Keyword Research Part 1 - Generate an Initial List of Keywords

The first step in optimising your site for search engines is deciding on your keywords and phrases. These are the words and phrases potential clients are going to type into a search engine to find your site. How do you find out what these keywords and phrases are?

There are several methods, including online keyword research tools which are based on actual searches. However, there are other factors to take account of such as how many sites are competing for the keyword and the relevance of the search.

For example, a keyword relevant to my site might be ‘magic’ and there are hundreds of searches for ‘magic’ everyday. But this is not a good keyword to target because of the number of results that come up ([476 million pages in google-> http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&rls=GAPB%2CGAPB%3A2005-09%2CGAPB%3Aen&q=magic&btnG=Search]) which my site would be competing with. Also, people searching for ‘magic’ are searching for other things irrelevant to my site - magic tricks, magic the gathering etc. - they are not just people looking to hire a magician, which are the people I want.

So, the idea of keyword research is to generate a list of keywords and then prioritise them depending on how many other sites are competing for them and their relevance to your site. The easiest way of doing this is to compile the list in a spreadsheet so you can manipulate them later.

  1. First of all, what would you type in? You know what your site is about and the service/ product you offer - try searching for it in Google. See what sites are returned - are they competitors? If they are, you are on the right track. See what other words and phrases show up in the search results, they may be things you haven’t thought of.
  2. Check your competitors websites. Note the prominant words and phrases, those used in the titles of the pages (in the blue bar at the top of your browser) and the titles on the pages. You can also use specialist software or online tools such as [Webconfs keyword density checker->http://www.webconfs.com/keyword-density-checker.php] to analyse competitor websites.
  3. Look at the yellow pages - how is your business or service categorised? What words and phrases are used in the adverts?
  4. Ask your friends and business associates. How would they search for your service? You should always ask your clients how they found out about you and if it was via a web search, what phrase they typed in.

You should now have quite a long list of possible keywords and phrases.