Keywords in a Nutshell

It’s no secret that keyword selection is vital when it comes to many aspects of driving people to your site. Keywords are those short phrases, or even single words that are relevant to whatever you are trying to sell or put out into the great wide web. Integrated at the core of driving traffic to your site, keywords are one of the pieces to the puzzle of your success.  Whether it be through a Google Adwords campaign, or making sure they are the base for your headers or content, choosing keywords is an important step to making sure your ad copy and/or website is on the grid.

When starting to generate keywords, two of the most important things to remember, regardless of what you are using your keywords for, is that keywords need to be relevant and geared towards your targeted audience. For example, if your company, Zoinkies Oinkies, sells pet pigs in Minnesota,  you may want to choose “Pet pigs for sale in Minnesota” instead of just “Pet Pigs”. Here’s where it can get tricky, though, you need to find a happy balance between your keywords being too general, and too specific. Your keywords should be broad enough where you will still get enough search traffic, but specific enough that you will attract the people who are truly interested in what you’re offering. In terms of relevancy, you should also make sure that your keywords jive with what your landing page is actually about. So if you have a page about the new litter of piglets you’re selling, your keywords should pertain to just that - not unicorns, or other non-related, non-relevant keywords.

Keywords are fundamentally the same when idea when choosing them for either a Google Adwords Campaign, or making sure they are in your website headers and content for SEO. Both consist of key phrases that are relevant (notice how relevant seems to sneak into every aspect of keywords), and require ample research.

In your headers you want to have keyword(s) coinciding with what is within the content itself on your page, making sure to target only limited main keywords per page. For example, if you have a main page on your site about why Zoinkies Oinkies piglets are the best pigs around, you would want your header to be something like “Our Pigs”, and then go on to talk about the pigs your company has, why they’re the best, etc. within the content itself.

In Google Adwords, your keywords drive your campaign. However, without researching and giving some thought to your keywords, your campaign won’t get you very far. Choosing keywords that are relevant (ah! that word again!) to your product, your targeted audience, and to of course, your goals are a must in order for success. So when someone searches for “Pet Pigs Minnesota”, they will see your Google Ad right along the right hand side of their search. Easy peasy, right?

Obviously keywords don’t magically generate themselves, so If you’re struggling with keywords, the good news is that there are a variety of resources to help you get on the right track.

Google AdWords Keyword Tool

Google Adwords Keyword Tool is an excellent place to start when starting your keyword research. Through their keyword tool, Google allows you to insert keywords, even websites, and returns lists of related keywords along with a scan of how gnarly the competition is on those keyword(s), and how many searches those keywords get.

Google Trends

Google Trends allows you to type in keywords, such as “Pet Pigs”, and will show you an array of data related to your keyword(s) in terms of it’s popularity. You can view the interest broken down by history, location, related keywords, and even what is causing the traffic.

Web Analytics

There are web analytic tools that can analyze your current keywords. One of the most recognizable is Google Analytics in conjunction with Google Webmaster Tools. These two tools allow you to see which keywords are already driving traffic to your site, along with other pertinent data. Knowing which keywords are working for you, and which are not, provide you with a good baseline for knowing what you need to improve upon moving forward. You wouldn’t want to take away the keywords “Pretty Pink Piglets” if it is your number one traffic driver.. even if it sounds a little silly.

Finally, if you’re stuck with trying to figure out keywords, or want to revamp your current ones, there’s us! We understand that keywords can sometimes be a little challenging, and even frustrating. Here at the nest, we are always happy to help. We don’t like to toot our own horn, but we are kind of magical wizards when it comes to these things.