SEO: Getting the Right Keywords

When it comes to Search Engine Optimization, are you using the right keywords in your website content and meta tags? Understanding the right keywords for your industry is critical if you want your website or blog to appear in search engine results. Here are a few tips that will help you identify good keywords and also see what your competition is using.

Identify Key Words

The first step is to know what the keywords are for your industry. Every industry has certain buzz words that entice potential customers. Pretend that you know nothing about your product or service, and you are a potential customer doing a Google search. What search terms might you use? Try to think like your customers and get inside their heads. Remember, these are buzz words that target your customer, not technical words you might use with a colleague.

Take advantage of Google’s free Keyword Tool to find out what people are searching for globally and nationally. In general, the Keyword Tool is just to give you an idea of what people are searching for and should help you to narrow down what keywords you want to build into your website. Just enter some basic keywords for your industry or a website that is ranking well and the Keyword Tool will return a list of results showing what words are searched for the most.

In the end, you will want about 20 keywords Remember to include words such as your state, state abbreviation, and any cities you want to target. Also, choose the words you feel are the most appropriate for your business.

Check Out The Source Code

Find another website in your industry that ranks well in Google search. Then, check out the source code to identify what keywords they are using. In most web browsers, there is an option to View Source under the Tools or Page options. A new window should pop up with a bunch of code called HTML. Towards the top, look for some text that says meta name=”description”. Following that bit of text you should see lots of keywords separated by commas. Examine their keywords and the list you took from the Keyword Tool. How many matches are there between the two lists? Examine several other well-ranking sites and by the end, you should have a healthy list of good relevant keywords.

Writing Good Content

Armed with a list of good keywords, start building them into the content of your website. In general, you want each keyword to be about 2% of your content. If you have 100 words, then each keyword should be used twice. Remember to not cram your keywords into unnatural positions. Using the same word multiple times within a sentence will come across as weird for your readers and customers. In the end, your content needs to be readable by people, too, not just search engines.

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