Choosing Keywords Wisely for Search Engine Optimization
17 May 2010
Keywords in business can be a complete paradox. On the one hand, theyre so easy to understand that even explaining them almost seems redundant. On the other hand, though, theyre so dependent on search trends and usage that learning how to correctly use them can be a very long and drawn out process.The basic trick to choosing keywords wisely and making them work for you is to always be relevant to your business and to leave the market alone. What that means, basically, is to use keywords that relate to your specific site and your specific product within the market rather than using the most popular search terms in the market for your product.Example: If youre trying to sell how-to books dealing with home gardening, then your market cannot be simply home gardening. Youre dealing with too broad a topic here. Instead, you have to narrow it down and use keywords within the how-to market to ensure you earn better site placement and ultimately receive more visitors with vested interest in your product.
Think of the person searching for the product. If theyre only interested in some type of fertilizer for their plants and type home gardening fertilizer into a search engine, youre nowhere to be found on any of the first thousand pages. So if you used broad keywords dealing with home gardening, youve just wasted your time. However, people looking for information products regarding home gardening make up a smaller market. Someone typing in how to home garden will have a much higher probability of finding your site if you chose keywords specific to your product and market and have worked to earn page ranking. Like it or not, people arent going to shop around online that much. Part of the reason for shopping online is the convenience factor. This is why top placement is so highly valued. If youre not on the first few pages of the search results in your particular market, then you havent chosen your keywords wisely enough. What else can you do to narrow down your market and choose the correct keywords? Well, for one thing, you can try naming your product and formulating your content solely around your chosen keywords and phrases. For instance, if youre searching the most popular keywords and find that discount gardening books is a popular search term that doesnt have much competition, you can then create a website page that deals exactly with that key phrase. Put that key phrase in the header, in the contents body a few times, and in the site description and submit it to a search engine. This will prompt the spiders to pull your website straight up to the top every time that key phrase is entered. Thats what choosing wisely is all about.The keywords and phrases you have available all depends on what your site is about. So in order to stand the best chance, most people do thorough keyword research before building their site. That way, they can make the site revolve around the keyword instead of the other way around. Keep that in mind when choosing your keywords.
