Of all SEO tips, understanding keywords is the most important.
The term “search engine optimization” is often used interchangeably with the phrase Keyword Search Engine Optimization? Why? Because keywords are absolutely positively the ‘foundation on which your house is built’ – so let’s mix the best darn cement we can for creating our SEO foundation, shall we? Hopefully you’ve already read our introductory post about small business internet marketing. Following a marketing outline is a great idea, however without first developing a list of quality keywords most of your efforts would be completely wasted.
It’s been my mission over the past few years to find an affordable yet effective way to determine the best keywords without subscribing to expensive and confusing services geared towards information marketers and big businesses. Mission accomplished — the solution you need is about to be revealed.
It’s been tested and fine-tuned through hours of trial and error and hard work. I’m a big believer in “do as I do” not “do what I say” so it goes without saying that what you’re going to read below is exactly how I go about finding the best keywords for my small business clients. And so far, no one has fired me or complained about the results so I must be doing something right 
. FYI, if you still feel overwhelmed after reading this post a few times I’ve included a special offer at the bottom of this page for helping you out.
So what exactly is a keyword? A keyword is the word or phrase someone types into Google or any search engine in search for information on any particular topic. A search-engine-friendly website should always contain quality keywords related to the site’s theme and the context of the business or organization it represents.
A ‘quality keyword’ is one with high search volumes and the least competition possible. We’ll discuss more on finding quality keywords later in the post but the point to understand here is that we want to optimize our site’s position in the search engine listings for the highest quality keywords – keywords that are most often searched and ideally the easiest to compete for.
Let me give you an example. If you run a local tennis pro shop that sells both tennis shoes and tennis bags, you’ll obviously feature both on your site. However as far as keywords are concerned, you discover that both terms have high search volumes but that tennis shoes is a much easier term to place highly in the search engine listings for. Assuming you’re happy to sell either product, then you should make darn sure you consider tennis shoes first before concerning yourself with tennis bags when it comes to optimizing your content.
It’s important to include keywords whenever and wherever appropriate especially within the first and last paragraphs of each page. However let’s not be rigid about the number of times you should do so. Google has always been nebulous about exact weights and percentages used in its SEO algorithm, and the metric of “keyword density,” better known as ‘the percentage or number of times a specific keyword appears on a page,’ is no exception.
Nevertheless, it is common knowledge that choosing and including relevant quality keywords should be your number one priority for increasing your site’s SEO and marketability online – it is the bedrock of your online success and should be given ample consideration on the front end of your marketing campaign.
For example, if you’re a chiropractor, your services page should include the keyword terms “spinal decompression” and “chiropractic adjustments.” A keyword density enthusiast may perform his or her analysis using a number of of free keyword density tools like the one found in the sidebar of our blog. However most tools do a poor job accounting for ‘multi-word’ key phrases like “chiropractic adjustment.” This means that if you insist on holding yourself to a certain keyword density metric you’ll be doing the word counting and percentage calculations manually should you decide to get serious about keyword density – sounds like a ton of fun, right?
Given the ambiguous nature keyword density metrics I will, once again, implore you to simply include keywords whenever you can in a fashion that sounds natural and doesn’t degrade the readability of your content. Just for kicks, let’s look at the inconsistencies within statements made by reputable internet marketing gurus regarding keyword density just to make sure you’re finally over it ….
If you overdo it, Google will punish you for “keyword spamming.”
You should never include any word more than 7 times on each page.
Shoot for 8% density on your most important words.
Your goal is a density of no more than 10%
Don’t exceed 5%
Keyword density is unimportant. Keyword-rich anchor text, page titles, header tags, and URL’s, along with the presence of long tail keyword variations (multi-word keyphrases) and lengthy content (500+ words) are more important.
In my opinion, we should not obsess over the exact keyword density, but should make it our first priority to include keywords in our content as much as we can without affecting the quality and flow of our content. The most common theme resonating amongst all the gurus as that your content should sound natural, interesting, and consistent with the theme of your site. I completely agree! Take note of the following “K.I.S.S” guidelines for developing keyword-rich and reader friendly content. By following my instructions your content will end up sounding interesting and will ultimately include a nice mix of keywords.
Golden Rule: Let your writing do the talking. The best approach is to write interesting and valuable content for your readers. They and the web-crawlers also will reward you for this.
It all starts with brainstorming and keyword research….
Step 1: Review your current content and jot down any words, phrases, or short sentences that best describe the products and services you offer. Obviously you can read through your current website content for ideas.
Step 2: Using both keyword tools described below, do keyword research on your market space, starting with the basic one-word keywords from your brainstorming list then expanding to compound words or phrases based on the output of your keyword tools which will show related keyword suggestions and search volumes. Remember, you can always hire us to produce a high-quality keyword report for you however I feel that if you’re willing to invest some time into using my two favorite keyword tools you can take this on yourself. Learning to do it yourself isn’t that difficult and allows you to re-vamp in the future if your business changes or expands without having to pay an outside company like ours. It just takes some time on your part to assemble the list.
The ultimate goal through brainstorming and using the keyword tools is to have a list of 10 primary keywords for each page on your site and then a much larger list as secondary keywords for secondary usage in page content.
Below are the two keyword tools I’m Referring to – TO DO SEO PROPERLY AND WITHOUT SPENDING AN ETERNITY DOING SO, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND USING THEM BOTH. I discuss the use of the second tool in greater detail my the Free Mini Course so if you get confused here, the course is available to you at no charge.
The Google Adwords Keyword Tool is an excellent free tool for finding keyword volume and a general listing of how competitive each search term is on a global basis. It allows you to export the list of keywords you find to an Excel spreadsheet.
For all you local businesses out there, Google provides a column that best estimates ‘local search volume’ in your area versus the worldwide searches. Keyword competition I’ve found is much less variant for local businesses serving a city or small regional area, but it still pays to take a look at this data.
Warning: Like most, this tool takes each keyword you plug in and spits out a list of many (up to hundreds of) related keyword suggestions for you to consider. Resist the temptation to choose keywords with extraordinarily high search volumes that aren’t directly related to your business. You’re not going to reel in buyers at your local bicycle shop by littering your site with the keyword “motorcycle tires” just because it may show to have a high search volume. Be realistic! Limit your consideration to words that truly relate well to your business. You should focus on 10 primary keywords to focus on per page within your website based on search volumes.
Determining the level of competition for any keyword is equally important for national or global businesses. For the best results possible, I highly recommend Traffic Travis, my absolute favorite time-saving, easy-to-use keyword & SEO Tool which aids tremendously in the keyword searching process and will save you 20 hours or more of SEO research time on the back end. The inexpensive pro edition is the only way to go…it actually allows you to quickly generate valuable Keyword and SEO data and save your work, providing value well beyond its price. For starters, it goes even further than Google in generating keywords by probing Google, Yahoo, and Bing/MSN, plus it gives you useful keyword competition data (much better than the Google tool), direct access to backlinks your highest rating business competitors are using, page ranks (PR), SEO information regarding header and title tags of your competitors, allows you to rank your competition according to each keyword, and more. This software your trusted “SEO in box.” It’s like having a high-paid SEO professional working right alongside you!
You may be wondering why I’m making all this fuss about competition, so let me explain using a simple example. The term “pop tart” my have millions of monthly searches however you’d never be able to compete online with Kellog’s nor all the huge grocery chains that sell them for this term. Perhaps though, the more generic term “breakfast pastry” has only several hundred thousand monthly searches but would likely be easier for you to compete for on a local level. Traffic Travis essentially takes the guesswork out completely by running calculations we humans could never run and assigns a competition rating for any given keyword. Along with this rating you get a list of the top 10-20 web pages you’d be competing against for this term including useful SEO data about each site.
Since both Traffic Travis Pro and Google allow you to export to spreadsheets you should copy and paste your favorite keyword choices from both tools into one Excel spreadsheet for consideration and subsequent SEO analysis through Traffic Travis.
Let me demonstrate what I’m talking about in this short slide show (opens in separate window)
Go to my Traffic Travis Review Page to learn more. There will be a link at the bottom back to this page.
Notice how I append each keyword with a “local city modifier” when working in the Traffic Travis SEO module. This is key for local businesses looking to evaluate only local competition. The output displays an easy-to-read list of your top local competitor’s websites for each keyword along with a useful keyword ”difficulty rating” indicator based on a number of different metrics which are conveniently highlighted for you within each report’s snapshot. Finding keywords with relatively high search volumes and a difficulty rating of “relatively easy” is a big plus.
It should be noted that the competition ratings vary much more without the city modifier for obvious reasons – the term “chiropractor raleigh nc” only draws competition among sites in a city of 300,000 people where as the term “chiropractor” on it’s own draws global competition.
Traffic Travis can tell you alot about your biggest competitors but I also recommend you visit a few of their websites for and content ideas. As any savvy business person knows, understanding your competition can be extremely valuable. No other software or subscription service out there makes it this easy.
Reminder: Imitating your competition is smart, but copying content is not – this will get you punished.
Bar none, of the dozens of free and paid tools I’ve tried Traffic Travis is the best keyword and SEO tool available. Any that come close to offering similar functionality grease you for monthly fees – this product typically runs only 2 payments of $47, then it’s yours to keep (free updates!).
I only ask people to spend money when it’s worth spending…this is one of those times. If you’re serious about doing your own marketing this software will do 75-90% of the work for you while saving you hours and hours of time. Check it out by clicking the image below….
Up to 2,000 keywords with full analysis of how your competitors rank – best of all you can save all your work and hours of time with Traffic Travis.
Step 3: Consider the top 10 keywords you chose during your research as possible changes to page titles (ie/ “Pedicures | ABC Salon | Earl, MS”) for each page, category headings, and topics to write about in your website content. Again it’s ideal to find ten top keywords that have a difficulty rating in Traffic Travis of “Relatively Easy.” But the first order of business is to choose keywords that truly represent the forte of your business, then consider search volumes and competition secondarily. The remaining keywords can be used freely in re-writing your site’s content at your discretion. Obviously you’ll want to use the stronger keywords as much as possible, but not at the expense of straying away from the theme of your site or disturbing the natural flow of your content. If a keyword of “medium difficulty” or “difficult” sounds good in a particular spot, then use it.
FYI – Reviewing the websites of competitors Traffic Travis uncovers can be very helpful gathering ideas for fine-tuning your site’s design and content. This is one of the reasons I save each of those SEO reports generated by Traffic Travis.
Lastly, please don’t feel tentative about overusing a strong term. For example, if you’re working on the home page for a chiropractic office, then don’t be bashful about including the word “chiropractic” in the content 5, 10, or even 15 times. Working on the services page you’ll take a different approach with terms like “chiropractic adjustment.” I’m a firm believer that there are no hard and fast rules on keyword density but I do feel you should let your strongest keywords shine.
Remember to include your top keywords in your first paragraphs, site URL’s, anchor text, page titles, header tags, as well as in the meta description. The search engine crawlers look at all these areas first to determine the theme and relevance of your site.
For more valuable advice on this subject of titles, headers, page content, etc., please go on to read our SEO Friendy Design post. Also, it may pay to read through the keywords post a few times to really get the hang of it. If you decide this is all too much for you to take on yourself I’ll be happy to produce the list of keywords for you at the discounted price of $47 (normally $75 and up!). Simply fill out a “Contact” inquiry (tab at top of page) with subject line “$47 Keyword Report.” Make sure to include your website address, email address, city and state, and a brief description of your business. Upon completion I’ll send you a link to make payment through Paypal. This special discounted price is your reward for taking the time to read this post .
