Of all the elements that make up SEO services, be it on-page or off-page optimization, keywords are at the center of it all and make the difference between success and failure. They may only be a few letters long, but if properly researched keywords can do much more than improve your business’s search engine rankings.
By constantly researching which keywords are most relevant to your customers, you can gain a better understanding of what they want now and what they’ll want six months from now, keeping you one step ahead of the competition. This is crucial to get the best out of SEO services.
The way companies sell themselves may have changed as a result of the digital marketplace explosion, but that doesn’t mean the tactics are completely different. Market research for SEO services, such as keywords, is the same as for anything else, as the key to success is finding out what your customers want. This may seem obvious, but not everyone knows how to do it.
First, you need to lay the groundwork, which means spending a reasonable amount of time researching the best keywords to use. This doesn’t mean just typing some relevant terms into Google and seeing what comes up.
There are a variety of research tools you can use to determine the relevance and value of certain words, including the Google AdWords Keyword Estimator and Wordtracker’s free Basic Keyword Demand. Brainstorm what people who might want what you offer would search for, and then use these tools to discover which keywords are the most popular.
For example, by running a sample campaign on potential keywords for your SEO services in Bing adCenter, you can see the effectiveness of certain keywords. This is done by measuring the conversion rate of the traffic to your site over a given period and from this you can estimate which keyword is most likely to have an impact. Essentially, whatever keyword gets the most attention during these test runs is probably the one you should be using.
However, it’s not just about using the terms that appear at the top of Google. The best search results only represent a small percentage of what users are looking for, so there is a lot of potential to generate leads from the rest of the market. This is known as the ‘long tail’ and represents most of the terms people use when searching for a product or service. If you can use your research to effectively identify which of these keywords your customers are using, you’re on your way to seeing solid ROI from SEO services.
Once you’ve gotten into your customers’ train of thought, you can begin to understand what they’re going to want in the future through constant keyword research and monitoring future trends. This is the Holy Grail of SEO services. If you can get this right, your business will thrive in the digital marketplace, where standing out from the crowd is everything.
