The following is a post from Brian Fitzgerald, the director of search engine optimization at TIG Global. This is the third in a series of posts he will author about the importance of SEO and its changing environment.
Over the past few months I’ve been writing an introductory series about search engine optimization, including a post about SEO 101, and another on the role of SEO in website development. Next up for discussion is keyword research, which in my opinion is the foundation of a targeted and successful SEO campaign. Search marketing is perhaps the only form of marketing that allows you to have such great depth of insight into what consumers are looking for and exactly what they are thinking through each step of the buying process. Keyword research is the tool that gives us this granular insight into the billions of searches that are performed each month, providing the data needed to create extremely targeted search campaigns.
First things first, when someone says “keyword” or “keyword phrase,” what are they talking about? Well, the definition of “keyword” or “keyword phrase” can vary slightly depending on who it is you talk to and the context in which it is being used. For our purposes today, I’ll define it as the word or phrase that someone actually types into the search box of their favorite search engine. There are several online tools and utilities, some free and some paid, that allow marketers to dig into this information and gain that knowledge of how people are actually conducting searches. Often times, what we find is that the way a business owner (or their marketing team) thinks customers are searching is not in sync with how people are actually searching. This is why keyword research is so instrumental.
Once you have explored all the avenues for gathering keyword data and your research is complete, you can then move forward with utilizing those keywords to optimize various “touch points” on your site that appeal to both consumers and search engines. This exercise could include updating title tags, meta-descriptions, descriptive copy, images, or videos, to name a few. It is important to remember that the keywords you choose will be used as the foundation for your paid search campaigns as well. Bidding on the most popular keywords in pay-per-click marketing ensures successful campaigns, giving you all the more reason to choose your keywords wisely. Keyword research can also help you to uncover new topics to add to your website content that will capture a fresh audience. For example, if you discover that a large volume of searches are being conducted on your site for the term “Pet-Friendly Myrtle Beach Hotel,” then you could create a landing page within your site that includes pet related content and ensures that you are fully optimized for the resulting traffic.
The most important thing to remember in keyword research is that your product or service needs to accurately meet a searchers intent and interest. Anyone can technically go out and build a site and try to optimize it for certain keywords, but if those keywords are not relevant to the services you provide, then this exercise may backfire, and consumers will be turned away with a negative perception of you and your site. For example, even though there may be a high volume of searches on your site for the term “Pet-Friendly Myrtle Beach Hotel”, you must be able to offer pet-friendly rooms before you optimize your site for the term and you must have established content on your site related to the topic.
There are many, more advanced, concepts and tactics that stem from keyword research, and we’ll plan on discussing them here over the course of this year. In particular, I plan on discussing the process by which keyword searches change as a customer continues through the buying funnel.
What SEO topics would you like to hear Brian speak about? Click here to send your suggestions to the TIG Global Blog Team.
