Keyword Research and Optimisation
Keyword research and optimisation you say. I’ve just got my website optimised. Now, what’s this about keyword optimisation?
Don’t worry, I’m not about to introduce you to a new rocket science. But, it is arguably one of the most important elements of search engine marketing.
At its simplest level, keyword research is about studying the phrases that work for your search engine audience. A search engine user wants to find a service or product like yours, so what terms are they most likely to use? If you have reporting tools, you can put them to good use here:
• Which of your keywords are being used by search engine users?
• Which keywords are bringing visitors to your site?
• Which of the keywords are you converting into ‘valuable’ visits?
• Where are visitors going when they get to your site? Are they going further than their landing page or clicking away?
To be effective, your search engine marketing activity should always be going through an evaluation process. Paying evaluation its due respect means you can weed out bad performers and boost your prime performers. It means you don’t waste money and effort, but it’s also about getting the best returns from the rest. That’s the optimisation bit: getting the best performance from your marketing effort.
Where are your customers in the buying process?
Keyword research and optimisation was always a step on from the IT-based search engine marketing of the past. Rather than focus on search engine algorithms (a relationship with technology really), we started to be interested in people. But there’s more. Things are moving on further.
By taking a closer look at the keywords being used in search engines, we can start to form a picture of where each person is in the buying process. Are they still researching products? Are they costing up a job? Are they already looking for a place to buy?
In fact, the better you understand your audience’s searching behaviour, the better you can deliver timely and relevant information that’ll capture their interest. The idea is to link them directly to a page that best suits their query. And, by doing so, it’s much more likely that the visitor will move onto the next decision in their buying process. This might be to contact someone, or buy even. More importantly, if you give them what they want as soon as that’s possible, they’re more likely to stick with you.
Rather than get a visitor to your site, you might just have a customer on your hands. And, in my opinion, that’s the real goal of search engine marketing.
