Mirror, mirror on the wall, which keywords are the fairest of them all?

Even though it would be fun, the good news is that you don’t need a magic mirror to tell you which keywords your customers (and potential customers) are using.

In fact, you can easily and quickly determine which keywords would be most effective for your marketing campaign using a few tried and true tricks.

These tricks have helped King Kong customers to rank on Google in just 90 days. Part of this success is due to the fact that we employ a wide variety of tactics, but one thing that we definitely don’t ignore is keywords.

Let’s face it, there are many posts out there and on this site too about SEO and keywords, but there is very little information on choosing the perfect keywords for your brand.

Also, the rules of SEO seem to be constantly changing as things advance but one thing has always remained the same and that is the importance of keywords.

We are going to take you through step by step some of the techniques we have used to help websites receive millions of hits and rank high up in Google’s search results.

But first, let’s go back to basics and breakdown exactly what a keyword really is.

According to Techopedia a Keyword is-

“A keyword, in the context of search engine optimisation, is a particular word or phrase that describes the contents of a web page. Keywords are intended to act as shortcuts that sum up the entire page. Keywords form part of a web page’s metadata and help search engines match a page with an appropriate search query.”

There you have it, your secret sauce to understanding keywords right there, they- “help search engines match a page with an appropriate query”. This means that your keywords are crucial if you want consumers to find your page.

Over the years and as the internet has grown into the huge-mega storage of information that it is, the language of keywords has become more complex. Today, there are four categories of keywords which include:

1/ Broad Keywords: these are short keywords that are usually just one word.

Eg. Marketing

2/ Fat Head Keywords: these are made up of two to three words.

Eg. Inbound Marketing

3/ Chunky Middle Keywords: these are around 4-5 words long and are the most competitive due to the fact that most consumers use them to search for content

Eg. Inbound Marketing Strategy Ideas

4/ Long-Tail Keywords: these are around 5-6+ words long and are usually very specific

Eg. How to get results with Inbound Marketing

All of these keyword types serve to give you an insight or clue into your audience and what it is that they really desire. Long-tail keywords are of course going to give you more information, but all keywords are important. Why?

Keywords have three main functions:

1. They are the foundation of your content 

There is so much content online that you need to be able to summarise what your page is about in just a few words. This is not just for the consumers but also for the writers and marketers involved. Keywords provide a foundation for your content and help to give it shape and structure. Keywords also act as a way for your customer to know exactly what information is contained on the page so they can quickly determine if it answers what they are looking for.

2. They help search engines

When you have spent all that time and money writing a good piece of content you want to ensure that it is going to be read by the people who need to read it. Selecting specific keywords help your content to be matched with a specific search query so your readers can find your page. Keywords also help search engines when they crawl your site and index pages.

3. They get traffic to your site

We all know the benefits of traffic. More traffic = more leads = more sales= more profits= higher ROI. Enough said.

So, now you understand the background behind keywords and why they are important, now it is time to become a master of what keywords your brand should be using in order to boost traffic and search rankings.

As Web Search Expert, Wendy Boswell states-

“Whether you are looking for just the right keywords to target in an article or site content, gauging what popular keyword searches are at any given moment, or getting a good idea of what future keyword searches might be, keyword search tools can help you accomplish these goals and more.”

Coming up with the perfect keyword for your content however, can seem like a cruel brain game.

In fact, making up your own keywords based on what you think is probably not the greatest tactic. Sure, it may seem simple to narrow down your content to a few key words but if you really want to dominate, you have to dig a little deeper.

Before you even begin searching for keywords that are going to help you be the king of your jungle, you have to determine what your keyword outcome is. This basically means that you have to decide upon what outcome or  ‘action’ you want your readers to take.

Think of it this way, there is absolutely no point ranking for a keyword unless it is going to yield you a positive benefit or a desirable outcome.

Here are a few outcomes to consider:

  • Selling of a product
  • Selling of a service
  • Getting sign ups or social follows
  • Creating an authority

Once you have determined what your outcome is you will have a better understanding of where to start when it comes to finding the perfect keyword.

How to Find the Perfect Keywords

Google Adwords

Google’s entire Adwords platform is built on keywords. The tech giant has so much data on which keywords are the most popular in each industry and for each website that it only makes sense to take advantage of their information.

Here’s how:

1. Set up an Adwords Account: this is the easy part and can be done at http://adwords.google.com

2. Use the Keyword Tool: this tool will help you to find important keywords that are used surrounding your webpage or your industry. Here is what to look for:

  • Competition: this metric will give you an idea of how popular the keyword is. On Google Adwords they determine popularity on how many people have purchased the keyword and not on how many people have searched for it. For most bloggers, competition is not of the most importance, however it will give you an idea as to what your competitors are bidding on.
  • Global Monthly Searches: This metric will tell you how many times the keyword or phrase has been searched for around the world in the last month. For most bloggers this metric is the most valuable as it offers a direct insight into what your audience is looking for. One thing to remember however, is that the more popular your keyword is the more competition you are likely to have.
  • Local Monthly Searches: This metric will tell you how many people are searching for a particular keyword on a local level, or by country. This will help you to understand what customers are searching for in your area.

3. Once you have found a few relevant keywords you can continue to use the Keyword Tool to make them more specific.

For example:

A popular keyword according to Google Adwords is “Internet Marketing”.

While this is a great, clean keyword it is too broad and would face a lot of competition. Digging a little bit deeper however, Google Adwords offers more specific suggestions on what keywords you could use, such as “Internet marketing strategies” or “Online marketing strategies.” These keywords are more specific and can help you to tailor your content accordingly.

4. Write down the keywords that seem important or exciting for you or save them to your “Saved Ideas” list on the Adwords platform.

5. Once you have your killer list of keywords you can then start testing them out on your site to see how they perform.

Google doesn’t just offer Adwords as a way to search for keywords, they also offer Google Trends and Google Autocomplete.

Google Trends

As the name suggests, this tool highlights any trending searches or keywords happening in real time. You can select to see which keywords are trending based on your region, category, language and search properties. This tool helps you to see what consumers are looking for on any given day and may help you to brainstorm some creative content ideas.

Google Autocomplete

We have all seen this tool in action. As you type into the search field on Google it offers you a drop down list of suggestions. These are basically predictions on what you may be searching for and are usually listed by popularity based on what others have searched before you.

Google is a popular platform for sourcing the perfect keyword but it is definitely not the only platform. In fact, we would encourage you to search elsewhere as well in order to get a broader perspective and to stray from the masses.

Other strategies that we love to use include:

Social Media

Social media offers you a different perspective when it comes to finding the perfect keywords as you can source topics straight from your followers. People are often more candid on social media too and this means that you can easily tap into what people are complaining about or loving and then use that to your advantage.

Here is a breakdown of how to use some of the more popular social networks.

Facebook: 

Facebook has recently made some pretty impressive updates to their search graph tool. This tool allows you to view any topic that your connections are talking about. To use all you have to do is type in a search query such as “bands my friends listen to” or “restaurants my friends have been to” or “photos before 1995” and Facebook tailors a list of results for you.

Facebook also has a trending toolbar on the right side of the newsfeed that shows popular topics in real time. The trending tool bar is also categorised into Entertainment news, Politics, Science and Technology and Sports.

Twitter

Twitter also has a trending topic toolbar on the left side of the screen which can give you insights into what is being tweeted and commented on the most. On a more technical level, Twitter also has a search functionality which allows you to view popular hashtags, keywords and other trending topics.

Google+

Like Facebook and Twitter, Google has a trending page that allows you insight into what users are talking about.

YouTube

YouTube also has a trends dashboard that allows you to see popular videos and topics. According to the viral video site, their trending topics is based on “algorithmically- generated topics from keywords in the titles, tags and descriptions of the video”.

You can also narrow down the search of popular trends by city, state, country, age group and gender to give yourself a clearer idea of what keywords to use for your demographic.

With all social media platforms you can also determine whether your keywords are successful based on the number of likes, comments, clicks and shares your posts are getting.

You can even go that one step further and sift through any comments that your posts are receiving to see if you can address any further points or tailor your keywords to be more specific.

Wordtracker

Unlike other keyword search tools, Wordtracker gives you insights on whether or not a keyword phrase is worth your content efforts. This means that it gives users an idea of how many times the keyword has been searched for each day plus any related keywords. This allows you to see which keywords are trending on any given day plus it gives you ideas on alternative keywords to use that may be just as popular.

Wordtracker does require a membership, however they do have a free trial option which you can utilise to see whether it is a good fit for your business.

Market Samurai

Market Samurai gives you access to what your competition is doing and how competitive certain keywords are. This allows you to not only see what you are up against but it also helps to give you some ideas of what to use and what to stay away from. Another good way to use Market Samurai is to assess whether your existing keywords are really benefiting your website or not.

For example, say you have a blog post titled “The Paleo Diet”. Using Market Samurai, you can see that this keyword has a lot of competition and your article may be suffering because of it. This then allows you to tweak your keywords and your heading to help direct more tailored or specific traffic to your blog post.

There are many tools out there that can help you to find the perfect keyword, the trick is to try a good handful and then sift through the ones that are going to work best for your marketing strategies and your business.

Whatever platform you choose to use, here are a few helpful pointers to consider and remember:

1. Differentiation Matters 

Here is a big SEO secret- Google likes to show a variety of information types at the top of their search results in order to give people more variety to help answer their questions. This means that just because an article titled “How to Get 1000 Facebook Followers in One Hour” ranks at the top of the search results for a particular keyword, doesn’t mean your copy-cat article will too.

To compete with posts such as these, consider offering similar information but in a different format in order to help your post also climb to the top of Google’s search results. For instance, using the example above you may craft a post titled- “5 Ways to Get 1000 Followers Quickly on Facebook” or something similar.

2. Plurals Matters (Believe it or Not)

It may sound picky, but when it comes to keywords plurals do matter. For example, the phrase “dog collar” may get 1,000 visitors per day but “dog collars” may get around 40,000 hits per day.

While Google’s algorithm may account for some margin of error, it is important to test using plural and singular keywords to see if it makes a difference to your search results.

3. Word Variations Also Matter

Which keyword is more popular- movie ticket or cinema ticket? If you are running a marketing campaign selling either then it would be imperative to  know. Using word variations can have a huge influence on the success of your keywords, as can different spellings of the same word, such as ‘color’ or ‘colour’.

Try testing out a few variations and spellings to see if they offer better results.

4. Ask Questions

One of the latest updates to Google’s search algorithm wasn’t on how sites are indexed, instead it was on how Google itself tries to answer questions. This means you need to consider how people are going to pose a question to Google about what it is that they are looking for.

Searching using a question is more common on mobile devices too, so it may be worthwhile thinking about using a question as a keyword, such as “Are plastic drink bottles safe?” as compared to “safe plastic drink bottles”.

5. Newer Articles 

Newer articles will always rank higher in Google’s search results so if you do have some stale articles, consider repurposing them to see if they can boost traffic.

A regularly updated website is also a huge factor when it comes to SEO, so consider this if some of your keywords are not performing as well as they used to.

6. Consider your Promotions

A particular keyword may rank better on a Facebook campaign as compared to a StumbleUpon campaign. While there is no way to really tell what is going to perform the best, it is important to use your intuitive understanding of your demographic to see what is going to have a better shot.

Start by thinking about your promotion, your landing page and what type of audience you are marketing to, then go from there when it comes to choosing the perfect keyword.

7. Experiment With Actionable Keywords

An actionable keyword is one that motivates users to take a desirable outcome. Remember earlier we spoke about deciding what outcome your were looking for before you went about finding a keyword? This is why it is important.

Say you have an article that is using the keyword “Healthy Fats” that is getting around 1000 unique hits per day. From this type of traffic you would assume that at least 1-3% percent of readers would convert and purchase a jar of healthy fat, such as coconut oil for example- right? Not necessarily.

Consider this however, if you change your keyword to “buy coconut oil” or even “buy healthy fats” you may find that your conversion rates are a lot higher as your keyword is more suitable to your desired outcome.

8. Time Pays

After digesting all of this information about keywords and the perfect ones to use, it seems that it could be a never ending journey to find the keyword that is going to help rocket your webpage into search engine heaven, but it need not be that way.

The perfect keyword is something to strive for but it is nothing to sweat over either. Depending on what type of ROI you are trying to achieve about 30 minutes of keyword research per article should be ample. In fact, once you have your go-t0 tools you should be able to have this down to around 10-20 minutes.

Even though this seems like a big time commitment considering all the other things you have to do, that extra 20 or 30 minutes spent on finding a keyword could help boost your traffic from 1000 per day to around 2000 per day. Overtime that adds up and will help you to boost conversion rates for any products or services that you may be selling as well.

When you have an understanding of keywords you put your website and your company in a strong position for making sales, generating leads and delivering a solid ROI.

Why not spend a few minutes of your day tweaking your keywords with a few of our tried and true tricks to see how it can benefit you.