Selecting the keyword phrases to target with your SEO efforts is a critical part of kicking off any new SEO project. Pick the wrong keywords and you’ll have minimal impact on your website visibility because either no one’s searching for those keywords and thinking about the type of solutions you provide or those same keywords are targeted by hundreds of other websites.
Here are 3 ways that will help you identify which keywords are the right keywords for you to target.
Listen to your prospects and customers
Think about the conversations you’ve had with prospects and customers. How do they describe what it is you do? Most likely, they aren’t using technical or industry jargon, but are expressing their needs in terms of a particular outcome or resolution. If you’re a divorce lawyer, it’s obvious to target the keyword phrase “divorce lawyer”, but so is every other divorce lawyer.
Instead, think about the specific issues your clients are asking you to resolve. It might be child custody or property issues. Phrases your prospects or clients use when describing their problem to you are a good indicator of the types of phrases their typing into Google when beginning their research.
Identify search volume and competitiveness
Once you have identified five to ten target keyword phrases, use the free Google AdWords Keyword tool to find the approximate monthly search volume and competitiveness. This data is provided through Google’s paid search business, but it serves as a good proxy for what keyword phrases are being targeted for SEO efforts.
The idea here is to select keyword phrases with maximum search volume and minimum competitiveness. Not enough search volume or too much competition, and your SEO efforts won’t generate any results. While there aren’t any hard and fast rules about which keywords to select, start with those keywords with at least 1,000 searches per month and a medium level of competitiveness. Depending on how specific your keyword phrase is though, you may need to choose a search volume less than 1,000. If you can dominate position one on Google though, this may be sufficient.
Perform competitive research
After refining your keyword selection and having a good idea of the overall volume and competitiveness, use those keywords to run searches on Google to get an understanding of your search competition. Look at the first page of results and look at the companies that appear there. Are they your competitors in the real world? If not, then you either need to refine your keywords or you’ve successfully identified an opportunity to provide the most relevant information to people searching those keyword phrases who are in need of the services you provide.
Selecting the right keywords is one of the most challenging parts of SEO, but these 3 ways to figure out which keywords are the right keywords can help you make a more informed decision on which to base your SEO activity.
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What other ways do you use to identify the right keywords?
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