How to find the best keywords for your website and what to do once you’ve found them
“Keywords” are words that you emphasize on your website with the hope that somebody will look for those words on the search engines, find your website and click-through. Most of the bigger ad services, such as those provided by Yahoo!, Microsoft and Google are keyword based. For example, assuming that you have a Google AdWords campaign that stresses the keywords “Radial Keratotomy”, a search for those words on Google would likely display your ad.
Long Tail Keywords refer to the longer phrases people often use once they’ve become frustrated in finding the information for which they’re looking, or when they’re getting ready to buy a particular product or service. A long tail search phrase might be, “Radial Keratotomy Doctor San Diego, CA”. Since long tail phrases are frequently used by those getting ready to make a purchase decision, its a good idea to keep phrases such as these in mind as you create your ad campaigns, collateral materials and website sales copy.
What kind of research can I do in order to find the right keywords for my website?
I’ve updated this particular piece at least four times over the past five years. Rather than posting an exhaustive list of good keyword research resources, I’m going to pass along two tools that work really well: the Google Keyword Tool. The tool is free to use and, for now at least, you do not need a Google account in order to use it. In addition, Quintura provides an interesting (and effective) approach to keyword brainstorming.
Developing a Keyword Strategy
In the way of examples, assume that you’re in the business of selling fonts. As you seek out keywords for your site, you’ll find that people type “download free fonts” into Google about 18,000 times per month. I want to let you know that virtually everyone out there is in competition for these same keywords.
Rather then fight the masses, consider being a “big fish in a small pond.” Many people search for what they want specifically: fonts for handwriting, music, calligraphy, barcodes, foreign languages, art, etc. Collectively, these phrases represent hundreds or thousands of searches each day, and the competition for these keywords is not as strong. Small businesses that do everything for everyone are not nearly as successful as those that are focused and provide specific products to a well defined base of potential customers. In every business, defining and knowing your customer is the key to success.