Archive for the ‘Keyword Research’ Category

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No, I’m not going to give you a list of most searched or most clicked keywords or whatever. Instead I’m going to talk about how to determine which keywords will be the best for you.

There are a number of measurements that can be used when determining how good a keyword might be:

• Search volume (high or low)
• KEI
• Number of search results for a keyword phrase
• Number of search results that use the phrase in the title
• Whether a competitor uses a particular phrase
• etc.

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I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, keyword research is the #1 most important part of any SEO campaign. After all, you can get your on-page optimization near perfect, build quality keyword-rich back links, invest in PPC ads and other forms of marketing, but if your keywords are wrong, its all money thrown away!

Over the years I’ve written quite a bit on the subject of keyword research. I’m not sure what gave me the bug to put together what I would call the definitive keyword research manual, but late last year I decided to make a go of it. And I’m quite happy with the results.

The basic outline of the manual stemmed from my own research methodologies that I’ve been fine-tuning for our clients for the past several years. Once I began writing I decided to revisit all of my old articles on keyword research, including the keyword research section of my EMP book, to see what information could be re-used for the manual. Surprisingly, much of it could be however it needn’t be. I found that what I had already written for the Keyword Research manual was covered in far greater detail and clarity than all my other writings on the topic.

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About a month ago Stoney came to me to discuss a writing project he was working on. The project was to develop a keyword research handbook that was truly definitive. He asked me to organize the material he had and possibly contribute some of my own. At first I figured that we would be putting together an SEO tutorial on basic keyword research. Introductory level information is generally the norm within the industry, especially for publicly available works.

As I was working my way through a first read-through I quickly realized that Stoney was doing something different here. This was not another seo intro or cursory treatment. Stoney was discussing the real-deal nuts-n-bolts of advanced keyword research. The systems that he has perfected over the years and uses himself. Real SEO info!

I began editing the rough document and adding my own contributions and notes to Stoney’s very practical and functional approach to keyword research. Generally I tend towards the technical aspects of SEO: underlying mathematics, IR, library science, etc. This often works out to be a nice fit as Stoney’s practical approach to SEO very much compliments my own and vice-versa. The Keyword Research Guide was no exception and I am fortunate to have been able to contribute some of my own best practices and personal keyword research techniques to this great treatment of the subject.

The final product is a completely original and uniquely functional guide to professional keyword research as only a seasoned search optimization professional could produce.

Whether you are an SEO novice; still wet behind the ears, or a decorated veteran of the search wars:
Read this Keyword Research Guide…
Because its time to upgrade your skills.

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Nov. 16th – Wednesday morning I was able to sleep in a bit (thanks to a very agreeable boss). My first session of the day was Keyword Selection: Top of Search, moderated by Joe Laratro. Each speaker had something to offer from a unique perspective. Noteworthy lessons include:

• Evaluating keywords by: Brand, Conversion, Relevancy, Competition and Query Volume
• The importance of determining your client’s measures of success.
• The value (and prohibitive cost) of high level competitive keyword data from Hitwise.
• Using PPC data as a reference for converting keywords.
• Looking at offline keyword influences.
• Using Google Trends to understand search activity

Mainly I walked away from this session with a few good ideas for in-house tools to develop, as well as a couple of new metrics to tinker with.

Keyword research is the single most important aspect of any search optimization campaign, without exception. The keyword research process brings to light information that is both beneficial and directly applicable to many aspects of nearly any business. The actual keyword selection process must be undertaken with great care as each keyword represents an important business goal.

The most common criterion employed for keyword selection include:

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This is a followup from yesterday’s post.

Hi Stoney,

Thank you for your detailed response. It is very helpful.

I have used tools like overture and wordtracker in the past but I must admit that I didn’t have much luck with them. It could be because the keywords I choose like jewelry store and silver jewelry were all highly competitive.

On the other hand, keywords like bridal jewelry and wedding jewelry, though competitive don’t seem to be as competitive as jewelry store or silver jewelry. I currently have a first page placement on Yahoo on Cheap bridal jewelry and Cheap bridal jewelry sets and get almost no traffic as a result. Is this common?

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Hi Stoney,

I would greatly appreciate it if you offer me some feedback regarding my keyword selection. I currently run an online bridal jewelry and accessories store and would like your opinion on the keywords I am selecting for the website.

What do you think about the list of keywords below?
1. Bridal jewelry
2. Cheap bridal jewelry
3. Discount bridal jewelry
4. Bridal jewelry sets
5. Cheap bridal jewelry sets
6. Discount bridal jewelry sets
7. Wedding jewelry
8. Cheap wedding jewelry
9. Discount wedding jewelry
10. Wedding jewelry sets
11. Cheap wedding jewelry sets
12. Discount wedding jewelry sets
13. Bridal tiaras
14. Cheap bridal tiaras
15. Discount bridal tiaras
16. Cheap tiaras
17. Wedding tiaras
18. Discount wedding tiaras
19. Cheap wedding tiaras
20. Discount tiaras

Is this a good list to focus on or would you suggest I do something different.
Thank you in advance and I look forward to your feedback.

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You don’t have to use keyword phrases as a single phrase on your pages in order to rank well in the search engines. If you have ever looked at your server logs you’ll find that people often use strange word combinations when searching. For example a keyword that generates traffic for one client of ours is “motorcycle battery honda”. Now if I want to be really clever I will be able to use this as a phrase on the page:

“…everything you need in a motorcycle battery. Honda motorcycles…”

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Much has been written on the topic of keyword research by other SEOs. I, myself have written extensively on the topic of research and selecting the best keywords for an optimization campaign. Without trying to restate anything that has already been written, (at least by me) let me present a few ideas that can help you identify all of the possible keyword phrases that you could benefit from.

Over the years, our keyword selection process has become quite refined. Looking over the research we’ve done in years past, most is good, but doesn’t live up to the 5-phase keyword research and selection process we use today. The first and most important step in our research process is to identify the site’s major themes. If you’ve read through the previous series of articles linked above you’ll note that our process has evolved slightly even since then. “Theming” used to come later in our research process but we’ve found that by knowing all your relevant keyword themes, you’re better able to find all the most important search phrases earlier without having to do all your keyword research right now, saving room for more research on lesser important themes later.

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