Keyword Research
Are you a keyword guesser? Or a keyword researcher?
Since we set up our new venture SEO Training Wales we've been fascinated to see how people are approaching the issue of keywords - and clearly many businesses are still relying on guesswork.
The typical approach is fairly logical: "I sell widgets, so my keywords are 'widget', 'widgets', 'widget UK' etc.".
Frankly this doesn't work - firstly because different people phrase their searches in different ways. Some might describe the product ("widget")... others might describe the problem that the product is going to solve ("how do I do xyz?")...and others will describe the means through which the product is delivered ("widget broker"). In other words, there are hundreds of different formations for every product or service, and you have to narrow it down.
The slightly more measured tack is to use a basic research tool from Google or Yahoo – one that shows different keyword formations and the typical number of searches each one delivers in a month.
This is more workable...at least it shows you how to replicate the exact phrasing and eliminates the keywords that no-one ever uses. But it still only scratches the surface, because of the golden SEO rule:
You can't choose your keywords based on popularity alone
Here's the thing: the most popular keywords will be hugely contested by your competitors, so if you want to rank for a single word like 'widget' you'll have your work cut out!