A web site without keywords is a lot like a treasure chest without a map to find it. It might offer a wealth of information, but what are the odds of anyone finding it? The Internet is riddled with beautiful and informative sites that get little-to no-traffic. Perhaps you own or manage such a site. (I know I have).
In a nutshell, keywords are how potential customers find you online.
Keywords and keyword phrases are what search engines rely on to return meaningful results to online searchers. If your site’s content is presented as a hodge-podge of loosely associated ideas that are not tied together by keywords, search engine spiders will have a hard time figuring out the focus of your site. As a result, human visitors may never find it (unless you utilize an aggressive and costly pay-per-click (PPC) or offline marketing campaign).
Keywords do more than help search engines drive traffic to your site, however. They can serve as a road map for your online marketing strategy, as well. For starters, a list of well-researched keywords and phrases is a great way to develop and build content for your site. It is easier to create content once you’ve figured out the primary purpose of each page (ideally built around one to three keywords or phrases) and how that one page aligns with the overall purpose of the site.
I find that spending time up front on keyword research is really helpful in terms of formulating the entire blueprint of the site. In fact, when I work with a client, one of the first things I ask is “what is the overall purpose of the site?” or “what exactly are you trying to accomplish with it?” The very next question is “what keywords do you want to target?”
These two questions offer great insight into where we are in the search engine optimization (SEO) process and gets the ball rolling in terms of what we need to do next.
In tomorrow’s post, I’ll dig a little deeper into what those next steps might be…
Til Next Time,
P.S. Keyword research is a bit of an art and a science. I personally use and recommend Micro Niche Finder because it helps me identify in demand words and phrases quickly and easily. Unlike time-intensive manual methods, Micro Niche Finder allows you to start a search, then minimize the window while it does the work for you in the background.
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Hey there! I had a few minutes so I thought I’d go back through your site! Looks very good. I think you should put more emphasis on what SEO really is. I’m so out of loop with this stuff so forgive me if I’m not up to speed. Maybe a section solely for SEO and what it means. You have it here and there. Just my two cents