Keywords – The Foundation of all Things SEO

Posted on 15. Jan, 2009 by Pete Hollier in Keyword Research, Pay Per Click

Part 2 of Pay Per Click – The First Steps to Getting it Right

Read Part 1 of Pay Per Click – The First Steps to Getting it Right

Without doubt Keywords are the foundation of both Organic Search Engine Optimization and Pay Per Click Campaigns. The importance of relevant keywords and keyword phrases is paramount to the success of your Pay Per Click and Organic Optimization programs.
And in the case of PPC you have to pay for the keywords, there is no room for error.

Relevant keywords and keyword phrases attract your customers to your web site and encourage visitors to convert to your identified PPC goals. Constant revision and testing of your keywords to determine effectiveness is required. What works this week may not perform in a months time. The Internet is the most fluid environment next to the Oceans. If you don’t monitor your keyword performance, the best place to see your customers will be on your competitor’s web site. I cannot emphasize this point enough, it is critical. And this point does not even begin to address the need to monitor the PPC providers (Pay Per Click – Be Warned)

Don’t approach Keywords as a short term task build your list over time let the list evolve. And remember don’t be afraid to ask for Keyword Professional Research or consider contracting a Pay Per Click Consultant

Sources of Keyword Research

When researching keywords it is advisable to use as many sources of potential keywords as possible, creativity in selecting sources will assist you in finding that excellent keyword phrase with high search volumes and little competition, and they still do exist!

Personal and Staff Business knowledge

You and your employees knowledge of your business niche is extensive, consider keywords and phrases you feel describe your products or services. Keep in mind the general public and your customers may not be familiar with technical or trade specific terms you see as highly relevant. Don’t Forget to Brainstorm within the company

Customer Friends and Family

Your customers and those close to you are excellent sources for keywords used by those not directly involved in your business and industry. Friends and family are likely to provide terms used by the general public as apposed to trade terms you may consider relevant. Don’t Forget to Brainstorm with friends and family

Keyword Tools

The use of keyword tool is a must, these tools are an excellent source of additional keywords.

How keyword tools work

You type in a selected word or phrase either from your keyword list and the keyword tool will provide a list of similar words and phrases. A keyword tool is essentially a Thesaurus but has the advantage of also working with phrases (long tail keywords).

Don’t forget the misspelled words. This is not as effective as it has been in the past, often Search Engines will ask searchers if they mean the word which is misspelled, however misspelled words are still worth considering.

Search Volume Forecasting and Bid Projection

To determine how many clicks your PPC budget will provide, you will need to determine how often a particular pay per click keyword is searched for per month and what the cost of bidding on these pay per click keywords is likely to be.

Obtaining this data is relatively easy, much of it provided by Keyword research tools. My preferred free tool is the tool provided by Google Adwords. It provides and indication of monthly volumes and estimated Cost Per Click (CPC) and you can almost guarantee the CPC at Adwords will be more expensive than any other PPC provider.

Keyword / Phrase Competitiveness

Adwords Keyword tool does provide an indication of competitiveness but I have found it can be quite misleading when I have investigated further into the competitiveness of a keyword or keyword phrase.

My preferred method to determine keyword competitiveness is the following

Google your “keyword phrase” in quotes, the results will show 1,350,000 instances of that exact phrase on web sites in Google’s index. Those are the web sites you are competing against for that keyword phrase. How serious those web site’s are in optimizing for that phrase takes a little more work to determine. And sorry I will not be disclosing the next steps I take for my clients in determining competitive analysis, that falls under the category of a competitive advantage for my clients and Seo Wizardry.If you want to learn more about SEO Wizardry’s Keyword Professional Research please contact pete@seowizardry.ca

However, there is a KEI

The Keyword Effectiveness Index (KEI) compares the number of searches for a keyword with the number of search results to pinpoint which keywords are most effective for your campaign.
Search Volumes for “keyword phrase” 2,400 per month and Google displays 1,350,000 instances of that exact phrase. The formula to determine how competitive your selected keyword is 2,400  divided by 1,350,000 Resulting in a  KEI 0.002.
The higher the KEI, the more popular the keyword and the less competition they have. meaning you have better chance of obtaining reasonable search volumes for a lower Cost Per Click.
I use a variation of this formulae for my clients but this is an excellent starting point.

Bidding for Location and Cost Per Click Management

This is a real balancing act. Essentialy, the higher the ad placement the more clicks and the more cost.

There are a couple pay per click strategies available to you.

Lower your bid to have your keywords placed in a lower position, I personally believe positions 3 or 4 provide good results for lower costs. Lowering your bid to much is likely to reduce traffic considerably. Position 10 is likely to produce 1/10th the traffic of the 1st position.

Utilizing long tail keyword research is my favorite option and is likely to provide PPC keyword phrases which offer highly targeted traffic, high ad placement and economical Cost Per Click

Business Management of Traffic

On a closing note one issue which is so often overlooked. Ask yourself this. Can your business manage the additional work a successful campaign can generate?

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