Search Engine Optimisation 101 – Part 2: Keyword Phrases

Now that you know what optimisation is all about, it’s time to look at the most popular part of optimisation – keywords.

Even though their relevance to the process of website search engine optimisation services is minimising (for more information see our explanation why here), keyword phrases are still a key element (no pun intended!) to the success of your search engine marketing.

What are Keyword Phrases?

Keyword phrases are the strings of words that people looking for your product type into Google (or other search engine – but, let’s be honest, Google is the one that counts!). Examples of keyword phrases:

Holiday unit Melbourne
Cheap haircut Newtown
Lawyer Brisbane

Google runs the words a searcher types into the search engine through an algorithm. This algorithm is applied across all the web site Google has ‘indexed’ and the websites that most closely match the Algorithm’s requirements are returned as the top search results.

This is why keyword phrases are important to search engine marketing and always will be.

Identifying Keyword Phrases

Identifying keyword phrases isn’t just a ‘quick part’ of the process. It takes a lot of research to understand which keywords are the best for your business. This is because each keyword will have a different set of characteristics, typically a mix of volume and competition rates.

Volume: is the amount of times that particular keyword phrase is used by searchers. High volume is good – it means more people potentially seeing your website.

Competition: is the amount of websites ranked for that keyword phrase. Low competition is good – it means less websites you have to beat out of a place on the rankings.

If it’s that easy, why do you need search engine optimisation consultants? It seems simple to target keyword phrases that have high volume and low competition but this isn’t as easy as it sounds. Any keywords that do display these characteristics are usually discovered and become competitive again quickly.

Tips For Choosing The Right Keyword Phrases

• Make a list of the ones you know are commonly typed in as a starting point.
• Use the list you made above in Google’s Keyword Planner Tool to generate possible other keyword phrases you may not have thought of. Compare the volume to competition rates and choose a number of keywords that are appropriate. Variety is important here.
• Look at the met tags your competitors are using. Right click on their website and click ‘source code’. Search for the words (or get your computer to!) ‘meta tag’ and look through the list.
• Monitor the news for new ‘buzz’ keywords. One way of getting around the competitiveness of keywords is to monitor the news for any ‘buzz’ keywords that might relate to your product. For instance, Zappos just started transitioning to a new style of management called Holacracy. If you were a business consultant, you could start targeting this keyword in your local area.
• Focus on personalisation. It’s unlikely you’ll rank for ‘valentines day flowers’ but you could possibly rank for ‘valentines day flowers ascot after hours’. Consider the circumstances in which your customers might be looking for your product and target your keywords towards them.

This is a general overview of how to go about choosing keywords. Next we’ll be discussing the common mistakes made by those just beginning to work at optimisation. We recommend you get a search engine optimisation consultant like the ones we have at Complete Cloud to do an in-depth analysis. A solid foundation is what will set you up for success in the future!

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