What are good keywords?
Your first step in optimising your website for search engines should be researching good keywords.
Do not underestimate or overlook the importance of getting the right keywords for your website. This task is your chance to launch a 100% winning SEO campaign.
No keyword research, no SEO.
Keywords are the cornerstones of a successful search engine marketing campaign. Trying to promote a website without the right keywords will have no results, or ineffective results at best.
Search engines are like a treasure map. Google, Bing and Yahoo! all help us to find services, products or information we desire. If your website offers this treasure, but you have the wrong keywords, then noone you want to target is going to find your products or services.
Just like a cook can't bake an apple pie without apples, or a potter can't make a good pot with bad clay, an SEO can't make a website succeed with wrong keywords. Some business owners will say: "Had a website. Didn't work!" Keywords form the building blocks of a successful website and targeting the right ones will increase your business.
The right keywords are the best investment you can make in SEO.Do you have keywords you are targeting? Do you know if you have wrong keywords? Confident your keywords are right? Unsure? Don't know? You need to get the right keywords for your business!
What is a keyword or keyphrase?
Firstly, a keyword is a word people will type in a search engine like Google, Bing or Yahoo! when looking for products or services you offer. Similarly, a keyphrase is a combination of one or more words. Keyword and keyphrase are terms often used interchangably.
For example, maybe you're in the business of selling security doors? Today, John Doe is looking for security doors and makes a query in Google, typing in security doors. He sees your website at the top of the results meaning that you rank first by the keyphrase security doors. This also means that Mr. Doe is much more likely to visit your site and desire your product over another competitor ranked lower.
This cannot be stressed enough. To get a #1 placement in search engines, the first and the most important step is to choose the right keywords and keyphrases. Pick good keywords and you are on your way to having a successful website for your business. Get the wrong ones and you will make a dog's breakfast of your whole SEO campaign. Don't be one of those business owners who say, "had a website, didn't work!"
Keyword considerations
Keyword length and composition
One very important yet seemingly contradictory keyword consideration involves the length and composition of keyphrases.
When people perform searches, they most often type in 2-word phrases followed closely by 3-word phrases. 1-word phrases get fewer searches, and if the keyphrase is longer than 3, it gets fewer uses, with each word added.
So if you target long keyphrases, then you are likely going to receive less traffic. The only exception being 1-word keyphrases. They are also not going to get too many searches.There is also another factor to consider: targeted traffic.
Targeted traffic
Picture what happens when an Internet user searches for the keyword, headphones. What exactly will this person find? Let us presume you have a website that sells professional sound studio headphones. If the user is interested in cheap headphones for travelling, they might visit your website, think how nice, and then quickly hit the back button on their browser.
What if they were looking for a good pair of Sennheiser headphones? If you sell this brand of headphones, and you target Sennheiser headphones, then your chances of getting this user purchasing through you would increase dramatically! As with every other user you have targeted with well thought out keywords.
This is called targeted traffic. People search for a particular keyphrase, your website gets displayed at the top, and they visit your website already interested in what you offer. If they buy, then this means the search phrase they found your website by converts. If they come to your site after the search, look it through and leave — the keyword does not convert. You only get a visit, but not a sale.
In summary, you should generally go for keyphrases between 2-3 words, that are targeted and will generate conversions.
Keyphrases with little competition
One final important note. On the diagram above, you will read above the horizontal arrow at the bottom the words: "More targeted traffic and faster results". Keyphrases that are comprised of 3 or more have come to be known as "long-tail" keyphrases. They have gained much recognition in SEO.
Normally, the longer and the more precise your keyphrases are, the sooner you will receive traffic. Why? Because it is much easier to optimise a website for a unique phrase that has little competition. The double-edge is you will also have fewer visitors than if you ranked high on more competitive keywords.
Yet, dominating long-tail keyphrases forms an important part of SEO. Although less searched for, properly targeted long-tail keyphrases are easy to rank well for and more likely to lead to conversions. Any SEO strategy should definitely look at incorporating them.
