In order to rank on Google your website needs to be optimized for the right keywords. Look I could talk for hours about the intricacies of SEO, and keyword research but, to boil it down here are three simple steps you can follow to find good keywords for your website.
Hi I'm Tom Malesic, founder and president of EZMarketing and you're watching AskEZ. This is where small business owners go to get real answers to their marketing questions.
1. Ask yourself: What are your customers searching for?
When they're looking for your products and services what words do they use, what questions do they ask, and what kind of things are they typing into Google? Your goal is to make a list of topics and some general keywords that you want to target.
So, for example, the keywords our customers might be searching for are "marketing company" or "website design" or even "SEO services".
Step 2: Pick ONE main keyword per page
Remember that search engines don't rank websites, they rank web pages so each page of your site should be optimized for the specific keyword that you want that page to rank for.
Make a list of the main pages on your website these are probably your home page and your main products or services pages. Then match up each page to just one of the keywords on your topic list.
For example, we want our home page to rank for a general topic like "marketing company" but we want our SEO page to rank for something like "SEO services".
You might say, "But Tom I want my pages to rank for a bunch of keywords." I get it, but the best way to do that isn't trying to stuff a ton of different keywords on the page. You're just going to confuse Google
You're better off focusing on one main keyword and then including related keywords within the copy.
3.Research and refine your final list of keywords
OK, so now that you have a general keyword for each page on your website it's time for Step 3: Research and refine your final list of keywords.
This is where a keyword research tool comes in. You can use free tools like Google Keyword Planner or paid tools like SEMrush.
Research one topic at a time. Enter your general keywords into the tool; it'll give you a list of related keyword ideas, search volumes, and competition for each keyword.
The best keywords are going to be:
- Relevant for both you and your customers
- They're going to have a high search volume, which means lots of people are looking for it.
- And they're going to have low competition which makes it easier to rank for.
- And finally, they're going to have a cost per click which indicates that it's a valued keyword.
For example, when we researched the term "marketing company" we discovered that the keyword "marketing agency" had similar competition and a cost per click. But it had more than double the search volume, making it a better keyword for us.
Need SEO Help?
Again, this is just scratching the surface but if you want to find keywords for SEO:
- Think about what your customers are searching for.
- Focus on one keyword per page and
- Use the keyword research tool to refine the details.
If you're having trouble with SEO or keyword research give us a call our SEO team does this day in, and day out, and we'd be happy to help you rank better on Google.
