by Stoney deGeyter

This is part 12 of a 12 part series on keyword research. This series will guide you through four distinct phase of the keyword research process, providing you step by step guidelines to help you gather, sort and organize your keywords into an effective marketing campaign.

Yesterday, as we begun the fourth and final stage of the keyword research process, we looked at several ways to analyze your website and segment keywords into groups based on user intent. Today we’ll wrap up the entire research process, and this series, by outlining the final act of keyword grouping. Often times even your segmented keyword lists can be quite extensive and it’ll be important to group these phrases even further in order to be properly optimized into the website. This ensures that each page optimized maintains a tight focus but still able to be optimized for a significant group of keywords.

Grouping phrases together for on-page targeting

The process of organizing your keywords is similar to the process of splitting a single core term into multiple cores, only its done in a much more fine-tuned scale. With core terms you were dealing with multiple themes, or different ways to search for the same product. In this phase we are working with only a single core term and deciding how to segment literally hundreds of phrases into manageable groups that are similar in nature.

In most cases the keyword at the top of your list will be the core term itself. Start with that. You’ll also usually find it’s singular/plural counterpart to go with it. Copy these keywords and paste them to another section of your keyword research spreadsheet. You’ll, keep copying phrases and pasting them into another part of your spreadsheet as you continue to organize into these groups.

I typically like to organize phrases in groups of no more than fifteen keywords per page, but sometimes less or more is perfectly OK. Other times you may have two or three small groups that can be grouped together, depending on their focus and the content of any given web page. The goal is to make sure you end up with lists of keywords that you’re comfortable with in regard to being able to optimize them together into any given web page.

Group qualifiers with similar meaning

As you look for phrases that can be grouped together, it’s its easy, initially, to start with phrases that are the have modifiers that are similar in meaning. And example of this may be “discount,” “cheap,” “inexpensive” or “on sale”.

Along the same lines, you want to avoid putting phrases together where the modifiers don’t work together or have opposing meanings. For example, you may don’t want to talk about your “elegant wedding rings” on the same page that you describe them as “cheap wedding rings.” Qualifiers that fit with elegant may be “exotic,” “designer” or “classy”. It’ll be up to you to determine how these keywords are best grouped for your site.

Group qualifiers that are related

Another way to group keywords is by looking for qualifiers that may have a different meaning but can be considered to be related to each other. Depending on how your pages and site are laid you may be able to group qualifiers such as “gold,” “white gold” and ‘”18 kt gold” together in one group or “antique” and “vintage” in another.

On a sports site you may get some mileage by combining “baseball,” “basketball,” and “football” together, or on a battery site “14 volt,” “18 volt,” and “24 volt may also be able to be combined on a page. In doing this you have to make sure the “fit” works with the structure of the site and that the related qualifiers are not distracting from the overall message, or diluting the focus of a given page.

Let the content guide keyword grouping

One of the most important elements in organizing phrases together is to make sure that you group phrases that can “correctly” be implemented together into the site. Don’t try to force keyword phrases together that simply are not a good fit on a single page. It’s important here that when constructing the page’s content that a natural flow in writing will be achieved. Grouping words together that don’t fit will only make your content awkward and cause you to lose your visitor’s attention.

Here are some guidelines for ensuring your keyword groups will be effective in implementation.

Fit

SEOs often like to create optimized pages with lots of text. After all, it’s pretty difficult to optimize for keywords when you have no text to use them in. Text becomes increasingly important with the more keywords you’re targeting on a single page, even if they are all part of the same core term. The inclination is to keep adding more text to get all your targeted keywords on the page. Unfortunately, left unchecked, this can create unwieldy pages loaded with optimized text but do little to serve the visitors needs.

Space: Look at each page and determine how much space is available for text before you start cluttering the page. Product category pages generally have room for no more than a paragraph or two of text, unless you do a bit of clever reworking of the page layout. The key is to decide if that reworking is going to add or subtract from the overall page as a whole. If space is limited and you really can’t get a whole lot of text on the pages, then cut out some keywords and target them elsewhere.

Message: Aside from the length of text, you also have to consider the message of the content itself. Don’t allow the message to get diluted simply to get more keywords on the page. The message by far is more important than the keywords. Ensure that all your keywords fit with the overall message of the page and enhance rather than detract from that message.

Distraction

When we think of keyword distraction we usually think of how keywords are used on the page. SEO’s are often willing to bend the rules of good grammar just to get another instance of a keyword in the text. But keywords themselves can just as easily be the distraction. How well your keywords will flow with the content on the page is largely determined by the keywords selected and grouped together. To prevent your keywords from being a distraction there are a couple things to look for:

Noticeable: Once your content is written using the keywords, read through to see how noticeable they are. If you can read and pick out the keywords then it’s likely that your visitor will too. This is a noticeable distraction that gets in the way of the visitors conversion process.

Flow: You also want to keep an eye on the flow of the content. This just isn’t about sentence structure but about how the information is put together. When trying to get multiple instances of keywords on the page a lot of SEOs resort to repetition. While repetition can be good in certain circumstances, in others its just an annoyance. Make sure paragraphs flow in a logical order. Don’t let your keywords dictate your content.

Adjust

Keyword research, selection and organization is not a set-it and forget it strategy. It’s fluid. Even once you get to this last stage you have to be willing to go back and adjust things from earlier stages as necessary. When it comes to implementing keywords into the page the same holds true. Certain keywords that you felt would work nicely together, may not in actual implementation. You must be willing to take these changes into account and adjust the plan as needed.

Delete if necessary: There are many times that we complete our keyword research and then comes time for implementation and we realize that certain keywords just are not going to work. This may be for any number of reasons, whether they slipped through earlier stages, or they just don’t work with the page’s content. Whatever the reason be willing to delete the keyword or move it to another keyword group. No sense holding onto somethign that just won’t work.

Be creative: Sometimes working keywords onto the page is just a matter of creativity. Don’t be afraid to find creative compelling ways to work in good keywords. Again, don’t force somethign that won’t work, but don’t give up so easily when a little creativity may give you a better result.

Don’t rush

We conclude this series on Keyword research with a simple message: Don’t rush.

The keyword research process is a strategic part of your optimization campaign’s success. This isn’t just somethign you can burn through so you can get to the actual optimization. Rushing leads to mistakes and mistakes in keyword research result in poor SEO performance.

Keyword research provides the foundation for a solid SEO strategy. When performed properly you’ll have a greater chance for achieving successful search engine rankings and your pages will be less cluttered and more highly focused. What’s more, you’ll have a site that does a far better job at targeting it’s audience and converting them into customers.

In SEO, every little bit counts and the more you can do to improve the performance of the site, the more successful you’ll be. And since SEO is all about good keyword targeting, it makes sense to get your keywords in order. The phases and steps outlined in this document will help you do that. Not only will you find just about every possible, relevant keyword for your industry, you’ll be able to implement an SEO strategy that is build for success from the ground up. And that will give you an edge over your most ardent competition. So take your time to do it right!

Missed one of the steps in this series? Click here to go back to the introduction and follow the links at the bottom.

Check out our small business news site.

Read the rest here:
Comprehensive Guide to Keyword Research, Selection & Organization, Part XII

by Stoney deGeyter

This is part 11 of a 12 part series on keyword research. This series will guide you through four distinct phase of the keyword research process, providing you step by step guidelines to help you gather, sort and organize your keywords into an effective marketing campaign.

Phase IV: Organizing Keywords for Success

Making SEO Successful

Organizing your keywords into an effective marketing strategy is the most important of the four phases of keyword research outlined in this document. While most often SEOs and keyword researchers focus on the research phases, organizing your keyword properly can truly help you create a vastly more successful optimization and marketing campaign.

Let’s use the analogy of building an engine to help us understand the value in this final step in the process.

Phase I of the process is all about understanding what type of engine you’re working with. You’re analyzing the various aspects of the engine to get a better understanding of what exactly you’re working with. By identifying the right core terms you have a better understanding of how to proceed in building a successful optimization campaign.

The next two phases are about learning which parts you’ll need to give your engine the proper tune up. You’re figuring out what are the best phrases to use and discarding those that obviously won’t give your website the best performance.

This last phase is all about putting your engine together, or at least laying out the parts so that you CAN put the engine together properly. The goal is to create a way to optimize for every possible relevant keyword into your site, so as to deliver more traffic without negating your site’s message.

Such organization also provides you with a framework for continued optimization. You can focus on the keywords that you are most important first while optimizing for the pages that are the most effective at getting your sales. And in the process you will develop a successful, long-term optimization strategy.

The three things that you need to analyze when organizing for success are:

Achievable: Don’t start with keywords that simply are not achievable. Again, consider your budget and your time. Some keywords just are not achievable for what you can invest in either of those areas. This also includes if you’re doing it yourself or paying an SEO to optimize for you. How much you’re paying them will dictate the amount of time they can spend on your campaign.

Quickest results: Starting with keywords that you can determine will produce strong results relatively quickly will help you get a return more quickly. If you don’t need return right away then this isn’t so much of an issue, but most people do want to start seeing their efforts pay off as quickly as possible.

Most profitable: You can’t go wrong by starting with keywords that are going to bring the most profits the fastest. It’s not just rankings that you’re looking for. Results means money coming in and making your optimization efforts as profitable as possible as soon as possible.

The organization process isn’t all that difficult, but it does take a good deal of analysis. The first step is to analyze all your site pages. If you’re working with a large e-commerce site then it’ll be a good idea to leave out product pages, at least for now. Start by analyzing all information and category pages. Look at each page individually to determine it’s core objective. What is this page about?

For instance you might have a page for “mens wedding rings” or “wheeled duffel bags”. Create a spreadsheet of each existing page of your site and a list of any topic(s) each page focuses on. This will help you better understand which keywords will be the most natural fit for any keyword.

Once you have this list then you can go back to your original core term list and start “assigning” keywords to pages. You may find that you have several pages that could be optimized for the same keyword. In this case you simply want to pick the best one and then use variations for each of the other pages. Take note that you don’t want to target the exact core term across multiple pages, unless you have already broken the core term down into several sub-cores.

In some cases you’ll find that you have far more keyword groups than existing pages on your site that can be optimized for those keywords. This provides you with a great opportunity to build new searcher relevant pages that will provide visitors with the information they seek covering any remaining keywords.

The great thing about this approach is that it creates more entry points into your site. Just be careful that you’re not creating new pages for the sake of new pages. Each page must address something that is not specifically addressed in other areas of the site and should give your visitors a compelling reason to continue through to the other areas of your site.

There are several ways to go about creating these additional content pages and entry points:

• Answer questions
• Provide expert advice
• Review products
• Expand on product benefits
• Write information articles

All of these are great fodder for content that your visitors will find relevant and helpful in making purchase decisions.

Segmenting keywords

Segmenting your keyword phrases into “intent” groups can help determining which keyword phrases are the best fit for any particular page. There are three main searcher intent groups: Research, Shop, Buy. Depending on which intent group they are in, the searcher will search for a core term differently.

Searchers in the Research phase are really just looking for some general information. Think of them more like window shoppers. They don’t know what they really want or perhaps are not even convinced they want anything at all. They are just looking to see what’s out there and to see if anything strikes their fancy.

These keywords should be optimized in the higher-level categories and articles. The goal is to provide information that creates an interest and, in turn, more specific searches. If you get them to your site while they are in this early phase then you’ve started a branding process. They may bookmark your site, or perhaps even move right into the next phase while still on your site. At worst, they’ll go back and perform a new search at a later date. And hopefully you’ll appear in those search results too!

However targeting keywords for this phase is the least important as it produces the lowest conversion rates and usually takes the greatest bulk of your efforts.

Searchers in the Shop phase have moved into the realm of having intent. They have an idea of what they want, they just don’t know the specifics. In this phase they are starting to compare features between various products, looking at the pros and cons of each, and narrowing down their preferences as they continue to research.

These keywords should be targeted on narrower product category pages as well as product comparison pages. The goal is to provide as many of the details needed for your customers to see that your products are superior. You also want to help them narrow down between different products that you carry. The more you can do that here the less likely shoppers will be to look for that information on another site. Again, ideally, the visitors will move from this phase to the buy phase while on your site, but if not, you’re branding, providing a solid resource and giving visitors a reason to come back to you once they enter the next phase.

While targeting these phrases provide better ROI than those in the research phase, and you’ll benefit by optimizing for them, they can often be put aside until after the the Buy phrases have been fully optimized.

Searchers in this phase have finally narrowed down to precisely what they want. Now they are simply looking for the best place to buy it from. Reasons can be any number of things, or combination of things, and will be different from one person to the next. One may be looking for lowest price. Another may be looking for better customer service. Others may be looking at warranties, return policies, a personal touch, elements of trust, and how helpful the site has been overall. Most likely it’s not any one of these things, but a various combination of them all plus other things not mentioned here.

These keywords should be targeted on specific product pages. There is no better place to drop a visitor than on the product that they were very specifically looking for. Make sure these product pages spell out all of the specific features and benefits and all the other information they’ll need to make that final purchase decision.

These keywords should generally be your highest priority. Getting someone to your site at this phase is most likely to lead to a purchase than any other. While each stage provides a branding opportunity, the buy phase is where the money is at. Targeting users in this stage generally produces the best return on investment than the others.

Missed one of the steps in this series? Click here to go back to the introduction and follow the links at the bottom.

Check out our small business news site.

See the rest here:
Comprehensive Guide to Keyword Research, Selection & Organization, Part XI

by Stoney deGeyter

This is part 10 of a 12 part series on keyword research. This series will guide you through four distinct phase of the keyword research process, providing you step by step guidelines to help you gather, sort and organize your keywords into an effective marketing campaign.

Analyzing Phrases for Quality

As we began Phase III of our keyword research process we discussed several different aspects of analyzing phrases. This helped us better understand the value of each phrase and the pros and cons that each bring to the table. Each of these much be considered and weighed carefully when determining if a keyword is valuable or not.

All of the above noted elements are pretty cut-and-dry and fairly easy to analyze. But in addition to those there are also some more vague elements that must be duly considered as well. These additional elements are far more subjective and require a good deal of thought and analysis.

What’s the customer looking for?

The most important aspect of analyzing and eliminating keywords is to fully understand what the customer is looking for. We often see keywords through our own lens of understanding. You think about things a certain way because you are educated and trained that way. But the customer may not be educated in the same way, or at all, in terms of industry related jargon. So you have to step outside of your own thought processes and learn to look through the lens of searchers who think differently from the way you do.

One question you have to ask is, what does the searcher really mean when they type in a specific query? Often times the query itself isn’t clear at all and what you are thinking they mean may not be what they are thinking. Ranking for these types of unclear terms is pretty valueless. Few searchers will even click on the site if they scan the results and don’t see what they are looking for.

The searchers intent can also be different from the results produced. In these cases the search engines are determining the intent of the search and produce the results by their best algorithmic estimation. Again, if the searcher sees somethign different in the SERPs from what they wanted they’ll go back and perform a new search.

In these cases, how do you get into the mind of the searcher? You can’t always, but what you can do is scan through the search results for any given query. If the results are a match for what you offer then great, you’ve got yourself a worthwhile phrase. On the other hand, if the results are all for something completely different, then likely the searcher isn’t looking for what you thought they were looking for.

Other times you just might to have to think through logically. If the searcher is looking for “wet t-shirts” you can be pretty sure they are not looking to buy a t-shirt that’s waterproof. That’s an extreme example but you get the point.

Future and seasonal trends

Trends can play a significant factor in determining the value any particular keyword. Several years ago I was doing keyword research for a client in the wedding planning business. This was just as the movie “The Wedding Planner” was hitting theaters which caused searches for “wedding planner” to be skewed much higher than normal.

Understanding current trends such as this can ensure you don’t make an error in your keyword targeting. For this client “wedding planner” was still relevant despite the higher than normal search volume, but if the trends were not considered the client might assume this was the absolute best keyword to target over others such as “wedding planning”.

As the above case proves, search volumes can often be over inflated, or even under inflated at different times. This is especially true with seasonal based products. Performing your keyword research at the right time of year is important, but it’s also important that you understand the ebb and flow in overall search volume.

It’s also a good idea to keep an eye on potential future trends. Some valuable queries may not be searched at all today, but can become extremely relevant and highly trafficked at some point in the near future. Getting a jump on any such terms can be a great investment in future returns. Also keep in mind that today’s popular terms can fade and will be searched less and less over time. There is nothing you can do to avoid that when it happens, other than just be ready for that possibility.

What’s missing in SERPs

Another way to determine what keywords might be good to target for optimization are areas in the search results that there is little or no competition. Search for your keywords looking for any gaps that are not being filled. Search volume for such phrases may be low, but if competition is low then you increase your chances of getting clicked. That, and if that term does become hot, you’ve laid claim to the top spot and it’ll be much harder to push you out.

When performing these searches you can also get a good feel for the competition. Sometimes a good keyword will produce a lot of results, but the competition itself is easily displaceable. Size up the competition to see where you might be able to easily overcome them in the results.

Return on investment

The most critical thing to look at regarding keywords and phrases is whether or not the keyword will produce a return on investment for you. And this is where all of the elements noted here and in the previous posts must all be weighted together, adding in the factor of time. Knowing how much time and effort will it take to get any particular keyword to rank can be vitally important to understanding if that effort is worth the return that particular keyword will provide.

Putting all other factors aside, we have found that phrases that are two to four words provide the best return on investment. This allows each search term to be both descriptive yet specific, both of which are key. If such a term is typed into the search engine and your site appears, the searcher knows you have precisely what they are looking for.

The image below gives you a general rule of thumb of where your ROI is in keyword phrases. You can see that as more traffic is delivered, the conversion rated decrease and as the keywords that bring in less traffic produce higher conversion rates. And there in the middle are your three- and four-word phrases that generally produce the best return on investment.

Don’t rely on your own analysis

When analyzing keywords another big help can be seeking out the opinions and thoughts of others. Again, this goes back to not looking solely through our own lens but allowing ourselves to look through the lens of others. And there is no better way to do that than to actually get the input from others.

When seeking outside opinion, here are a few people that you can seek out:

• Colleagues
• Assistants
• Managers
• Outside experts
• Clients

If you perform SEO for someone other than yourself, your client can be one of your best resources. Go to them at all stages of the keyword research process to get their insights and opinions. Otherwise, seek out other qualified and even unqualified individuals as they all have a unique perspective to share that can be valuable in learning more about your audience.

Missed one of the steps in this series? Click here to go back to the introduction and follow the links at the bottom.

Check out our small business news site.

The rest is here:
Comprehensive Guide to Keyword Research, Selection & Organization, Part X

by Stoney deGeyter

This is part 9 of a 12 part series on keyword research. This series will guide you through four distinct phase of the keyword research process, providing you step by step guidelines to help you gather, sort and organize your keywords into an effective marketing campaign.

Yesterday we began Phase III of the keyword research process discussing several elements of key phrase analyzation. We’ll continue today looking at a few more considerations when determining how valuable any particular search phrase is.

Phrases that convert

As you sort through your lists of keywords, you want to be sure to eliminate phrases that won’t deliver converting traffic. Whatever keywords that you keep for optimization, you want each to be able to drive the most qualified traffic, giving you visitors that are most likely to buy your product or services. Many search terms, if ranked high, can generate tons of traffic, however any term does not directly apply to your site or what you offer, should be scrapped.

Your job here is to make sure that the searcher finds precisely what they are looking for on your site. If your site cannot satisfy the searcher’s intent, they will quickly leave in favor of another more ‘relevant’ site in the search results. Targeting keywords that delivers traffic that can’t find what they intended are a waste of resources and should be deleted or benched until you can satisfy that particular query.

While high-converting terms are usually not searched as often as the general one-word search phrases, they are more likely to achieve top listings and therefore more likely to produce sales. Why? Because when a searcher types in exactly what they are looking for, they are more likely to find exactly what they want, provided you have what they want. If the visitor lands on a page most relevant your site is relevant and clicked, you just likely made a sale.

It’s often tempting to try and optimize for keyword phrases that are not necessarily represented on the site but you feel will bring traffic that is looking for something similar to what you offer. An example of this would be if Adidas tried to optimize their site for ‘Air Jordan’ under the belief that anyone searching for Nike Air Jordans might be able to be sold a pair of Adidas instead. This is a mistake and borders on deception if you target these “incorrect” keywords . At the very least the searcher will come to your site see that you don’t offer what they were led to believe. At worst, you push a negative branding experience on the visitor.

There are some situations when you can get away with doing this type of keyword targeting but you have to proceed carefully. The most legitimate way to take this approach is to provide information on the alternative products, comparing them with your own. You could then try to sell your product as the superior one. While doing this still won’t bring in the most qualified traffic to your site you would at least have a chance at converting visitors this way than by not providing any such information. In any case, always check with a lawyer before optimizing for some else’s trademarked terms.

Another example of targeting improper phrases is when the descriptive words don’t fit what you sell. Let’s say you sell high-end ski clothing. The terms “wholesale” or “cheap” and “discount” don’t apply. For this reason you don’t want to target keyword phrases with these words. Again, doing so would be misrepresenting yourself and leaving a sour taste in the mouth of the searcher as they leave your site for another.

Eliminating keywords that don’t drive targeted traffic to your site is essential to ensure that you’re focusing your efforts on the terms that will provide visitors that are more likely to become customers. The more targeted the phrase, the more likely you are to get a sale. And with that you are building a positive experience with your customers while also ensuring that you get the best ROI possible out of your marketing efforts.

Volume keywords

When finalizing your keyword list you want to make sure your search terms are all actively being searched (with some exceptions allowed as noted earlier). Achieving a top ranking for a term that nobody types in the search engine will ultimately be useless in driving traffic to your site.

Time after time I’ve seen people be adamant about going after certain search terms because they felt that the terms were very specific what their site offers. The problem was that the terms were too specific and virtually nobody was performing a search for them. The top listings were easily achieved but the end result was disappointing. You need to balance out choosing specific keywords with actively searched terms. They are both equally important.

You have probably heard the phrase “the long tail” when referencing keywords. This simply means going after the lower volume, but highly targeted phrases. Depending on your industry long-tail keywords can produce 50% or more of your total traffic. While each long-tail keyword produces less traffic than the primary keywords, combined they can add up to a significant portion of your traffic.

The long tail strategy is a good one but just be sure that any long tail keywords you specifically target will be searched enough drive traffic in the first place. There is nothing wrong with covering your bases on sporadically searched phrases such as “kids winter boots” but stay away from never-searched phrases such as “kids sheepskin winter and snow boots”.

Informational queries

One type of non-converting phrase that you actually may want to consider taking the time to optimize for are informational queries. An example of an informational query would be a “how to” phrase, such as “how to create a gift basket”. If you sell gift baskets these searches can be good at driving traffic, but won’t necessarily produce immediate sales. However, over the long term, you can create visitor loyalty (assuming you continue to post such helpful content) that will continue to bring these visitors back to your site and eventually lead to new sales.

While this kind of traffic isn’t the best at creating immediate revenue, building the audience can be crucial for long-term success. Some of these informational searches provide ways to capture traffic from those who are very early in the buying process.

Anyone searching for “best digital camera” is generally a comparison shopper, or is gathering product information for a later purchase. Bringing in this kind of traffic will produce an extremely low conversion rate but you can often get some visitor loyalty out of it. A fraction of those searchers may bookmark your site (or even give you a link. Yay!) and come back to you when they are ready to finally make their purchase.

When it comes time to go after these phrases you want to be sure to have a library of helpful information on your website. You could have a section of your site dedicated to product reviews, comparisons, how-to articles, etc. You could smartly use these pages as a means of up-selling your visitors to your own products or services.

Again, these are not ideal first pass keywords to optimize because of the low conversion rate but they do make great blog fodder, which builds up your community, trust, and links, which all assist with exposure and rankings, which is what drives targeted traffic.

Missed one of the steps in this series? Click here to go back to the introduction and follow the links at the bottom.

Check out our small business news site.

View post:
Comprehensive Guide to Keyword Research, Selection & Organization, Part IX

by Stoney deGeyter

This is part 8 of a 12 part series on keyword research. This series will guide you through four distinct phase of the keyword research process, providing you step by step guidelines to help you gather, sort and organize your keywords into an effective marketing campaign.

I’ve been sick for the past week so my apologies for any of you eagerly waiting for the concluding posts in this series. Let’s go ahead and jump right back into it.

Phase III: Analyzing and Eliminating Keywords

After having researched through your relevant core terms and search phrases, it’s time to start the process of looking more closely at each phrase. What you want to do is separate the good keywords from the not-so good. You need to find the search phrases that will ultimately provide you with the greatest benefit in your marketing campaigns, and eliminating or sidelining the rest.

Selecting high ROI search phrases

Once we place all of our search phrases in a spreadsheet organized by core term, we can begin to sort through what’s there and more carefully consider the appropriateness of each individual keyword phrase. There are several types of phrases that we’ll look at. Each type of phrase has a particular value to your campaign. While some types of phrases will be more or less valuable than the other, some are just a matter of degrees.It’ll be up to you to determine whether any particular keyword warrants being kept or eliminated based on the whole of the search phrases uncovered.

Single-word keywords

Single-word queries generally produce the highest volume of searches, but also the lowest amount of targeted traffic. Many searchers start with single-word keywords only to find that the results produced are not targeted for their specific need or intent. They then go back to refine their search, often multiple times, using various word combinations, until they find the best combination of words that gives them the results they need.

Let’s say you’re looking for a doll for your daughter, niece or friend’s kid. You may start your search at Google, typing in the word “doll.” After getting a glimpse of the search results you realize that you have to think through this just a bit more. Are you looking for a large doll, small doll, a cartoon doll, an action figure doll, a Raggedy Ann doll, a Barbie doll, a celebrity doll, a bratz doll, or a dollz? The possibilities at this point are limitless. So you go back and refine your search to be a bit more specific for what you want.

Many single-phrase searches are performed this way. The searcher just uses that as a starting point until they realize that it doesn’t produce the results they need. Others use single word searches as a way of getting some “search education”. They’ll look through the results of whatever they typed in (this is true for both single and multi-word phrases) to find new words that they’ll use to go back and refine their search.

For example looking at the results for “doll” can give me the idea to search for “bratz doll” or “barbie doll”. Even if those words are not in the results, the initial search may jog the searchers thoughts a bit to help them come up with better search refinements on their own.

At this point, it doesn’t matter that you rank well on the single-word phrase because most searchers will simply not find what they need, even after clicking through a handful of sites.

Also, keep in mind that broad, single-word terms, while attractive by the sheer number of hits they potentially produce, are often virtually impossible to get ranked well for. So the question becomes, why waste the time and effort in promoting a term that is far less likely to generate the sales you want when other terms are more viable?

Multi-word phrases

When looking at the search volumes for your search phrases you’ll often see that single-word terms tend to get significantly more search volume than multi-word phrases. Don’t let that fool you. When you total up all the multiple-word phrases it’s almost universal that they get significantly greater search volume than the single word phrase.

Recent studies have shown that two- and three- word queries are searched in greater numbers than single-word queries. And since multiple-word queries generally produce more targeted traffic, it makes sense to put your optimization time and investment into these queries. Proper selection and targeting of these multi-word phrases will result not only in greater traffic volume to your site overall, but a higher conversion rate as well.

In addition, you can target multiple multi-word queries on a single page giving you even more opportunities for exposure. The more multi-word queries optimized the greater spread you’ll get in the search results, producing higher levels of targeted traffic. The key to this, however, is making sure that you optimized for multi-word phrases that have a decent amount of search volume associated with them.

While making sure your phrases are as targeted as possible for your audience, it is important to go after phrases that register at least a measurable amount of search volume each month. Keyword phrases that have no search volume, no matter how targeted, generally won’t do anything to increase business or sales.

Multiple phrase variations

Every core term will have multiple phrase variations that can be optimized together on a single page. We’ve discussed this a bit already during the research phases, but it should not be neglected here.

When analyzing keywords you’ll find that a lot of additional traffic can often be gained, with very little effort, simply by targeting certain phrase variations. Search words such as “pontiac used cars” can often be changed, using plurals, singulars and stems (such as “ing,” “ed,” etc.,) to another traffic-producing phrase such as “used pontiac car.”

It’s entirely possible that the latter won’t show any sort of measurable search volume, but thats not to mean it should be discounted. Adding stemming and/or changing word order can create many more opportunities to be found by longer-tail searches. Targeting this variation takes very little additional effort and even if searched infrequently, can produce sales when it is. The ROI on these variations is pretty fantastic.

Don’t get yourself locked into using the keyword phrase precisely as it is most often searched. Even if the stemmed variations show little search volume, the combination of these variations can be significant. When working these variations into the content, always be sure to write naturally. If it can’t be worked in properly, don’t force it.

Localized phrases

If you are targeting an audience specific to a geographic location, keyword research can become a bit difficult. Most tools don’t do a good job measuring search volume on localized phrases except for very high-population areas where lots of searches are performed. Localization is one of those areas where search volume is mostly meaningless.

The key to researching for localized phrases is to not worry about researching for localized phrases. Do all your research as you normally would and then localize them later. You can do this by taking your standard keyword research and then placing your geo-qualifiers before or after (or in the middle) of your search phrases. Qualifiers such as city, county, state or other local references such as city districts or zip codes are most common.

Localizing your phrases is essential for businesses that do business only in their local area. Ignoring localization and going after broad non-localized phrases will increase traffic, but create additional headaches as well. By attaching local qualifiers you’ll eliminate phone calls and email inquiries from non-customers. This frees you up to take care of customers that help pay your bills.

We’ll leave off here for now and tomorrow we’ll discuss the last three things to consider when selecting keyword phrases.

Missed one of the steps in this series? Click here to go back to the introduction and follow the links at the bottom.

Check out our small business news site.

Comprehensive Guide to Keyword Research, Selection & Organization, Part VIII