Which SEO keywords for my site?
So this is the classic SEO question, which keywords should I try and include in the copy on my site? Simple enough question but not that easy to answer but I’m going to have a here.
The aim of the whole SEO process is to get your site to rank #1 for the search queries that people perform.
So the answer is a combination of things. Firstly you want to use keywords that people actually use in their search queries. There is little or no point ranking #1 for terms that are never or rarely used. You want to optimise your site for terms that have a decent amount of search traffic.
So that’s the first part of the answer – chose terms with a decent search volume.
Next you want to chose terms that you have a half decent chance of getting your site into the top 3 of the search results. This means you need to chose terms that are not massively competitive. A classic example of this is “car insurance” – huge search volume but very, very competitive. The CPC (Cost per click) of the term “Car insurance” in Google adwords is around £15.00 to get yourself onto page one of the paid for results – so just imagine how difficult its going to be to get to the top of the organic results.
So that’s part two of the answer – chose terms that are winnable.
Next you want to chose terms that generate revenue – i.e. terms that convert on your site. It’s great having lots of traffic but you need traffic that will buy stuff.
The final thing to consider when choosing which terms to optimise your site for will be where you rank currently for those terms. It’s easier to push a term from #8 up to #2 than it is to take a term from #150 to #2 – so go for (and I hate this term) the low hanging fruit.
So in summary choose terms that –
- Have a decent amount of search volume
- Are winnable
- Generate revenue for and
- that your site ranks reasonably well for right not.
In our next blog I’ll explain how to find out how much search volume a term has and how competitive the term is. You’re going to need a calculator.
Happy blogging!