Posted on Feb. 5, 2012 by Rebecca Deitch - Internet Marketing Specialist
As someone who most likely doesn't spend hours and hours studying the effects of keyword choices on search traffic, you may be wondering, "Did I pick the right keywords?" or "What makes a good keyword and what makes a bad keyword?"
Well, first off I like to call them "keyword phrases" because phrases that are two-to-three words in length are seen as stronger than just one word by search engines like Google. After all, when was the last time you searched using a single word? Most people don't search using just one word because they get way too many results. The same thing happens with your business and ranking.
Using a single-word keyword means you're competing with every business that does something—anything—with that word, and that could possibly mean over a million businesses competing for search results (depending on your area), but when you use a keyword phrase you narrow that number down significantly.
Keyword phrases give you more opportunities to rank on the search engines and receive better quality rankings. For example, with a phrase like "car dealers" you not only rank for that phrase, but also rank for "car deal," "car," "car deals," "car dealer," etc. This means you receive more search engine exposure, and potentially more web traffic.
Now, that doesn't mean that phrases like "how to cook pasta" are good keyword phrases to use. You want your phrases to be who you are as a company (not what you do), including a noun and a verb. As another example, if you offer teeth whitening as a service, a good keyword phrase would be "teeth whitening service." The general rule is to try to think of "I am" statements when coming up with your keyword phrases.
Also, when it comes to keyword phrases it's important to come up with a variety of phrases. For example: "Plumber," "Plumbing company," "Plumbing," "Plumbing Services," "Plumbing Cleaning," would not be a great way for a plumber to get exposure. The reason for this is that by repeating the same word—in this case, "Plumbing"—over and over again, you're missing the opportunity to use Google to your advantage. What I mean by this is that Google not only pulls the main phrase, but also the synonyms of those words and the synonyms of those synonyms, so you could end up ranking for over 50 different words for just one phrase. But when you use the same word over and over again, Google is pulling the same synonyms and that business misses out on the opportunity for wider exposure.
Finally, make sure to think about why your target audience would be looking for the services you provide. Do they need their drains unclogged? Are they looking for a specialty item? Do they need emergency service? Keep in mind that your ultimate goal is not just ranking on the front page of Google, but getting more actual customers to pay you for your services, and your keyword phrase choices should reflect that.
If you feel like your keywords may not follow these best practices, or if have questions about your keyword phrase choices, feel free to contact your VMC for more information!