Keyword research is one of the first phases of a search engine optimisation and can really make the difference between a successful and unsuccessful campaign. By spending time at the beginning of the campaign- choosing achievable and effective keywords, you can save yourself a lot of time during the course of the campaign.
First and foremost keywords are important, as when we talk about ‘ranking high on Google’ or ‘appearing on the first page of Google’ we are referring to appearing for certain search terms, and we choose ones which are relevant to the business and it’s products & services.
It is always wise to keep budget in mind when selecting keywords for your campaign. For example if you only have a budget of a couple of hundred pounds a month then going after very generic & competitive terms such as ‘insurance’ or ‘solicitors’ is a poor use of time & budget as it is unlikely you will achieve first page results, and even in the unlikely event that you do it will take a very long time.
Another key are when choosing keywords is whether they actually send traffic. There are a number of tools online which will tell you the recent search volumes for search terms, and so use these to compare terms- the results are often surprising.
So, to summarise, choose keywords which are relevant, achievable within the given budget and have historically received good traffic volumes.
Once you’ve decided on the keywords you want to focus on, what do you do with them?
Well, a big part of SEO is related to keyword density- the frequency with which your chosen search term appears on a page. This can be more art than science as there is no exact density that works every time, but the main thing to bear in mind is that your copy MUST be user friendly- so stuffing it choc-full of your keyword will send people running back to the search results- and is likely to get you penalised by the search engines.
So there’s a brief over view on what we mean by ‘keywords’, why there important and how they should be used in an SEO campaign.
