Fundamental Principles of Keyword Analysis
Keyword analysis is one of the oldest, most fundamental tasks in search engine optimization. All that content enrichment and link building has to be driven toward the right keywords, the actual queries people use to find content on the Web. To discuss your keywords please call 0871 875 6759.
There are four kinds of keywords
1. Brands (high value) 3. Seasonal descriptors
2. Pop expressions 4. Random descriptors
“Pop expressions” includes anything mentioned in the news, in music, in movies, on television, etc. “Seasonal descriptors” are things like “Christmas lights”, “Easter baskets”, and “Valentine’s Day Flowers”. “Random descriptors” might be “bar mitzvah”, “winnie the pooh”, and “seo theory”.
Keyword Case Study
Our Client owns a chocolate selling website. The Clients objective is to sell as many boxes of chocolates every week over the internet. We now need to carry out a 'key word analysis' to see the potential customers we can target, and get them to land on the related website.
Upon completing a keyword analysis check with WebOptimisaion.org here are 5 of the most popular phrases customers are searching for, and how many times they are being searched: (The results below display searches being made through Yahoo, Alta Vista, Lycos, MSN (not Google) during May 2007)
Keyword Total Customer Searches
Chocolate 37,141
Chocolate Fountain 7,869
Chocolate Gift 5,914
Chocolate Bar 4,703
Chocolate Dessert Recipe 2,746
TOTAL 58,373 Customers looking in May alone!
(Please note: We are only reviewing 5 top keywords, in fact for chocolate there is over 90 keywords that are actively being searched.)
The service we provide will ensure the chocolate site is well visible to the keyword search results, thus receiving a higher volume of web traffic.
If you are interested in discussing your keywords more with us please call 0871 875 6759.
More On Keywords...
A random descriptor is not very popular, not likely to become popular, and won’t generate much traffic. But you never know. A random descriptor may graduate to obtain either seasonal or pop value. It could also become a brand. In fact, you could say that random descriptors are the Harfoots of keyword types — they are the most common, the most “plain”, least conspicuous keyword types. Or you could say that random descriptors are the stem cells in the body of query spaces. You never know what they will become.
Search marketing principles tell us to chase the money, but does that mean you compete for the most active queries with 10s of thousands of daily views or does it mean you compete for more of the least active queries where competition is less fierce but traffic is down?
Keyword pundits have been pointing out for years that there is little actual monetization for 1-keyword queries. If you sell used cars you’re probably better off in the “city name used cars” query than in the “cars” or “used cars” query (unless you can ship cars across country and people are willing to pay for that kind of service).
Research indicates that consumers do a lot of research online before making a purchase decision. Like it or not, the average Web-based business site needs to provide as much information as possible to draw in those price-unconscious consumers who just want to be reassured that they are about to make a good decision.
You cannot optimize for an informational query by throwing a price and shipping information in someone’s face. You have to understand the queries before you can really optimize for them. If I type in “price of vodafone cell phone”, I’m going to start looking for the lowest price I can find and then compare upwards, looking for additional features I may want. Other people may start at the top and compare downward, dropping features as the price goes down.
Your keyword analysis should start with the marketplace.
Can the service or product be found only online, mostly online, sometimes online, or not online at all?
Are there well-known provider brands or is the industry mostly small businesses? Is there widespread industry recognition or is this a niche or emerging market?
Are there firmly entrenched keywords or do the queries wander all over the place? By firmly entrenched, I mean do you have rock-solid search activity for a small number of queries or are the queries just randomly scattered across the stars?
Can the products or service be localized? Are people more likely to look in their own towns or do the products and services come mostly from one or a small number of specific communities?
Is the market young or mature? Is the market growing or shrinking?
Search activity can be a great indicator of where a market is in its life cycle. If you’re not looking at query trends (when the data is available) you’re missing most of the picture in keyword research. You need to know whether queries are cyclical, tied to news events, tied to entertainment activity, tied to brand value, etc. You need to know if interest in the products or services is growing or declining. For example, now is probably not the best time to optimize for “Harry Potter books” or “Lord of the Rings movies”.
But if you find you have missed the boat on a query trend, that doesn’t mean there is no reason to optimize for the query. You may be able to breathe some new life into a dying market. You may be able to seize part of the shrinking pie from people who have become less attentive to the marketplace. Search activity may enjoy a very long, slow decline stretching out over several years.
Evaluate what the competition values.
Although most Web sites probably do put honest data into their keywords meta tags, there is no law saying they have to. Only Ask and Yahoo! even care about the keywords meta tag any more, and it’s not above some people to put misleading keywords into that tag. I would never start competitive analysis by looking at the keywords meta tag. You want to validate what you find there in a competitor’s Web site, and he cannot help but show you what he is competing for elsewhere.
The first place to look for keywords is in the title tag and page URL. Most people cannot resist the urge to put their beloved keywords into titles and URLs. Refraining from using keywords in those locations gives you a competitive advantage, but if you don’t know how to optimize without putting keywords into titles and page URLs you’re at a competitive DISadvantage.
For us to complete a Keyword Analysis for you business please call us on 0871 875 6759.