SEO 101- Building keywords

Building a large list of keywords can be a big task. There are many places you can go to find keywords to build your list.

The following are some good examples:

Information Within Your Company

Many of the keywords you are brainstorming can be found within your company web site, print materials, press releases, etc. Since we are just brainstorming, it is okay to add any company jargon you might be using, but keep in mind these words might not be the best overall. On the other hand, they may turn out to perform well, so we don't want to discount them yet.

Log Files

Wherever your web site is being hosted, the web server is logging all of the site activity into a log file. These log files can reveal “exact phrases” people type into search engines that brought them to your site. Getting this information might require some technical assistance. Typically, your webmaster will have access to your site's log files. The information from these log files can be valuable, not to mention informative, because it will also show which search engines were used.

Site Search Engine

Do you have a search engine on your web site? Your log files capture the exact phrases that people enter when they are trying to find something on your site. This is also a great source for finding keywords that are on your visitor's mind. 

Print and Online Magazines and Trade Journals

There are various trade journals available, whether online or offline, that can provide some valuable deposits of keywords that you might use. These are especially useful keyword resources if they are written by people who understand and are talking to the end user – not the least because they are also written in the language of the end user which, as we discussed earlier, is important to know.

Competition

Look at what keywords your competitors are using. You can go to your competitors' web sites and look at the content on their sites to see what keywords they are using to describe their products and services. Usually they have spent a good deal of time developing their content, and reading through their site will give you some great ideas. Plus, it is never a bad thing to better understand your competition. Another place to look within your competitors' web sites is their meta keywords. Meta keywords are keywords that they are using to help them with search engine optimization.  

Meta Keywords

To find these meta keywords, you need to look at the top-level navigation of your browser under the View menu item and look for an item called “View Source” or “Page Source.” This gives you a view of the HTML behind the page you are currently viewing.

For a web site that sells cars, you might find this text string:

<meta name="keywords" content="cars, new cars, used cars, dealerships, car information, car parts">

You can tell that this page is targeting the keywords cars, new cars, used cars, dealerships, car information, and car parts. The site owners are hoping that search engines will take note. For us, we can just look to see if any of these keywords are relevant and if we can add them to our own master list.

Thesaurus

Once you have a handful of keywords, try looking them up in a thesaurus to see other related words that are presented. You may find several new keywords that you didn't think of. Or it may inspire you to look at a whole new set of related keywords.

Focus Groups / Surveys

Focus groups are a good way to find new keywords, especially if the focus group is made up of your target audience. Invite your focus group participants to share with you what they think about when they think of your product or service. You may give them an assignment to go and search for items that you sell and observe what they type in to a search engine. If you can ask them to think out loud as they search, you might be able to capture a few good nuggets – this is valuable in better understanding your target audience.

Surveys are another form of focus group and can be just as effective in mining new and targeted keywords. You can email surveys or invite participants to complete an online survey. We do this with facebook all the time anyway. A good tool is the online survey monkey.

Blogs / Discussion Boards / Forums

One form of focus group is an online forum or discussion board. This is where people all over the Internet meet to discuss related topics. There are usually some interesting words they may use to talk about products and services that you offer. They are usually candid and speak their mind, which is exactly what you are looking for.

Variations of Your Keywords

Once you have your master list of keywords, you will need to look at each word to see if there are variations you can form to help expand your list further.  

Misspellings and Typos

If you have products that are hard to spell or can be spelled in different ways, you should add these to your list of keywords. It is surprising how many people misspell words that you would think are easy. We, as a society, have become dependent on “spell checkers” to spell for us. Even some search engines will suggest other spellings just to make sure we are looking for the right thing.

Abbreviations and Slang

Some searchers out there are savvy enough to know the abbreviation or slang terms that they will try, using them to see what results are displayed. Consider looking at your list of keywords and see if there are abbreviations or slang for keywords in your list.

Plural and Singular

Are the keywords in your list plural or singular? Whatever they are, consider adding new keywords with the plural or singular form. Especially with paid search, search engines are particular about the plural and singular forms of keywords. Make sure you are covered.

Keyword Evaluation

Now that we have a huge list of keywords, we need to start narrowing them down into keywords that are going to provide the best value. It is important to get these keywords prioritized and sorted to help you pick your top performing keywords. Here are some methods to help you do this. You can rank your keywords based on the following criteria and then sort them with an overall score.

Relevance: How closely the search term matches the site’s products, services, and content. Generally, how relevant is the keyword to your business?

Specificity: How broad or specific a term is.

Popularity: How often the search term is searched for on major search engines. Being popular isn't the most important thing because it is usually more competitive and less specific.

Competitiveness: How many companies are pursuing the keyword? You can look at PPC bids to see how much is being spent on the keyword to see how competitive it is.

Comments

[g star jeans]

Now that we have a huge list of keywords, we need to start narrowing