I just learned something new today.  After writing the post on long tail keywords, I tried to do more reading on keywords in general.  What I discovered was quite surprising, though.  I have always been a Google fan.  Despite the fact that they are way too harsh on paid posts (at least in my opinion) I think that they still deliver pretty good products.  So I thought that the Google Keyword Tool would be really good and useful.

According to Smackdown, though, it is not really that useful.  How so?  Here is an excerpt from the post:

Recently there was a bit of a hubbub surrounding Google’s Keyword Tool External (the keyword suggestion portion of AdWords that was made public a couple of years back). It started when a few people, like Barry Schwartz from SERoundtable, noticed that the tool was showing specific numbers for search terms instead of just green bars. Even though at first the numbers only appeared intermittently for people, the official Inside AdWords blog reported the change as a permanent one later that night.

The problem is, however, that those numbers are meant for people doing research into PPC traffic. The numbers shown have very little to do with what people actually search on using Google.com. I learned this the hard way about a year and a half ago, when I decided to try and use AdWords (the internal tool, the one that would actually show me estimated clicks based on position) to pick keywords that I might want to try and optimize for. I identified 3 phrases that I figured would be fairly easy to rank for (which they turned out to be). According to Google, being in the top 3 ad spots (which is as narrow as Google will estimate) I would get an estimated 141 to 180 clicks per day from all three phrases combined. Since natural serps get a slightly better CTR than ads usually do, I figured I would be golden if I could SEO my site to the top for those phrases. Not a ton of traffic, but with the conversion ratios I had on that site for targeted traffic, it would be more than worth it to spend the effort required to get those three phrases to the top.

What does this mean for us?  Perhaps we shouldn’t rely too much on this tool then.  Maybe Word Tracker is better?  Share your thoughts on this?

Bookmark to:

We all know how important keywords are to SEO.  Even though they may tend to be abused and overrated, they still hold a crucial place in the world of search engines.  What most of us are familiar with, however, are short tail keywords.  At least, I am speaking for those of us who are not “experts” in the field.

So what is the difference between short tail and long tail keywords anyway?

Basically, short tail keywords are those words which are the most popular.  They are the ones which are highly competitive.  So for example, if you use one of those SEO tools to determine which keywords are the most used for your niche, you will find the short tail keywords.

On the other hand, long tail keywords are those which are less popular.  Another thing about long tail keywords is that they are normally 3 to 6 words in length, as opposed to short tail keywords which are usually 1 to 2 words.

You might be asking, why should anyone interested in SEO practices waste their time on keywords which are not popular?  Isn’t that quite the opposite of what we are trying to achieve anyway?

The fact is that though long tail keywords are not that popular, they are still being used by a good number of users all around the world.  This fact is what SEO practitioners should focus on.  The fact that long tail keywords are not as popular means that not too many web sites are trying to target them.  This means that using this long tail keywords can help you rise to the top of SERPs in this regard.

Photo courtesy of SoloSEO

Bookmark to:

I have a disclaimer before I say anything else – I am not that knowledgeable when it comes to Google Alerts. Oh, I have used this feature every now and then but I have not really played around with it much. I think that it is my loss – especially after reading about how Google Alerts can help you a lot when it comes to SEO.

So what is Google Alerts anyway? Google says:

Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on your choice of query or topic.

Some handy uses of Google Alerts include:
• monitoring a developing news story
• keeping current on a competitor or industry
• getting the latest on a celebrity or event
• keeping tabs on your favorite sports teams

Basically, you will automatically be updated on the areas of interest that you indicate when you create your account. At this point, you should already be seeing the potential that Google Alerts brings from an SEO standpoint.

Let’s say you want to monitor the web sites that mention your own web site, blog, or product. You can do so by using specific key words and letting Google Alerts do the job. For your web site, for example, simply indicate in your search term your URL or domain.

Another aspect would be monitoring your competitor. If your web site or blog is about your business, then you can find out what they are up to using Google Alerts.

Based on the data that you receive, you can then work out your SEO plan even more efficiently.

Bookmark to:

I realize that the title may have a negative connotation for keywords and everything related to it but please do not get me wrong.  Keywords are an inherent part of SEO and will always be important.  Yet is it right to merely throw all your energy in keywords when it comes to your SEO strategy?  I think not.  There is more to SEO than smattering your pages with keywords.

The reason I am going back to this basic concept is this guy I interviewed the other.  I have a day job which is totally unrelated to SEO and web writing but when I went over this guy’s resume, one of the bullet points in the work experience section said “SEO specialist.”  Of course, I could not help but delve deeper into this.

So there I was, checking his command of the English language when I asked him, what exactly is SEO?  He hesitated and said “search engine optimization.”  Okay…and?  It was actually painful really.  I am not sure if he was not sure how to explain it in simple terms but what happened was that he kept on repeating the idea that you have to have a high density of certain keywords in your web pages.  This alone, according to him, would put you at the top of the SERPs.

If all SEO specialists think like this guy does, then we are doomed.  Look through other SEO blogs.  Look through this blog’s archives.  We need more than keywords, don’t we?

Bookmark to:

Researching the right keywords is an integral part of SEO. Ask any person knowledgeable in this field and they will tell you that you have to have the right keywords in order to make some headway into the world of SEO. Yet how do you find out which keywords to use for your particular web site? There are plenty of tools out there, one of which is WordTracker.

I personally like WordTracker for a variety of reasons. For one, WordTracker offers hundreds of millions of keywords and key phrases that are specific to particular niches. You will most certainly find the most popular and most used keywords and key phrases for your specific subject using WordTracker. It has a free version, which anyone can use without having to shell out any money. I suggest, however, that you do get the full version as it offers much more than the free version. WordTracker will give you what your target audience is using as search terms in the major search engine. More so, WordTracker will help you figure out additional key words that you can use for your web site. It is very easy to use – most everything is intuitive – so you don’t have to waste time trying to figure out the software.

If you want to find out what WordTracker can do for you, try out the 7-day trial for free. Just make sure that if you do not want to continue using it, unsubscribe before the trial expires, otherwise, you will be billed for using it.

Bookmark to:

More than keywords – pay attention to content
In the first post, we took a look at how important it is for you to know the keywords that people are conducting searches on, in relation to your niche. If that is all that you want to think about, then I guess you can merely put in a jumble of words – as long as they are important keywords – in your site and you are good. However, your readers are not stupid, and neither are the spiders that search engines use to crawl web sites. If you do not provide good content, then the chances are that you will not have readers returning to your site. Worse, the search engine spiders will not give you the ranking that you need. An additional note on this, more than providing content, you also need to continually update your content. Old and stale content will not get you anywhere.

Mark your keywords
It isn’t enough to use keywords strategically in your content. You also have to go one step further and mark these keywords in all your pages. How do you do this? By using tags such as bold, italics, and underline. This practice would not only help you out with search engines but will actually help your readers identify the keywords in your pages. However, moderation is the key once again. Do not go trigger happy on the tags I just mentioned and over do it. Perhaps 2 to 3 marked keywords per page would do the trick.

Bookmark to:

If you ask different people involved in SEO for a list of the best tips with regard to this activity, the chances are that you will get a host of various answers. The idea behind SEO is simple. As we re-established it in the last post, SEO is all about creating web pages that will get good rankings, no more, no less.

Actually implementing strategies and techniques to achieve the results that SEO aims for is another story altogether, however. Different experts would have their own takes on the subject matter so it is hard to say which ones are the “right” ones. Here are some basic tips to help you get reacquainted with SEO principles.

Keywords
If there is any commonality between varying opinions on SEO techniques, the knowledge of keywords would probably be it. I like how Mike Wayde says it in B2B Insights Blog. He writes:

A good SEO partner will have the tools to evaluate the right keywords that your audience is using to search for you. Just because you think your audience will search for you using a particular keyword or phrase, doesn’t mean that they will. Proper research will go a long way towards reaching your full audience.

I totally agree with this. Research is one of the most important steps when it comes to SEO – you have to know what people are using as search terms. You cannot merely guess or take it for granted that you know which keywords are hot.

Let’s look at other basic tips in the next post.

Bookmark to:

I recently reviewed Nichebot as a keyword research tool. This week, I’m taking a look at Keyword Discovery. I’ve never used Keyword Discovery before, except through Nichebot’s interface, so I was really curious to see how everything works from Keyword Discovery itself.

The tool itself has several impressive features, giving users access to data including KEI analysis, spelling mistakes, seasonal search trends, keyword density, and industry keywords. You can also crawl for related terms, saving yourself a lot of time from researching each particular keyword. You can even choose where to extract the data, whether it’s by country, or from specific sources such as News, eBay, Shopping, or the Thesaurus. You also have the option to access Overture data – but Overture hasn’t updated since January 2007.

The Keyword Discovery interface is simple and straightforward – which is a good thing for first time users. The other pros of the Keyword Discovery service include:

• around 1000 results for deep-digging each root keyword (and more if you get exhaustive keyword lists). This is great if you’re looking for those long tail keywords that you may want to capitalize on.
• The extensive FAQ and Help section, including the PDF manuals, make it easy for users to learn how to use the tool properly and how to apply the results to their website.
• You get a variety of data from several different databases, and it’s rumored to have the largest database around.
• Unlike WordTracker, Keyword Discovery data is relatively accurate. Here’s an excerpt from their site:

The Keyword discovery total is the TOTAL number of searches in the Keyword discovery database. That is, the total number of actual searches recorded on that term, NOT an estimate.

Now, for some cons:

• Since Keyword Discovery searches for results over a 12-month period, the basic search isn’t good for getting seasonal data. To get seasonal searches, you have to click on the “Trend” button for each keyphrase.
• Data takes a while longer to load, at least compared to other tools I’ve used.

Overall, Keyword Discovery is a good tool. Although I wouldn’t trade it for my Nichebot subscription, I’ll probably be using the Keyword Discovery 9-in-1 tool in Nichebot more often. I’m impressed with the accuracy of the results. Keyword Discovery offers a free trial, so you might want to try it out first to see if it’s the right keyword tool for you.

Bookmark to: