How to Pick the Right Keywords for Your Website
What are Keywords?
Keywords are simply what people put into the search engine when searching. They matter because if your website is about apples, you want to appear at the top of the results page when someone searches for ‘apples’. If the keywords you use on your website don’t match those that people use when searching then your site will not be listed.
Aren’t My Keywords Obvious?
If my website is about apples, isn’t it obvious that my keyword is ‘apples’?
No. Firstly there are 30,400,000 competing web pages in Google and that is a lot of competition. Secondly, what does someone searching for apples actually want? Do they want to buy apples? Find out about the apple’s biology? Or are they interested in computers?
Be Specific
Rather than waste time and money trying to get to number one on ‘apples’, its better to focus on more detailed keywords. These keywords get less traffic but it is easier to get into the top ten results. The keywords must also match what your website is about but you can think laterally. If your website is selling apples, put up an article on your site full of apple cake recipes. There are only 550 competing pages for ‘Apple Cake Recipes’ and most of them will not tunned for better search engine placement like yours so getting into the top ten will be easier.
Quality Not Quantity
Your website is a business not a popularity competition. A visitor who doesn’t earn you money is wasting you money. Your keywords need to attract the sort of person who will earn you money. For example, 1200 people a day search for ‘apples’ but how many of those people will actually buy fruit from you if they visit your site? Only thirty five people a day search for ‘apple cake recipes’ but the people searching for recipes will want fruit to put in their cakes. You can also put recipes for ‘french apple pie’ (30 searches a day), ‘cloudy apple juice’ (46 searches a day) and so on.
Discover Your Keywords
If you planning to make money from your keywords than you should invest in WordTracker. Its a tool that tells you how many people a day are searching for a keyword, how many sites there are already using the keyword and it suggest alternatives. They have a free trial but my advice is to spend the money. An alternative free tool is Google’s Keyword Tool. Its not ideal but will give you a handle on what keywords are being used. See Tools for Better Search Engine Placement.