywords do you optimize for? Traditional wisdom might tell you that your keywords should be “bed and breakfast” or even “Florida hotel.” But spending your time optimizing for either would be a mistake. Consider both the relevance and competition for the above terms.
Relevance describes how closely a search term relates to your industry. Someone searching simply “bed and breakfast” likely wants more general information and would do better with, say, the Wikipedia article. Your highly tailored site may not be relevant to their more vague needs.
Competition for search terms may put many keywords out of reach. When searchers input “Florida hotel,” they’ll likely turn up links for major hotel brands like Hilton and Marriott. These companies have million dollar budgets and world-famous brands that you’d have to compete with.
Long-tail Keywords means choosing highly-focused terms and optimizing for specific “long-tail” phrases. Using the above example, that might mean choosing keywords like “Bed and breakfast in Tampa FL” or “St. Petersburg Fl Bed and Breakfast.“
An experienced keyword company can gauge the competition and relevance of all potential keywords to determine which keyword combinations will best serve your interests to target users with the best chance of converting.