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Tips For Organic Keyword Research And Selection

Mike Sachoff — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 20:54:03 +0000

In the session "Organic Keyword Research and Selection" the panel offered strategies for developing keyword lists for organic search engine optimization.

Coverage of PubCon South Austin continues at WebProNews Videos. Stay with WebProNews for more notes and videos from the event this week.

Seth Wilde, Search Engine Marketing Manager, uShip, talked about keyword research methods.

Internal Data:
List of products/services
Current organic search queries
Site search box

Third Party Tools
Competitive Intelligence (Hitwise, etc.)
Keyword Research Tools (keyword tracker)

Benefits:
Know how well the search phrases convert to real business
Things to look out for:
Use exact match
Keep your ad on the front page

Use 3-4 keywords per page, but make sure you have content to back up keyword selections. Group keywords that Google sees as similar.

Refine Results
Adjust for growth and competition and do regular keyword research.

Craig Paddock
Managing Partner
Boost Search Marketing

Craig Paddock, Managing Partner, Boost Search Marketing, said to research with Compete.com and to use Hitwise if you are a larger company.

Defend your brand names/terms
Highest converting
Easiest to rank for

Let your customers decide what your key phrase is by referring to PPC data. Minimize impression for "broad" match terms.

"Your link quality must be similar to top-ranked sites," said Paddock.

Current Ranking:
If you are already getting traffic for a term you can still try and improve it. Take advantage of Google’s clustering.

"Keyphrase research is more than looking at keyphrase popularity," said Paddock.

Amanda Watlington, Ph.D., Searching for Profit, offered 10 rules for keyword research.

1.Keyword research is not a done and one process.
2. There are no "Swiss army knife" tools. (could be less, could be more? It just depends on your situation)
3. The tools are only as good as the analyst using them.
4. Boiling the ocean to get the "right keywords" is a waste of time.
5. Capture the head from the tail.
6. Content-centric keyword strategies are win-win solutions.
7. Segment/bin your keywords to sharpen your analysis.
8. Listen to your user feedback. Avidly mind your analytics. ("Listening drives. Your analytics are a gold mine of information.")
9. Take a forward-looking approach to all keyword analysis and research.
10. Build your own keyword list to study the engines.

Always be watching for change.

Mark Jackson, President/CEO, VIZION Interactive, Inc., said the initial process for keyword research is brainstorming.

"Try to control CEO-itis. get involved with the marketing department in this process," said Jackson.

Competitive Analysis
Are you sure your site supports the keywords you want to target?
For example do you have content specific to that keyword phrase?

He uses iMarketingManager.com to see the top 10 sites for search phrase.

Know what you want and plan accordingly. You have to look at competitive analysis and have a roadmap to follow.

WebProNews Reporter/Anchor Abby Johnson contributed to this report.

Update on Organic SEO and PPC

Abby Johnson — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 22:12:09 +0000

In the search industry we’ve all heard and read each of those terms quite frequently. We’ve each ran across those who believe their way is the only way, and then there are others who don’t express their opinions as strongly, but still prefer one way over the other. And lastly, there are those who use both methods.

This video/article does not contain any breaking information about either organic or pay per click, but you should still read/watch it because it will give you a couple of up-to-date perspectives from some very respectable people in the industry.

WebProNews spoke with David Szetela about why his company, Clix Marketing, only uses pay per click advertising.

I also had an interesting conversation with Matt Bailey about his exclusive use of organic SEO for SiteLogic clients. Matt describes organic SEO as being similar to art, and goes on to explain pay per click as a science.

David and Matt also point out the large role that social networking plays in both organic and PPC.

Organically, social networks are a great way to build your online reputation and get your name known. David mentioned that Google now has site-targeted advertising and Facebook also launched their own pay-per-click advertising service within their site.

Still have questions about organic SEO and Pay Per Click? Catch the full story in the WebProNews video that includes sound clips from David Szetela and Matt Bailey as well as a host of other information.

Organic SEO

Sharon Housley — Tue, 07 Mar 2006 18:14:50 +0000

The fabled tales of successfully tricking search engines into high rankings have given way to a new truth, to achieve decent consistent ranking you cannot engage in tricks but on focused optimization done in a professional ethical manner.

According to search sources, with the latest Google update, there is no longer an even playing field when it comes to search placement. The new Google ranking system gives an advantage to large, established businesses that have achieved brand recognition. Does this mean small businesses should give up on the Web as a marketing model? No, of course not, they simply must develop quality content. To increase your natural ranking (search engine rankings that are not paid for) you must:

Write Good Text Copy.

The website copy should contain relevant text. Websites that use text rather than large images will load faster and the search engines can easily spider the text of the website for themes and keywords. Search engines cannot discern the meaning of words and phrases that are presented as an image. If you do use an image, be sure to include a brief phrase or keyword as an ALT tag. The ALT tags help website visitors who are visually impaired. ALT tags also convey the meaning of the image to search engines.

Research Keyword Phrases.

Using terms and phrases that relate to your product or service is critical. It is important to use terms that potential customers would use when searching for your product or service. Often products can be described by a number of terms, for example soda, tonic and pop all identify soft drinks. One term might be more prevalent in a specific geographic region, which is fine if you are selling locally, but if you are selling globally, optimizing for a single popular term could be problematic. Consider optimizing different portions of your website for various keywords and phrases that relate to the product or service that you are promoting.

More information on Determining Keywords

Provide Valuable Content.

Websites linking to a website are seen by many search engines as “votes”. A link typically implies quality content. The easiest and most effective way to achieve a large number of links is to provide unique quality content. This might be a free web based tool, information or other content that is unique and relevant.

Examples of free valuable content:

Website RSS Button Creator

Reprint Articles

Monitor.

Monitor blogs for online chatter about your product or service. If you find a product review or question on a blog consider posting a comment. Ego searches are an excellent way to stay informed and maintain a strategic advantage over competitors. Monitor keywords or phrases that relate to your product or service, and join conversations that are relevant.