Keyword Selection For Search Engine Optimization (Seo)

 

As it has been pointed out in my previous article that the right keyword might not be the one that comes to your mind instantly. Research has shown that different people use different keywords to search for the same thing. Care must be taken to use the keyword that is most commonly used. Also, you know your business and sometimes too well. The terms you use in you business might not be one used by a layman. Try to use simplistic terms for keywords.

 

To be more precise with the keyword selection one should keep in mind the searchers mentality. Normally users start from a broad keyword search and then narrow it down and they start to find material specific to their needs. For example, a user might search for “web hosting.” The chances are she is just looking to find out what web hosting is and she might not be interested in buying at all. While it’s good to be ranked for such broad definitions, it may not produce the results you want. And anyway, it’s very difficult to get top ranks for such broad keywords.

 

When the user is a bit more specific, she is more likely to buy. For example, when the user has made up her mind she may search for terms such as “cheap asp.net web hosting” or “web hosting under $50″. The volume of these searches are normally less but the click to buy ratio is higher.

 

The other kind of searching is when the users become very specific with their keywords. For example, a user might use “asp.net 2.0 UK web hosting”. They are the kind of users who are most likely to buy.

 

So what is the best keyword strategy. Well there is no silver bullet there but in general the new web site owners should avoid competition from long standing players. The long established web sites will have an advantage over the newly established web sites so there is little point in optimizing your site for well known keywords such as “hosting”. You can start your keyword list using terms like “asp.net 2.0 web hosting”, “cheapest, specialized asp.net web hosting” and “most reliable and robust web host” etc. The search engine’s bot will visit your site to index and index every page of your site. If many of your pages come up with as highly ranked for those keywords, eventually search engines will make their connection to the term “web hosting” and you might get to see good results even for the general searches.