Keywords - What Are They, How To Use Them, And Why They Are Important
KEYWORDS - WHAT ARE THEY, HOW TO USE THEM, AND WHY THEY
ARE IMPORTANT
What are keywords?
When someone is searching for information on the web, they will
usually visit a search engine and type in some words describing
what they are looking for. The search engine then checks its database
and returns the results listing pages that meet the words submitted.
These words used by people searching can be called keywords or
search terms. If you have done a search using the search engines,
you will know that a single word will generate results that are
very broad and frequently irrelevant. To fine-tune your search,
you need to use a number of words or a phrase. This often gives
you a more relevant search result.
Why are they important?
Keywords are important as they can be used successfully in conjunction
with the search engines to provide you with a free source of targeted
traffic to your web site. They enable people who need your product,
service or information to find you. Appropriate keywords are like
a telephone number for your business and the search engine is like
the telephone book – it lists your name and number.
How to determine what keywords to use
So, how do you determine what keywords are relevant for your site?
Firstly, you need to put yourself in your potential customer’s shoes
to determine what words they would submit to the search engine when
they are looking for you. Also, review your web site pages and pick
out key phrases and words that describe your business, product or
service.
List these words and phrases as they will form the basis for optimising
your web pages so that they will rank higher on the search engines.
The more specific your keywords the better. Remember that single
word keywords will have a lot more competition for top ranking search
results than phrases.
Are people searching for your keywords?
Don’t expect that the identification of your keywords and the submission
of your pages to the search engines to result in an immediate flood
of traffic to your site. Firstly, many of the search engines take
a number of weeks to process your submission. Secondly, some search
engines rank based on a number of factors including site popularity.
The number of sites that link to your site determines site popularity.
Therefore, to improve your site popularity will require a reciprocal
links strategy. There is a good resource on this at: http://www.reciprocallink.com/
.
Another factor is that people may not be searching for the terms
you have defined as your keywords. It is important to know this
as it can help give better direction to your marketing efforts.
The following resources will help you to determine what people
are actually searching for when they use the search engines. CEBN's
FREE Global Keywords Search Engine URL:
http://www.cebn.com/metatags.htm allows you to search keywords
to determine how often they are being used. But of greater importance
is the ability to search one word and to see what combinations of
words people are using with that word when they are searching.
This enables you to fine-tune your keywords to better fit what
people are actually searching for. Remember that the aim is to obtain
targeted traffic to your web site. Therefore, the more precise your
keywords are, the greater the chances you will receive visitors
that are interested in your services.
Word Market URL:
http://www.softwaresolutions.net/free.htm provides a free software
program that will check what people are searching for on the search
engines. You need to be online to run this program and depending
on how long it runs, it can generate very large databases.
WordSpot URL: http://www.wordspot.com/
will email you each week a free report of the top 200 search terms.
They also provide other paid services helping business with keyword
selection. A similar service is also provided by Keyword Market
Share URL:
http://www.mall-net.com/se_report/index.html .
Conclusion
The appropriate choice of keywords combined with optimised web
pages submitted to the search engines can result in free targeted
traffic to your site. This is a source of traffic that should not
be overlooked.
About the Author By Kevin
Sinclair, CPA, of Be Successful! Business & Personal Success
Resources - http://www.ksinclair.com
|
