I bet this happens at least once a week. I talk keywords with a client and the question about the source of their research pops up. The answer? Frequently it’s that they got the phrases from their site stats. That’s not a bad thing, but it is dangerously incomplete. Here’s why.
Your site stats are an exceptional place to find keywords because obviously somebody used those terms to find your site. But they limit you to only those phrases. What about the keywords people typed in that led them to your competitors’ sites? The ones you haven’t discovered yet because your keyword research is incomplete.
You need to have a way to view the entire landscape of keywords in order to understand which ones will benefit you the most and convert at the highest ratios.
Another one I hear is, “Well, these are what we think people will probably search for.” In other words, they guessed. Now that is a bad thing. Guessing typically produces invalid keyphrases the majority of the time.
Where should keywords come from? Reliable sources like WordTracker or KeywordDiscovery. (Yes, these are affiliate links. If you don’t like affiliate links, you can click directly to the URL using the site names.) You can get a much clearer picture with these types of services. You can also use professionals like KeywordSmith.com that will research the keyphrases using the services listed above then report back with a list of suggested terms. They’ll even recommend which phrases should go on which pages if you want them to.
There is affordable help available. WordTracker and KeywordDiscovery have several options for payment including month-to-month so you only pay for what you need. Keyword researchers generally charge by the hour so you can instruct them to spend as much or as little time as you can afford.
Don’t guess and don’t limit yourself and your copy to only the terms found in your site logs. If you want SEO copywriting that performs at its best, you need to make the extra effort to find viable key terms.
Karon Thackston writes online and SEO copy that gets results. Visit her site today at https://www.marketingwords.com.
