Well Researched Key Phrases: Important Factor For Search Engine Optimisation(SEO).

Key phrases are the very foundation of search. When a user enters a query on

a search engine, she uses the words she thinks are relevant to her search. The

search engine then returns those pages it believes are most relevant to the

words the searcher used.

Search engines have built a sophisticated understanding of semantics and the

way we use language. So, if a user searches for “car rental” the search engine

will look for pages that are relevant to “car rental” as well as possibly “car

hire”, “vehicle hire” and so forth. Search engines have also built up knowledge

around common misspellings and synonyms and common related searches,

so as to try to return the best results for a user.

Because of this, it is crucial that websites contain content that implements

keywords that are likely to be used by their target audience. Websites need to

appear when their potential customers are searching for them.

As a website owner, or the marketer for a website, we need to build a list of

some of the terms our potential customers are likely to use to find the things

we are offering. A large part of keyword research is understanding search

psychology. When we build our key phrase or keyword list, we are tapping into

the mental process of searchers and putting together the right mix of keywords

to target.

There are four things to consider when choosing a keyword:

• Search volume

How many searchers are using that phrase to find what they

want? For example, there is an estimated monthly search

volume of over 338 billion for the keyword “hotel”, but an

estimated 6600 searches per month for a keyword like “Cape

Town Waterfront hotel”.

• Competition

How many other websites out there are targeting that same phrase?

For example, Google finds over 2 630 000 000 results for “hotel” but

only 37 100 000 for “Cape Town Waterfront Hotel”.

• Propensity to convert

What is the likelihood that the searcher using that key phrase is going

to convert on your site? A conversion is a desired action taken by the

visitor to your website.

Related to propensity to convert is the relevance of the selected term

to what you are offering. If you are selling rooms at a hotel at the V&A

Waterfront, which of the two terms (“hotel” and “Cape Town Waterfront

hotel”) do you think will lead to more conversions?

• Value per lead

What is the average value per prospect attracted by the keyword?

Depending on the nature of your website, the average value per lead

varies. Using the hotel example again, consider these two terms:

“luxury Cape Town hotel” and “budget Cape Town hotel”

Both are terms used by someone looking to book a hotel in Cape Town,

but it is likely that someone looking for a luxury hotel is intending

to spend more. That means that particular lead has a higher value,

particularly if you have a hotel booking website that offers a range of

accommodation.

Keyword Research

How do you know where to start on building your keyword list? It requires

a little thought, and a fair amount of research using tools which are readily

available to help you both grow and refine your list of keywords.

Brainstorm

Think about the words you would use to describe your business, and about the

questions or needs of your customers that it fulfils. How would someone ask

for what you are offering? Consider synonyms and misspellings as well.

Bear in mind that people might not ask for your services in the same way you

describe them. You might sell “herbal infusions” whereas most people would

ask for “herbal teas”, although some might request a “tisane”.

If you are selling Tamagotchis, remember that the spelling can be tough to

recall, and you might need to consider common misspellings like “tumagochi”

or “tamagochi”.

Survey customers and look at your website referral logs

Look to see what terms customers are already using to find you, and add those

to your list. If they are already sending you some traffic, it is worth seeing if you

can increase that traffic.

Use keyword research tools

There are several tools available for keyword discovery, and some of them

are free! Some tools will scan your website and suggest keywords based on

your current content. Most will let you enter keywords, and will then return

suggestions based on past research data with:

• Similar keywords.

• Common keywords used with that keyword.

• Common misspellings.

• Frequency of the keywords in search queries.

• Industry related keywords.

• Keywords that are sending traffic to your competitors.

• How many sites are targeting your keywords.

See Tools of the Trade for some tools that you can use.

Bearing in mind the factors that make a good keyword, you need to aim for the

right mix of keywords. Low volume terms, with low levels of competition may

be a good way to get traffic in the short term, but don’t be scared off by high-

levels of competition in the high-value, high-volume areas. It might take longer

to get there, but once there, the revenue can make it all worthwhile.

It is a good idea to create a spreadsheet of the list of keywords, where you can

also store information relevant to that keyword.

Keyword Or Phrase	Search Volume	Competition	Prosperity To Convert	Value Of Lead
Hotel	3870	90%	2%	$18
Luxury Hotels	345	80%	35%	$35

This will help you to choose the right keywords to target. These lists should be

created for the whole website, and then can be broken down for each page you

want to optimise.