Choosing your site’s keywords can be confusing. Best practices include finding keywords that are relevant to your products, services, and company’s industry. But, how do you know which keywords to include on your site? We’ll answer that question in this post.
WHAT IS YOUR AUDIENCE REALLY SEARCHING TO FIND?
The key to finding keywords that qualify your audience is to know what they are searching for in the search engines. The keywords you choose need to be relevant to your products and services, but also match what your customers want.
BUYER STAGE KEYWORDS
In short, you want to provide a solution to what your customers are seeking. First, start with their problem. What are some ways they describe the problem they’re experiencing?
If you’re a manufacturer, then perhaps your customer base has the problem of finding quality plastic product manufacturers that have a fast turnaround time. If that is the case, then a seed keyword you can use is “plastic product manufacturers” and perhaps “quality plastic manufacturers.”
These keywords are known as buyer keywords that your customer base is using to find a manufacturer of products. Customers who are in the buying stage know what they are looking for in a manufacturer. Now they just need to find the right one for their product.
INFORMATIVE STAGE KEYWORDS
Another set of keywords we include with clients a set of keywords that catch the attention of searchers that want information. These searchers typically are in the research phase and need answers to their questions.
Mostly, we use these keywords on blog posts to provide informative articles and buyer keywords on landing pages and in web content on product pages. The informative keywords help searchers see how a product or service meets their needs.
If the visitor is looking for information on how to lose weight, for example, the keywords will be centered around “how to lose weight,” or “which exercise equipment is best.” Articles are not limited to these two phrases, but include information on anything related to how the product or service can resolve their problem or is complimentary to their problem to ensure success of their goals.
However, it is best to research informative keywords in order to catch searchers at the various buying stages.
QUALIFYING VISITORS WITH KEYWORD PHRASES
Buyer keywords very quickly can qualify search traffic. Those who are in the buying stage that find your site will more likely contact your company for more information and buy your product or service.
Those visitors who are in the informative stage can also be qualified with keywords based on whether the content effectively convinces the visitor it will solve their problem. The content then becomes a piece of copy that can earn your company money.
We have found that answering common questions in the industry has been the key to qualifying visitors who are looking for more information.
WHERE TO PERFORM KEYWORD RESEARCH
- A tool we typically use for keyword research is Google’s Keyword Tool. However, now you have to have an active ad in Adwords to access the Keyword Tool.
- SEM Rush also offers a free trial where you can review their software and find keywords. Their software also shows the keywords to competitors when you enter in their website addresses.
- Another tool you can use to get suggested keywords to add to your keyword list is to use Uber Suggest. It’s free and can quickly help you find keyword suggestions often not available in the Google Keyword Planner.
- WordStream also has a free keyword tool you can use.
