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Keywords are the words/phrases used by people searching on the Internet. They are very important as relevant, targeted keywords can help get you to the top of search engine rankings and help you attract “qualified” visitors who are interested in your web site's content and products.

 

Choosing keywords requires some thought from you as you have a deep understanding of your business and industry.

 

Look at the current words that come up in your written page content, and the keywords and content of high ranking competitors to get ideas for keywords. Use keyword popularity tools to get other ideas and options. Then review and revise until you have the optimum amount of keywords for your web site.

1. Your keywords should reflect the focus of your site.

Ask yourself:

1. What is the site's focus?
2. Why is the site's information valuable?
3. Who is your audience?

These questions are useful because they make you think about how your site's content serves its intended targeted audience.

 

2. Research keyword popularity.

1. How many other sites use the same keywords?
2. How many people actually search on those keywords?

1. Overly broad or generic keywords rarely work well. These keywords may get many searches but most of your visitors may not be qualified to buy your product. e.g. “bicycle” When someone is searching under a broad term such as this it does not necessarily mean that they will desire your product when they come across it. Broad generic searches usually means that the searcher is ‘surfing’ rather than shopping.
   
2. More targeted keywords increase your chance of getting to the top of the search engine rankings and finding qualified visitors. e.g. “mountain bicycle”
   
3. If you really want to get specific, your site would always be at the top of a search on "Red Trek mountain bicycle" - if any users were to actually search on it. The objective should be to find out what keywords qualified visitors actually use to query search engines for your product or service.
   
4. Integrate keywords into your page text. It is important that your page text features intelligent use of your keywords as this affects the search engine rankings. It is recommended that you have around 400-600 words per page with around 6% keyword density.
   

There should be 2-4 keywords per targeted page. An eCommerce site should be optimized for specific products and some more general business search terms.

About the Author: Anjila Parker is a Copywriter at Clayarc Technologies, a leading Internet Marketing company. She has a Masters Degree in Mass Communications and Copywriting.

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