“The best place to hide a dead body is page two of Google.”
-Unknown
There’s a lot of myths and misconceptions surrounding the ominous world of SEO and keywords. But, when done correctly and ethically, SEO and keywords aren’t ominous after all. Let’s start off with some background knowledge, first.
What’s SEO?
Search engine optimization, or SEO, is the process of making your site more visible to users. More specifically, it is improving the search engine ranking (how close to the top of the first page of search results you are) for certain keywords.
It is important to keep in mind it is only beneficial to make your site rank higher from keywords that are actually useful to your user’s searches. You want to be relevant to what users are looking for, not just appear at the top for unrelated things.
Google Rankings
Google ranks pages based on relevancy to the user’s search. They do this because happy users will result in more traffic, which will in turn lead to more money for Google. To learn more about the intricate process of page rankings by Google, check out these great articles:
https://www.google.com/search/howsearchworks/how-search-works/ranking-results/
Debunking Myths: Myth or Fact?
The More Keywords the Merrier!
Having a lot of keywords makes your page rank even higher.
Meta Tags are Important!
You should use meta descriptions and use keywords in them.
High-Volume Keywords are Best!
You should focus on the keywords that grab the most searches.
Myth: The More the Merrier
This is one of the most common misconceptions out there, and logically so! If keywords make your website rank higher, then we should have as many as possible- right? Actually, wrong. This is called stuffing- and it will hurt your website instead of help!
Instead of stuffing keywords everywhere, be natural. Use them here and there in meaningful and natural places.
Fact: Meta Tags are Important
Meta tags give the search engine information about what your website is about and appear in HTML code. Using meta tags, especially with strategic keywords, is vital for SEO. Two important meta tags are title tags and meta descriptions.
Title tags show the title of the webpage and is the title that will appear in search results. Meta descriptions will describe what the content is for that page. It will often be shown in the search reuslts page, too, to tell the user about the page.
Myth: High-Volume Keywords are Best
High-volume keywords are much more competitive than targeting highly relevant keywords that have a little less volume. These keywords will be more specific and have less competition, so you won’t get lost in all the high-volume traffic.
Don’t forget to use keywords phrases, too. These are becoming crucial to keywords- as more users are searching full questions in the search engine. These tactics will help you get started with meaningful and successful keywords.
How Do I Find Keywords?
Offline Vs. Online Research
There are two ways to choose your keywords: offline keyword research and online keywords research.
| Offline Keyword Research | Online Keyword Research |
| Brainstorming | Google Autocomplete |
| Marketing collateral | Google Adwords |
| Customer surveys | Keyword Planner |
| Listening to customers | Google Trends |
Relevancy, Traffic, and Competition
The keywords you choose should be directly related to your content, while truthfully representing your page. Next, look at the traffic it generates. How many people are searching for your keyword or phrase? You can check this out by looking at Google Autocomplete, Google Adwords, and Google Trends.
You want to narrow down your search further by choosing words with low competition, as mention before. High-volume keywords will put you in competition with big brands. One way to avoid that competition is using long-tail keywords. These will have less competition, but trade-ff by having less volume than a fat head keyword (one core term).
Optimization for Keywords
Optimizing is the process of mapping out your chosen keywords to certain pages on your website. Remember- Google ranks pages and not the site! Through mapping, you will optimize each page for its own keyword.
Keep in mind to avoid keyword cannibalization, though. This is having multiple pages set on the same keyword. Have your broader keywords set for higher pages, like your homepage. Then, get more specific as you enter lower pages, like your product page, etc. You can also use your keywords in your URLs, page names, headings, and Alt. text.
In the End…
…it’s all about maintenance! SEO and keywords are not a one-and-done trick. It requires scheduled (weekly or monthly) assessment and adjusting to achieve and maintain performance. Measure and analyze the peaks of traffic and spot trends. You can look at several key performace indicators like position on the reuslts page, traffic, and conversion. This will help you better your SEO and successful keywords.
Stay tuned for our next blog about social media marketing for beginners!
