Check adwords keyword tool

Once you've developed your list of key words and phrases and gotten the big picture with Google Trends, you're ready to find out what the millions of internet users are actually searching for in your subject area. One of the best ways to do that is to use the Keyword Tool offered by Google's Adwords. Because it's offered by Google, and because Google is by far the most-used search engine, you get up to the minute results showing every imaginable search term. It even includes mis-spellings and words you may not have thought of. Most importantly, the results show what people are actually searching for rather than what you may think they're searching for. This is truly helpful ... we think it's better to be rich than to be right.

Right?

For most topics, the keyword tool will give you a huge list (around 800 results). You can sort the list by most searched, local searches (this is the one we use most often, because it shows what people in the US are searching for), and several other very helpful criteria. It's easy to download this list into Excel or some other data management format to help you collate the results.

So how are you ever going to optimize your site for 800 words and phrases? You're not. Almost nobody has the resources to optimize that many terms, and the good news is that most of us will do very well by focusing on the top ten or so words and phrases (more about that in a future post).

By the way, opening an Adwords account is free. Just Google "Adwords." You'll find the Adwords site in the organic listings at this address: https://accounts.google.com/  Pretty neat, huh?

At this point you should have a better idea of which keywords to use, based on the amount of traffic that each one is generating.  Another tool to evaluate what keywords and phrases you should use is the Traffic Estimator within Google Adwords.  We'll talk more about that in a future post.

Check Google Trends

A good way to get a rough idea of how many people are searching for a particular word or phrase is to use Google Trends. Trends allows you to enter up to five words or phrases (separated by commas). Your results will show the relative number of people searching for each word or phrase.

Suppose you sell floor coverings and you're trying to decide whether to focus this month's online advertising on tile, plank flooring, bamboo, or carpet (we realize this example probably seems excessively simple if you're in the business, but we don't sell floor coverings!). You just type those words into Google Trends and you'll know which of them is being searched for most, which second, which third, and so forth. You'll have a good general understanding of the online trends (we're pretty sure that's what they call it "Trends").

There are a few things to keep in mind both about the value of Google Trends and about its limitations. Trends shows results for the entire English internet (though it does break those results down by geographic region), not necessarily for your city. It's more of a butter knife than a scalpel. It's also true that just because lots of people are searching for a particular term doesn't mean they're going to find your website. We'll talk more about how to become successful by avoiding the most searched-for terms, but for now we'd just like you to keep in mind that Trends is more of a tool for getting to know the big picture than it is for developing a detailed keyword list for your website.

One neat aspect of Google Trends that can be helpful for websites dealing with hot topics or current events is that it shows spikes in searches and correlates them with major news stories. That can be very helpful if you're researching when to emphasize certain words and phrases and what information to correllate them with to take advantage of surges in search numbers.

Once you've got an idea of the big picture, it's time to go to step 3: the Adwords Keyword Tool.

Developing a list of keywords

Nobody knows your business as well as you do! You spend every day working in your field (we hope!) selling your particular brand of widget and interacting with vendors and clients. So it's likely that you have a detailed understanding of the most active topics and subject areas and where the most exciting new trends can be found in your line of work. This is a good thing - it's what brings you success.

Usually.

In SEO, however, this specialized knowledge can be a handicap. We've found that our clients, even when they are great business people, tend to focus on trade language, insider topics, and those aspects of their business that are most relevant to them at the moment. They often neglect simple words and concepts more likely to appeal to the average consumer.

That's why research is so important - it helps you find out what actual consumers are looking for. Once you know the keywords and phrases being searched with the highest frequency, you can make sure you speak to your potential customers in a language they understand.

The first step in doing your keyword research is to come up with a list of words and phrases that relate to the thing you're offering or trying to sell. If you're selling used cars, you might include words like "used cars," "vehicles," "one owner," "low mileage," "economical," or "certified." If you're a veterinarian, you might want words like "vet," "dog," "cat," "animal hospital," or "pet care." If you're selling laxatives, well .... never mind.

You get the idea, right? The point is to come up with a healthy list of words related to your business. Get help from your employees. Ask your friends. Troll related websites. Take a few shots at it. When you have a list that seems fairly complete, go on to step 2: "Check Google Trends."

It all starts with research!

In real estate, its location, location, location!  In SEO it is research, research, research!

The first step in any significant SEO project is to determine what keywords you are trying to optimize.  Even if you think you have a pretty clear idea, it is always worth spending a little extra time up front researching and planning your approach.

Why?  Because all of this SEO stuff takes time, so you might as well get it right the first time.  Plus, you may not be as aware as you think you are of all of the various terms that people are searching for.  There are tools available to help you with this, so there is no reason not to take advantage of them.  You may be surprised at what people are actually searching for, and there is no sense in missing out on opportunities.

One place you can go (it actually may be the best place) is to Google Adwords program. The "keyword" tool they supply can tell you most of what you need to know when you are trying to decide what words to focus on.

Location information

Make sure that you include relevant location information on your pages if that is pertinent to your business.  For instance, while you might be happy to sell a widget to someone from Albuquerque, if the vast majority of your business comes from Ann Arbor, then make sure you include “Ann Arbor” along with your keywords and phrases.

If your business is more regional in nature, then make sure you include all of the cities, towns, and counties in the location description.  That way someone searching for Webberville Widgets will be more likely to find your site.

Including dozens of locations on each of your pages could possibly clutter up your site, but there are ways to do it where you can minimize the impact.  Try placing this information “below the fold” – that is at the very bottom of the page where it usually says “Web Design By ….” and the color changes from the color used in the content area to the background color of the page. Who cares if it is cluttered down below – very few people will ever scroll down to see it, but the search engines will take notice, and that after all, is the goal!

Keywords found in page name

Part of making your site relevant to the search engines for your desired keywords is to make sure those same keywords are pervasive throughout your site.  In other words they should appear everywhere you can reasonably fit them in.  In the content, the headers, the page title, and yes – you guessed it – the page name!

What is the page name?  Every page on your site is really just a file stored somewhere on your web server.  Usually the home page is called something like index.html, or index.php, or default.asp (whatever your web server is setup to serve as the default page).  However other pages will have unique names such as about_us.html, or products.php.

In order to spruce up your SEO results you should consider changing some of the page names on your site, or adding new pages, to include your keywords and phrases.

Here are some examples:

Change about.html to about_left_handed_widgets.html
Change products.html to left_handed_widgets.html

For local results add a new page called left_handed_widgets_ann_arbor.html.  Add similar pages for each region or area you are trying to improve your results for.

Make sure you have a page on your site dedicated to each keyword/phrase

Let’s say you have an auto repair shop that specializes in providing service for European imports such as Audi, VW, and BMW.  When people go to Google and search for “bmw auto repair ann arbor” you would like your site to show up on the first page, if not first in the list.

Your current site has a “services” page that mentions that you work on BMW, VW, Audi, and other imports, but you don’t have a page specifically for “bmw auto repair ann arbor.”  Do you see the problem here?  You are hoping to be featured in the search results for a very specific search phrase, but you don’t have a page on your site that was specifically designed for that purpose.

But imagine if your competitor does.  Whoops!

The solution is to create a specific landing page just for “bmw auto repair ann arbor”.  You should go so far as to make sure the filename of the page includes those keywords (e.g. bmw_auto_repair_ann_arbor.html).  The HTML title of the page should also contain those keywords (more on page titles later).  The page should contain a lot of text that contains the phrases BMW, auto repair, and Ann Arbor.  Each one of those phrases should also be included in an HTML H1 header tag.

Try to include some specific information as to what advantages your facility would offer to someone with a BMW.  Do you have a BMW certified technician on staff?   What makes you so good at repairing BMW’s as compared to anyone else? The more information that you can provided, the more opportunities there are for you to include keywords, and that will help improve the relevance of your site for those particular words and phrases.  You might even go so far as to reserve a keyword rich domain name such as “bmw-repair-ann-arbor.com”.

Now go back and do it again for all of the other keywords and phrases that you are trying to optimize.