6 Steps to Keywords That Can Grow Your Business - 12 Post SEO Guide | Small business news; tips; networking

Posted by alastair under Online Marketing
From http://www.sitestreamseo.com 5140 days ago
Made Hot by: cm_hoch on October 22, 2010 5:17 am

Finding and effectively targeting the right keywords can change the shape of your business on the web. These 6 steps should help you with finding the right keywords for your SEO. This is the 3rd in our 12 Post SEO Guide.

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Written by ShawnHessinger
5138 days ago

Hi Alastair,

Guess I overlooked this somehow at first glance on front earlier today, but I think there are some really important things to think about here as far as SEO goes. Particularly about making sure the keywords you're using are accurate in describing your content and not just words thrown in to improve how your site comes up in search. I'm also wondering about making the decision on whether to go for search terms with a high global search number (and thus presumably more competition in ranking) and those with lower search numbers where it would probably be easier to rank highly. What are your thoughts on this issue?

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Written by alastair
5133 days ago

Thanks for the comments guys and I'm glad you find the discussion valuable.

Small Business Tribe, That's a really good question. Without meaning to get overly self promotional, we're on part 3 of a 12 part guide so I'll address this issue in more detail in coming posts.

Basically, there is a best place to put to put broader keywords verses long-tail.

The classic category structure where a site breaks down from it's main theme on the homepage to it's main sections in the nav and then sub-sections and detail pages below that is pretty much ideal. This is a tree like structure with your higher traffic (and broader theme) keywords at the top (Homepage and main sections) flowing down to more specific long-tail content at the bottom. Just in case, I'm not suggesting having needless layers of navigation and forcing visitors to make many clicks to find info. The structure needs to fit the content. It is different for every site.

It's not always that simple but a structure like this targets high traffic terms closer to the homepage. Your homepage usually has the most link weight so the best chance to rank well. The structure then helps links flow in a way that provides more links to the pages that face more competition. It also reinforces themes which I really don't have space to go into here.

There are complicating factors and sometimes you are looking at: "What content can I build to get links (from external sites) relevant to this term?" That may trump your structure or may need to be worked into it.

Also, your blog can be another strong link entry point. Both the blog homepage and some posts that end up making a big splash. You need to look at what you do with that link equity to help rank your important pages.

Also, blogs are a great place to pick up long-tail traffic.

Sorry about the length of this but one more note: Often smaller sites will have flatter structures where nearly every page links to nearly every other page. This is often no harm in smaller sites and in the early days of sites. It can help indexing and allows visitors easy access to content. The structure issues become more and more important as a site has more and more content and more and more inbound links.

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Written by HomeBusinessMedia
5133 days ago

This post deserves everyone's vote! Great look at SEO with lively comments. Like to see a lot more like this around here.

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Written by Small Business Tribe
5133 days ago

Really interesting keyword discussion, guys. I'm just wondering, from an SEO perspective, what tips need to be followed in terms of the architecture of a site. Is there a best place to put broader keywords on the site verses "long tail?" How do you go about developing your strategy?

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Written by alastair
5135 days ago

Hi Shawn

Sorry I didn't reply sooner. Bank holiday weekend here, so I wasn't online.

Yeah. Relevance and intent are 2 super important factors when analyzing keywords. They are every bit as important as raw volume.

What keywords to target and how is also a very important question but probably a little too complex to go into in a comment. I covered some of the issues in a previous post which is up here on Bizsugar:

http://www.bizsugar.com/OnlineMarketing/your-online-marketing-strategy-%E2%80%93-naive-or-mature-/

The short answer though is both. You should be targeting the highest traffic terms that are relevant and profitable for your site regardless of competition. You should also be working on the "long tail", those longer queries with less volume and less competition. More competitive terms often have to be seen as a more long term project with traffic coming in the early stages from the lower volume terms you mention.

The thing to keep in mind is that those lower volume terms are often more specific. They can be buying terms and pound for pound they can be more valuable than broader, high traffic terms.

You will target high volume terms and low volume terms often with different kinds of content and in different locations on your site. Think intent and build content for what your visitors are looking for. So, don't add keywords to content. Build content around keywords (i.e. deliver what people are looking for).

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