Keyword Research
What exactly is a keyword?
A Keyword or Keyphrase as is more often the case is the word or phrase that you wish to rank for. As this is relevant to your web site and you want to rank for it, it is callled your targeted keyword or targeted keyphrase.
I already know my keywords
Well you probably think you do but you almost certainly don't know which will be the best keywords and keyphrases to target. A story I always like to tell is of a company I did some work for. They were adament that they wanted to rank for their machine name. The trouble was, no one out side the company knew what the machine was called so the chances of some searching for it were..... yep thats right Sweet FA! They were very insistant on this but after I showed them that there were 0 searches for that keyword they soon changed their tune! We targeted the type of machine that it was rather than the name and guess what, with a number 1 ranking they actualy get enquiries! A #1 ranking for the machine name would have given them nothing!
Enter Keyword Research! Keyword Research uses hard data and metrics to tell you which keywords will work for you.
What data? What metrics?
Well I am glad you asked! The first and foremost thing in my mind is how many people search for that term?
Does it get any searches? If not there is no point in bothering with it!
The second thing I look at is how many results there are in the search engines. If you search for the term, how many results are returned?
This gives an indication (and it is only and indication) of the competition for that term.
A much more precise look at how many web pages you are competing with is to search for the same search term but encapsulated in uoation marks. For example "Search Term".
This gives the exact number of competing pages.
How to Determine? The KEI Method
Most SEO professionals use some form of the KEI method. This is the Keyword Effectiveness Index. It is a function of the amount of searches for a particular term and the amount of competition there is. The less competition the easier it will be to achieve rankings for. The more searches, the more worth while it will be to obtain rankings for a particular term.
I use my own personal forumla (which I keep secret) that uses the following metrics
- Number of Searches
- Number of Results Returned
- Number of Competing Pages
- Ratio between competing pages and returned pages
- PPC (Pay Per Click) values
- A damping factor (manualy entered based on comercial factors)
- A common sense weeding out of any terms that aren't of any use.
How do I find this information out?
Good Question! Let me introduce you to the tools of the trade.
- Keyword Research Suggestion Tool - gives you keywords and # of searches
- Google Search Engine is a good place to do some keyword research
- PPC (Pay Per Click) Bids
- Word Tracker The Origional KEI Analysis Tool
- Nichebot Useful for indentifying Niche Terms