3 Steps to Find Keywords
Small business owners have a lot to think about when operating the business they love and have worked hard to create. One thing that may not be thought of often is keywords for search engine optimization. Search engine optimization is the use of specific words within your website to drive traffic from search engines to your website. These keywords make your website more discoverable to those who need your business services.
If you have a great web designer, there is a good chance they have optimized your website for search engines using keywords already. If you created your website yourself and didn’t know about keywords, that’s okay. That’s exactly what this informative blog post is for – to teach you how you can do it yourself.
Keywords are words that are used in a search engine to identify results related to that term. Think of searching for something online. What words do you type in to get the information you need? The more specific the keywords, the more specific the results.
For example, if the keyword “cupcakes” is used, here’s what happens:
The top results are the sponsored posts. Sponsored posts are advertisements by local bakeries so that they appear at the top of the results.
Next you find the map of the local bakeries that sell cupcakes.
Just below the map you find the search results that appear organically based on search engine optimization.
Just below the local bakery listings are all the cupcake recipes available on the web.
Hopefully the connections to why keywords are relevant or important are starting to become clear. Your business exists, and you need customers. Customers need your business, and they don’t know the business exists. Keywords help connect your business with customers via search engine optimization.
There are 3 important steps to take when using keywords.
List the keywords relevant to your business.
Assess each keyword for its relevance and ranking.
Select target keywords for search intent.
List the keywords relevant to your business
Think of the word most often associated with your business. For example, if you are a baker specializing in cupcakes, that would be your focus word. Intentionally include that word in the title, URL, meta description and content of your website throughout each page. The hope is that search engines will pick up on that word and rank your website accordingly. It’s important to continue to search out longer keyword phrases that reflect your business specialty. If you stop at focus keywords, you will be lost in a sea of cupcake bakers and likely not rank on the first page of search results.
Long-tail keywords or keyword phrases contain 3 or more words. These are the words that people search for when they know more specifically what they are looking for. For example, “gluten-free personalized cupcakes” will further narrow down the search for the right business for this request. Long-tail keywords will give you more precise results. It’s important for you to think like a customer for your business who is searching for what you offer. What would they be searching to find you?
Understanding search intent is beneficial
Thinking like a customer is necessary because you already understand your business. Customers are searching for what your business offers either to learn about it, find information on the services, find a company that offers it, compare prices, or make a purchase.
The goal is to find specific, long-tail keywords that will connect customers via search engines to your business that have a good monthly search volume with relatively low competition.
Assess keywords for relevance, ranking and competition
Start with your list of broad search terms. Make the list as long as you like. Keep in mind that the words toward the bottom of your list come last for a reason. It doesn’t mean they're not relevant. It means focus your attention on the top words to use time wisely. Next you will expand that list to include additional phrases and questions related to the original words.
Once you have a good list of keywords and phrases, you can use free keyword searches to do some digging into which words have higher search volume with lower organic search competition. If your keywords have a high competition, you will exhaust yourself trying to get rankings with those words. Low competition words with high search volume is the goal, and it may take some work to find those words.
There are many free options available. This article by Zapier outlines 4 good options here.
We use these:
https://www.semrush.com/
https://moz.com/explorer
Select keywords for search intent
Throughout this process you will find keywords that fit the high search/low competition rank that you desire. Keep these words in a spreadsheet with any information that is helpful to you in determining which words to use. Keep in mind that keywords can change over time. Our cupcake example will have higher search volume in specific months related to holidays like Valentine’s and Independence Day. Keyword search is something that you need to attend to periodically especially if you notice a slow down in online traffic. Checking keywords every 6 months is valuable and necessary.
Conducting your own keyword research as a business owner is a beneficial step to better understanding the minds of customers. You will learn a lot about your business and your customers in doing this on your own. It can also be a time consuming process and overwhelming to start. Finding a successful SEO marketing business to assist with this task can be very helpful. SEO is just one of the services that Flywheel Marketing provides. We also work with our clients to better understand the keywords used in connection with their business. We would love to work with you to assess your business and optimize your website for better search ranking. Click the button for a free consultation today.
