The process of theming requires first knowing the root theme of any given phrase. Take this under careful consideration as many similar themes may actually have a different root. For example, the phrase ‘leadership management training’ can have a root theme of either ‘leadership training’ or ‘management training’ or ‘leadership management’. Your theme will be determined by the focus your website and/or any given web page. These roots will be your broad and specific themes with which you’ll begin to populate with the related keywords.
Let’s say you sell travel bags of all kinds. One of your broader themes will be “backpack.” Here is a list of keywords that would fit into that theme:
- sports backpack
- sports backpacks
- school backpack
- school backpacks
- girls backpack
- girls backpacks
You also might find that “back pack” is a natural theme as well, therefore the following keyword phrases might apply:
- sports back pack
- sports back packs
- school back pack
- school back packs
- girls back pack
- girls back packs
If you find a large number of related keywords for any one theme, then break that broad theme into several more specific themes. In this case, “girls back pack” is a sub-theme of the “back pack” theme:
- girls flower back pack
- girls sleepover back pack
- girls Barbie back pack
- girls sports back pack
- girls Bratz back pack
In the process of theming, start first with your broad themes and then begin to break those down even further as necessary. Don’t be afraid of having too many themes. Allowing many highly targeted themes will help you build a very robust site that serves your audience and the search engines well.
[note: edited for greater clarity]
This post is part of a continuing series on the topic of:
Optimizing for Maximum Search Engine Performance
Sub-Topic: Research Your Targeted Keywords.