Keyword Research
Keyword research is at the heart of anything related to search engine marketing. Search engines index websites based on their relevancy for specific search terms so the foundation of any search engine optimisation campaign is to review the search terms that a website is targeting based on their monthly search volumes. This process is called keyword research.
There are a number of different online resources that can be utilised in order to obtain relevant keyword volumes however a good starting point is the Google AdWords: Keyword Tool. This is a free online resource provided by Google which shows the approximate monthly global and local search volumes of any search term:
Before getting started you need to establish what keywords best represent your site. If you have an E-commerce site which deals primarily in the sale of digital cameras then simply type that keyword into the box, enter the spam filter information and click search. Providing you have no filters selected the keyword research tool will provide a range of alternative related search terms:
You can customise the columns to ensure that you are presented with the most relevant information for your objective. The cost per click [CPC] of each keyword can be imported which is useful for paid search campaigns, or you can display information on search trends and details of when the highest volume occurred.
You can sort the results by simply clicking on the heading of whatever column you wish to descend from. The above example has sorted the results in descending order from the column Global Monthly Search Volume. The same can be done for the Local Search volume by clicking on the blue text at the top of the column which will rearrange the results descending from that column.
Keyword Selection
Once the alternative search terms are sorted into a preferential order you can begin refining your search by using the selected keywords section to the right of the screen. Simply trawl the suggested results for potential search terms and click the add icon in the far right column. This will immediately add that search term to the selected keywords section:
After you have added your keywords and populated the selected keywords section then click the Get More Related Keywords button. This will integrate all the selected keywords into the new range of results. This process can be repeated until you are happy you have the search terms you need along with the respective volumes.
You can also perform broad and exact keyword research. Broad keywords [default setting] will register the occurrence of each search term, so the broad results for ‘digital cameras’ will incorporate all searches for ‘digital’ and ‘cameras’ where as the exact search will only register the search term [digital cameras]. A useful tip is to consider both sets of results while you are performing keyword selection.
Exporting Keywords
Once you have finalised your keyword selection you can export the information into a number of different formats. One of the more popular formats is as a csv file for Excel. There are a number of different ways to do this however the most simple of to select ‘.csv [for Excel]‘ hyperlink below the selected keywords section.
It is important to remember to save the file as an Excel workbook, as if you save automatically then the default setting will save it to text. The results can then be analysed and meta data selected which can then be used as the basis for the document structure and content. If this process is repeated, it ensures that you have high performing keywords running through your web pages, increasing the relevancy of your website in the eyes of search engines.
When performing keyword research it is important to remember that the highest volumes might not always be the answer. The keyword ‘camera’ might have the most global monthly volume, however will not offer the name conversion rate as something more specific, such as ‘digital camera’. Always ask yourself what people will type into a search engine to find a product or service, as although it is a matter of data, a creative approach to keyword research can be the defining factor in an SEO campaign.
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