Choosing your keywords

How to choose your keywords and keyphrases

Introduction to keywords

"My small budget goes a long way. I know exactly where to spend my money"
JF, Small Business Owner, CrawleyFor successful Search Engine Optimisation of your web pages you need to work out what keywords and keyphrases your prospective visitors might type in to a search engine to find your website.

Some are more competitive than others - try searching for 'books' in Google, there are millions of results! For smaller, establishing websites it is better to target less popular keywords and keyphrases to begin with and aim for success with those.

Why choose keywords at all?

A good web page contains information that people are looking for. When you write the page you need to take a step back and think about what search terms or keywords people would enter to find it. Once you have determined those keywords, enter them onto a spreadsheet.

Key phrases versus keywords

Different keywords joined together form keyphrases. These phrases are what the search engine user is likely to type in to find your website.

As a general rule, each page on your website should be optimised for one keyphrase. Two to four word phrases are typical - longer phrases are less commonly used in searches. If you are selling products and services then one of your keywords should be your location (ie. town, city or county).

How to research keywords

Unfortunately there are no shortcuts - good research will pay off with good results. By entering a search phrase in Google you can see what sort of competition you are up against. The blue bar at the top of the results page might say something like 'Results 1 - 10 of about 5,370,000'. That tells you that the search phrase is fairly competitive.

Also, you will learn a lot about how the search engines work by entering different phrases and seeing where they rank. Try and find combinations of keywords that return pages with poor information. If you can write a good page of content using those keywords then you should be able to rank highly in searches provided you follow the basics of search engine optimisation.

Keywords in web statistics

The other major source of research for keywords are your web statistics. When a visitor finds your website using a search page, the keywords they used to find you are entered in your web statistics.

By looking at this information you can find:

keywords to target
phrases to target
ideas for keywords

Keyword brainstorming

There are some excellent ways to develop and brainstorm new keywords, which can then be used to develop new keywords. The Keyword Selector Tool from Overture can be used to see what other words have been used in actual searches on a topic. This is also a great way to find some of the less competitive keywords.

An easy way to find new keyword combinations is to think like your customers. If you sell golf equipment, you would want keywords based around drivers, putters, balls, brand names and specific products.

Once you have selected your keywords and keyphrases send them to us and get you free trial.