I wrote my first search engine optimization book in 1999
and have produced one every year or two since. As I sit
here researching my latest it strikes me that just about
every facet of the game has changed drastically over the
past decade. Even the name has been shortened to SEO
because it's so well known today. Unfortunately however,
one aspect has not changed... Too many people still miss
out on the most important step in SEO; Keyword selection!
Let's face it; without targeted keywords your site might as
well be a storefront with no sign, no windows and no front
door. And without the right keywords targeting is useless.
In fact, worse than useless because it's five times more
difficult to have a search engine reevaluate a site it has
already evaluated once for the wrong keywords.
Keywords are your most important SEO asset. It's that
simple. Some people will argue until they're blue in the
face saying "META tags don't even matter anymore." Well,
who said anything about META tags? I'm not talking about
the keyword tag or stuffing ALT tags. I'm talking about
keywords for your site as a whole. They define how your
pages will be found online and if people will even bother
to visit if found.
Here's an example... I just typed 'markers' (no quotes)
into Google and see there are 37,500,000 Web pages. The
number one match is for magic markers but just below it is
some golf course called the Markers Golf Club. A couple
spots down deals with DNA markers indicating diabetes in
certain patients. And the list goes on and on. Could the
results be any more random? Your site is probably more
targeted but the same principles apply. And trust me; with
millions of competing web pages for every word in the
dictionary, you need every advantage you can get.
Think about it. You'd have to be crazy to try to beat out
over 37 million competing pages about 'markers' if you were
selling 'permanent markers', especially since Google only
has 553,000 matches for that keyword phrase (permanent
markers). Now what if you were selling a specific brand
like "Sharpie"? Well, 'sharpie markers' has only half the
competing Web pages as 'permanent markers'. Better still,
'sharpie permanent markers' has less than one tenth the
competing pages of 'sharpie markers.'
Ready for the best part? If you check these keywords on
Google's free Adwords keyword site at
https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal and
type in 'sharpie markers' (don't use quotes for any of
these I mention) you will see that for January '08 the term
'sharpie permanent markers' is just as popular as 'sharpie
markers' but has less than half the competition for people
paying per click! So whether you're saving a fortune in pay
per click fees or optimizing much better for organic
ranking, you will have just as many highly targeted
visitors with much less competition.
Remember, good keywords are nice to have but GREAT keywords
are your secret weapon! If you take nothing else from this
article, please know that keyword selection is still the
single most important step in optimizing your web pages and
where the majority of your time and effort should be spent
up front.
Up until a couple years ago I even had part time staff
members that did nothing but research keywords for my SEO
company. Of course, today you can spend less than a hundred
bucks and get a piece of software like GOOHAY Keywords
(http://www.GOOHAYkeywords.com) or a little more for
Keyword Elite (http://KeywordEliteWeb.com) either of which
do as much as several full time employees.
Whether manually or with software, it's also a good idea to
reevaluate your keywords every so often. This is especially
true if your site deals with seasonal items or topics. I
use keyword software to evaluate mine the first day of each
month and it keeps my sites one step ahead.
By starting with the very best keywords, you are already
ahead of 99% of your competition, which gives you an
incredible advantage. Best of luck!
----------------------------------------------------
Michael Small is a ten year veteran SEO consultant and
author of numerous search engine optimization books and
whitepapers including the SEO Answer Book, available at
http://www.seoanswerbook.net .
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