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| Keywords research is not dead |
Wondering why your site is not garnering high or relevant
traffic? It could be that you have not optimized your website for search engine
results. This includes using the right keywords or lately ‘key-phrase. Of
course there may be several other contributory factors but this article shall
focus solely on keyword research with Google Adwords, how to do the basics and
a strategy worth considering if you’re doing everything on your own. However,
if you do not want to do all this on your own and wish to have someone do it
all for you with great results, go here: free SEO software . They supply free
software that would not only find the perfect keywords/key-phrases for you and seek
out your competition and help you beat them but they would also do all the
necessary SEO (Search Engine Optimization) tweaks for your website to get
maximum results. The truth is, using the right keywords or phrases alone would
not necessarily bring you better search results and an accompanying high
traffic, though it would be more than half of the work done if you do it right.
NOTE: You don’t have to agree with every suggestion I will
make especially concerning the monthly search volume. They are mere suggestions
based on my own successful experience. All the important points in the figures
have been highlighted in yellow.
Why is keyword or key-phrase research very important???
There are a few search engines online where people go to find
answers to questions. Like it or not, Google dominates this bunch about 90%, nevermind
what the experts say. Of course Google expects original quality content if you
want them to put you at the top of the search pile but then they would have
shut down the Adwords/Keyword Planner website if keyword research was dead. So
why is it important? By doing keyword research, you’re able to narrow down to
words or phrases that people type in their search engine daily. Simply put,
people by typing in these phrases would be searching for products or solutions
related to them (words). This helps you to create your products around the
phrases (keywords) or find the perfect names for your websites or products you
already have so that people can easily find you online when they search. And
how would they find you? They would find you because Google’s software termed
‘bots’ surf almost every website regularly in cyberspace to find and deliver
the best results that suit the searchers specifications. These ‘bots’ are
updated occasionally just like all softwares so you should always check out the
Google Adwords Website every now and then to update your knowledge. By the way,
this write-up is based on the current update.
Long tail keywords (phrases) – what are they and why are they
necessary?
For best results, I suggest you seek out long tail keywords.
Now what are they? These are keywords usually in a phrase form containing at least
not less than two words (my definition). Example: assuming you are searching
for something related to health, you can simply type a single word (also known
as the root keyword) like “health” into Google search or you can be more
specific and narrow down your search by typing say, “ how to cook a healthy
dinner” (long tail keyword or phrase). Got it?? Finding and using long tail
keywords would give your products or site the best search presence because of
its specificity. Simply put, people are entering these exact phrases (long tail
keywords) in Google search so if you use them or their related keywords in your blog or website, Google
is likely to find and rank you for them, whereas if you use a single keyword
like “healthy”, you may have to battle it out with lots of competition
including authority sites to get ranked high on Google. There may be
times when you may have a root keyword but find it difficult to generate a long
tail keyword but don’t worry, go ahead and read on. Also on another important note –
based on the updated Google ‘bot’, exact phrases do not matter much anymore.
For example, if you use the keyword phrase “healthy dinner recipes” as keywords
on your website, the Google ‘bot’ would still find and rank your site for
closely related keywords like “healthy meals” because the ‘bot’ determine them
as one and the same or similar in meaning. Basic!
How you do an effective basic keyword research…..
1.
What
do you do if you have a root keyword (single word) but you’re finding it tough
generating a long tail keyword (phrase) for your research? Simply go to keywordshitter.com,
type in your root keyword into the space provided and click shit
keywords right below the panel. Wait for at least two minutes and allow
the site to produce enough keywords and then click download. It would be saved
in note pad onto your pc. Better still, you can create a special keyword folder
where you can place all of these downloads later.
fig. 1
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| Root keyword highlighted. CREDIT: keywordshitter.com |
2. Create a Google account if you don’t
have one and if you use chrome browser or any other browser for that matter,
simply click on this link: Google Adwords and Keyword Planner. Sign in when the page opens. On
the page that appears, click on tools and look for the research console on the
left with the headline “Find new keywords and get search volume
data”. Below it, in this case we shall use only the first choice where
you have “search for new keywords using a phrase, website or category”, as
seen in the example in fig 2.
fig 2.
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Google Adwords/Keyword planner.
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a) Now open the downloaded keywords from
keywordshitter.com and find long tail keywords or phrases related to your niche. Copy any
keyword (phrase)that best suits your research and paste it into the research
panel. In this example our chosen keyword (phrase) would be “healthy dinner’ as highlighted in fig 2 above.
b) Just below that panel, find
“customize your search” and click on “keyword filters” Open and insert 3000 in
the box and check the “low” box below it as seen in fig 3. Why 3000 and low? 3000 and low
because we’re searching for keywords with low competition but which would
probably be lucrative because at least 3000 people are searching for it on a
monthly basis. Click on save.
fig 3.
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| Google Adwords/Keyword planner. |
| CREDIT: https://adwords.google.com/KeywordPlanner#searchdetails |
c) Ignore everything else and scroll
down to the bottom of the panel and click on “get ideas”. Some
keywords would be generated after sometime. Now click on any of the keywords
and sieve through to find appropriate keywords for your business. You can view
all the information concerning the keywords but take an important note of the
search volume if you find any appropriate keyword (phrase). This section is
demonstrated in fig 4 and 5 below. As you can see, I clicked on “quick and
healthy” and as highlighted, I picked “healthy food ideas” as my keyword phrase
to be searched in Google. Note that this keyword has a modest monthly search
volume of 3,600 and has low competition. This is encouraging because I can then
further go ahead and find who my competitors are in Google search which leads
to the next step.
figs 4 and 5
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Google Adwords and keyword planner.
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Google Adwords and Keyword planner.
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3.
Finally
copy the keywords (phrase) the fits the suggested specifications and enter them
in double quotes in Google search. This would generate results of who your
probable competitors would be in search results if you’re to use these keywords
for your website. In this example I picked “healthy food ideas”. Now let’s
analyse the results.
fig 6
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| Google Adwords and Keyword planner. CREDIT: www.google.com |
As highlighted the
results generated a probable competition of about 406,000 websites. I
suggest that you use keywords that generate less than 60,000 competitors if you
want to compete and convert well. Right at the top is a BBC.com link.
BBC is ‘an authority site’. Authority sites are basically sites that
have been in that niche for so long that they are deemed highly credible. Now
it’s going to be tough competing with these sites for top spot if you find
about 5 of them in the front row of Google search results. It’s best to find new keywords if after the
research you find that you might be competing with lots of such sites. However,
if you still insist on using those keywords to compete, your best bet is to
download this software : Free SEO Software , like I said earlier.
FINAL STEP
You found your keywords with low
competition so what next? You can go ahead and use them as your website or blog
address, use it as your blog titles within articles etc, just don’t over-do it.
Truth be told, there would be days
when you would easily find a low competition keyword (phrase) and there would
be days when you would never find anything. It’s not an easy thing to do. It
takes time focus and constant research. Be reminded that, it’s not the only thing to
do to optimize your site but as a lay individual, you can start here. If you
find it too technical and time consuming, let these guys do it for you SEO Kings.
I would like to know what you think. Feel free to share this
article if you found it useful.
Click Here!
Resources: Google Adwords / Google Search
Keywordshitter.com
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