| |
| |
|
SEO Articles |
|
|
|
Finding Profitable Keyword Phrases
So you have a site concept developed that you are ready to start writing great content for. So what's the next step? It's time to develop your " master keyword list " which you will use to craft your WebPages. These are the words or phrases you would like to get ranked high in the search engine's for and get the free targeted traffic that this will bring to your website. It is not enough to simply "pluck" words from the air and start writing your web pages. You need to carefully select which words and phrases to target. Food for thought: -------------------------------------------------------- What if there are already 10 billion web pages about your chosen keyword(s)? -------------------------------------------------------- Do you think a small business owner can compete with large companies who invest millions of dollars into their SEO strategies for highly competitive, high traffic keywords? Obviously the answer is no but there is a bright side to the equation if you are willing to invest time into researching your keyword phrases carefully. You will want to choose "niche" keywords that offer a combination of high traffic and low competition. This of course is easier said than done but it can be accomplished as long as you use some of the help that is available on the internet. Here are a couple of first steps, tips and tools you can use to put together a list of niche keywords for the website topic that you have developed. 1. Keyword Brainstorming and Research Think of throwing out a "wide net" here and try to write down as many keywords and phrases (consisting of 2-4 words) that are related to your Website Concept as you can. Take each one of these words/phrases and visit: http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/ Type the first keyword phrase into the " Get suggestions for :" box and hit the search button. This will return you a list of words and phrases that are similiar to your keyword phrase and also provide you with the number of searches for each of these results on the Yahoo-Overture network for the month. Copy all of the keyword phrases that you think best suit your site concept along with the search data into a text file or spreadsheet. Save this file as your " master keyword list ". Note: Some of the results will be totally unrelated to your site concept you do not need to copy these into your "master keyword list". Repeat this process for all of the keyword phrases that you initially brainstormed. By the end of this process you should have a "master keyword list" of several hundred or thousand words and phrases. Google provides a free keyword research tool as well but does not provide the search statistics that Yahoo-Overture does. Augment your keyword list with any results that you find relevant using this tool. http://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordSandbox 2. Refine Your Keyword List Part 1 You need to shorten your keyword list to a tightly targeted and highly profitable subset of your master keyword list. These are going to be the words you use when crafting your web pages for the search engines. Start by performing searches for each keyword phrase in your master keyword list at: http://www.google.com Google will tell you the total number of sites it has indexed for the keyword phrase that you are searching for. Copy this number into your master keyword list for each keyword phrase. You will now have the data for the number of searches on the Yahoo-Overture network for the month and the number of competing websites for each keyword phrase in your list. Think of these numbers as supply(websites) and demand(# of searches) . Finding the supply/demand number for each keyword phrase will help you decide which one's you want to target. You will have to use your own judgement here depending on your goals and the amount of traffic you would like to generate. Make sure you have a nice mix high traffic and niche keyword phrases in your master keyword list. It's not that useful to be ranked #1 for a keyword that only gets 5 searches a month. Similiarly, it is very hard to achieve high rankings for high traffic keyphrases because there is going to be a lot of competition. Trim your keyword phrase list down to 50-100 entries and get ready for step 3. 3. Analyze the Competitor's Backlinks There are 3 purposes to this analysis: analyzing whether a chosen keyword space is too competitive, identifying potential link partners (to be used in a later lesson), and to trim your "master keyword list" down to 15-20 keywords that have a reasonable level of competition. To get started take the first term in your master keyword list and perform a search for it at: http://www.google.com -------------------------------------------------------- Note: we are only going to be interested in the "top 10" results for each keyword phrase since our goal is to get listed on the first page of results for our target keywords. -------------------------------------------------------- Our goal from this analysis is to find out how "established" your competition is in your chosen keyword marketplace. An analysis of the number of sites that link to your competitor should give you an initial indicator of how important their website is to the world. If a lot of websites are linking to your competitor they must be providing valuable content or a useful tool/service. To find out who is linking to your competitor visit: http://www.uptimebot.com and enter the first domain from the Google Search results into uptimebot's search bar. Uptimebot will then query all of the major search engine's and return a report showing the number of links the domain has pointing to it. A site with a lot of backlinks to it must be an information hub and therefore very important. Perform this uptimebot search for all of the "top 10" competitors from your initial Google search results. If you are finding that the sites in the search results have several 1000 backlinks to them you will know right away that you are going to have a hard time getting a high ranking for that keyword since a large number of links suggests that the site is already a well established information hub in that keyword marketplace. Uptimebot also provides you with a link to the search results showing you the actual websites that are linking back to your competitor. Visit as many of these sites as you can and try to identify which ones have complimentary content to your site. You may want to consider contacting the owner's of those domains to request a link to your site. 4. Refine Your Keyword List Part 2 After performing this analysis for each keyword phrase in your master keyword list eliminate the keywords that you identify as having too much competition (i.e. too many well established "hubs"). We will use this list in the next lesson to start writing your first web page Using these tips you should now be able to tell which market's you will be able to compete in and which one's already have too many established information hubs to make it worth your while. You will also have a list of "complimentary" websites that you may want to consider requesting links from in the future to help boost your website's "link popularity". About the Author: Michael Lawrence is the webmaster for Cobrasurf.com - Free Website Promotion and Free Website Traffic. You can view his blog filled with articles related to website promotion, SEO and internet marketing at: Cobrasurf.blogspot.com
MORE RESOURCES:
SEO - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Keywords, Choose Them Wisely By now you have likely heard that keywords and keyword phrases, are extremely important in having search engines display your website. So how do you choose them? Guess? Ask a friend? Check successful competitors sites? There is a better way!First let's digress. Which SEO Company/Firm to Choose for SEO Services? In the last 2-3 years many new companies have mushroomed, providing cost effective seo services to their customers. In this whole galaxy of seo companies some are authentic, while others are not. The Secret Benefit Of Search Engine Optimisation: Increased Usability A higher search ranking is what many website owners dream of. What they don't realise is that by optimising their site for the search engines, if done correctly, they can also optimise it for their site visitors. Linking for Traffic not Positioning! With more and more experts and search engine enthusiastsclaiming the right way and the wrong way to handle linkswapping, link exchanging or reciprocal linking! You can tell something is important when there is more thanone name for it! GRIN! There are also two schools of thought on the reasons linkswapping. The first reason for link swapping has always been to carryfavour with Search engine rankings. Creating Search Engine Friendly Web Sites With tons of competition and copycats online, you need a trustworthy search engine expert to help you tackle the competition and outdo your competitors in internet sales. There are many ways to go about killing the competition online and as long as it is honest work by your search engine guy, your web site will reap profits from it. Google vs. Yahoo -- How To Rank High On Each One Google likes incoming links, especially links from high-ranking, on-topic pages that include keywords in the link text. Google doesn't like over-optimized, high keyword densities and over use of keywords in headings, etc. Tips On Optomizing Your Website For Search Engines I wish to give a few little tips, about optimizing. You may find it quite useful, depending on the type of website you have. Search Engine Traffic Myths, Time Wasters, and Pitfalls Everyone wants to increase their rankings with the search engines and because of this there is a ton of information available on how to go about it. Unfortunately, while some of this information is real, there is just as much or more information that is outdated, wrong, and a complete waste of time, money and energy on your part. Beating the New Google AdWord Rules with Blogs and RSS When Google Adwords first came on scene, it was not immediately apparent to most people how to utilize the system to create wealth, until John Carpenter popularised it with his Google Cash system, a book he wrote some time back.Since then, Google Adwords has become one of the main traffic generation tools for most affiliates. Easy Web Tips How can you be found on the web?The web is a necessity as we have mentioned before. It has become one of the things that you will be asked about in almost every meeting you have with clients. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Strategy - Navigating the Dark Waters of Website Promotion Creating a well-designed website is the first step in your internet marketing strategy that must be backed up with techniques designed to drive traffic to the website for successful, long-term results. You wouldn't consider opening a retail store in a major shopping mall without signage and you shouldn't consider having a nice looking website designed without expanding your web presence in order to be found on the internet. Keywords, Ranking, & Search Engine Optimization Fun I am a Search Engine Optimization newbie. I have read a little on various forums, browsed a few articles, and read through The Affiliate Masters Course (Ken Evoy) a couple of times. Use Keyword Articles for Search Engine Optimization Search engine optimization is very important for your online business if you are interested in staying in business. The reason for this is most of the time the large search engines direct traffic to your website, however your website must include what the search engine is looking for in order for your web page to be returned as a result. Blogging, Spamming, and Blog Spam Email marketing once proved to be immensely effective, but the greedy and idiotic polluted the well by spamming the planet with everything from weight-loss products to sexual enhancement drugs and beyond. Because of the stench, filters and laws have been created to attempt to fix the problem, but still the Internet is polluted with more and more junk each day. Duplicate the Exact Steps Used to Get a Number 1 Yahoo Ranking in Less than 30 Days If you have ever been into a McDonalds you will understood the value of the Cookie Cutter Model. Every McDonalds you go in are the Same. PageRank for Websites: Is There More to the Web? Google's PageRank has been around for years, and in the opinions of a lot of e-business owners, it can make or break a site. Lately, with Google's fingers in every pie, it seems important to remind everyone that there is more to a website than just PageRank. The Search Doesnt End at Your Homepage In a recent report for a new client, I wrote: "Remember, a visitor's search doesn't end when they leave Google. Their search and the phrases associated with it continue right through to the completion of the task they have in mind. Google Gunning For Directories? Why is it that webmasters are so quick to blame Google if their website falls down the search rankings, or out of the rankings altogether? Can it never be their own fault?I read an amusing forum post headed "What's up with Google?". The writer had a website just 2 months old, which had only had 2 visits from Googlebot, a Google robot. Top Search Engine Ranks- The Only Secret You Need- Explained: Part 1 The top three search pages- the only place you'll be noticed they say. Unfortunately, they are correct. Keywords: The First Step To Recognition Open Wordtracker [ http://www.wordtracker.
|
| Home | Sitemap | Forums | Contact Us | Advertise |
| © 2006 SEO Articles. A Real Web Talk Presentation. Network Sites : Index Rated Directory | SEO Care Directory | Humour Inc. | Free Mobile Ringtones | A1hosts | SEO Blog the four required words |
