One of the most important things about keyword research is making sure that you are targeting the keywords that your potential customers are actually searching for.
Pretend just for a second that your business designs websites.
So, you may think the best keyword for you to target is website design business.
But does that accurately reflect what your potential clients are searching for?
There are TONS of ways to describe what you do:
- WEBSITE DESIGN
- FREELANCE WEBSITE DESIGNER
- WEBSITE DESIGN AGENCY
- WEBSITE DEVELOPER
- WEB DEVELOPMENT
- WORDPRESS WEBSITE DESIGNER
and so on, and so on (and one more just for good luck 😉) …………….
While they all essentially mean the same thing – they are TOTALLY different search terms to Google, and your potential clients.
A person searching for web development (for example) will have vastly different requirements to someone searching for freelance website design.
Before trying to improve your SEO make sure you’ve fully brainstormed EVERY possible way someone can describe what your business offers.
A good starting point is type what you think people search for into Google and scroll to the bottom.
You will see a ‘Related searches’ section that will give you lots more ideas.
If you want to get a little more in depth there’s a great FREE tool for this hidden inside Google AdWords, and it’s called Google Keyword Planner.
You will have to set up a Google AdWords account and put your credit card details in – but don’t worry, unless you start running ads you won’t be charged a penny!
Then go to Tools and Settings and under the Planning section you’ll see Keyword Planner.
If you click on Discover new keywords you’ll see a screen where you can enter a search term, and once you hit enter you will have a list of tons of similar or related search terms with the average number of searchces done on Google per month.
Something a little like this:
This is a great way to find out what people are searching for around your product or service, and how many times per month they are searching.
If you want another top Keyword Research Tip – you can also add a URL into the tool instead of a keyword. This will show you all the keywords Google thinks a particular website is trying to target.
And yes, you can use it on your competitors sites 😉
Would you like to talk about your Keyword Strategy and how to do keyword research better?
Just book in for a completely free (and NO hard sell!) SEO Discovery Call.