Keyword Research: Understanding your Audience

OK, so in my last post we talked about SEO in context…but now you’re probably wondering, where do I start?

Let’s frame the situation as such…there are most likely thousands of people looking what you have to offer, and all you have to do is position yourself in front of them. This is exactly what keyword research and analysis are for…so we can understand exactly how people search for your topic. Anytime I begin a new project, be it consulting or one of my own…I always start by conducting keyword research.

When I started to do the keyword research for the cancer social network, Know Cancer…I began by using the google tool and putting the phrases cancer community, cancer directory and cancer blog to see what results I would get. The only problem with this is that you usually won’t get phrases like oncologist or chemotherapy because they don’t have the word cancer in it…so it helps to diversify.

For example, if I was doing keyword research about flipping homes in my home state, I might put in, flipping homes in Florida, Central Florida real estate, or how to flip homes.

I think by now you get the point, mix it up a little 

How do you get these keywords?

You can and should use the major Keyword Research Tools like:

• Wordtracker

• Keyword Discovery

• Wordze

…as well as the Google Adwords Keyword Suggestion tool. However, be cautious of trying to make projections based on the numbers Google gives you, they’re not always accurate!

The last variable is not a toolbar plugin or a subscription based service. It’s you…and all of that immensely valuable knowledge you bring to the table!

My opinion is that when you do your keyword research, start by making a list of the terms you think people would search for. You can also take a look at what your competitors do and see what words and phrases they emphasize. Then, take that list and run them thorough the various tools. Once you have your master lists, group them by topic and viola…you have something to work with!

When I look at a location like College Park, Florida, I think about what people might want to do there. Most likely they want to check out the restaurants in College Park, or maybe look for good schools. I’m sure those thinking of moving would be searching for real estate in College Park. Note that people also search by zip code, so be sure to add a little 32804 in there!

Now What?

If we go back to what we talked about last time when we discussed helping Google to understand what your site is about. On every page, there are a couple major spots that you want to make sure to include these keywords in. These are:

• Site Copy

• Header Tags

• Image alt Text

• URL

• Meta Title

• Meta Description

• Meta Keywords

Despite all the talk about keywords, do not sacrifice readability for the sake of getting a keyword in. The search engines like things to look and feel natural, and so do your readers. Look at it as building a website for users while keeping keywords in mind.

That should wrap up Keyword Research for now, next post I will discuss Site Architecture!

Thanks!