First thing we need to do is establish what market the website is in, analyse a website for an example. Open up http://www.savemoneyoncars.co.uk/ in your browser. Open up notepad also ready to take notes and keywords.
The first step involves finding the main keywords that are the websites target market. When looking at a website you need to know what they offer, what products they offer, and try and group them if possible.
With Savemoneyoncars.co.uk Open you should see
This website was chosen at random from Google UK after searching for "Cheap Cars".
When looking at the website, identify what the website is selling and its overall focus, record the keywords in your notepad. Have a browse through pages, look at the title tag which can be found at the top left hand corner of your internet browser.
Your keyword list should now have car related keywords in such as:
With your keyword list open, we need to use these keywords to generate a larger list of keywords. The keywords you have currently in your notepad will be known as central (core) keywords as they are likely to be the most relevant and competitive.
Open your internet browser and navigate to https://adwords.google.co.uk and sign-in to the account you created previously.
Once you have signed in you will be presented with a window like the following:
Above is the interface for Google adwords. This tool will help us research keyword search data.
Typically most guides refer to word tracker, however we have research and evidence to show that the wordtracker tool does not provide data that is as accurate as the data that comes directly from Google. The data from adwords has to be accurate as those using pay per click will use adwords to find out keyword search data, much like that of SEO.
Firstly, we need to generate a larger list of keywords, on the green tabs select tools > keyword tool.
This tool will be used to generate a larger list of relative keywords along with search volume data.
With the tools window open, copy all the keywords from your notepad file into the keyword box as shown in the picture below:
Once you have pasted the keywords into this window, untick "USE SYNONYMS" this is not needed. Once this has been completed, click "Get Keyword Ideas"
It may take between 5 - 30 seconds before your results are shown. Once the results appear you will be presented with the following fields (keywords may vary)
Above are the results generated as a result of the handful of keywords that you have initially fed into adwords. This happens because Google records all the search data and pay per click data to see what keywords have what traffic and so forth.
Google also returns keywords it deems relative to your initial keywords.
This opens up a whole new world for keyword research, if the search engine has selected them as relative then it will be a bonus towards search engine optimization.
With this list, you can now see various fields which should be used when picking keywords. Lets look at these in more detail:
Keywords:
This is the field where the keywords are returned. Here you will find your original keywords as well as keywords returned by Google.
Estimated Ad Position: ** Irrelevant to SEO (Only applies to pay per click)
This is the place where your website may be visible if you were to use this keyword in pay per click. Please note this field is irrelevant for SEO.
Estimated Avg. CPC: (CPC = Cost Per Click)
This is again a pay per click related field, however it has value towards SEO. If the average cost per click is higher, it shows that there is more demand and value to the keyword. Keywords that have high cost rates are generally better at delivering traffic and conversions as a result. Use this field to identify keywords with a higher cost per click.
Advertiser Competition:
This is a good way to see how many advertisers you will be competing against. The lower the advertiser competition, the easier and quicker it will be to rank for that keyword (in general). Aim for higher cost per click rates with a lower competition level.
Local Search Volume: Month Name:
This shows the level of searches that have been conducted globally for this keyword in the present/previous month depending on the date. A higher volume of searches is ideal. This will show the traffic levels in the locality you are based in.
Global Monthly Search Volume:
This shows the total search volume for the selected keyword over a 12 monthly period. The reason this figure is generated is because keyword searches change from month to month. For example, Christmas shopping relative keywords are going to have a higher search volume in November and December than they would in May or June. The global volumes help to balance out any discrepencies.
This is in short the volume of traffic worldwide for the month.
Search Volume Trends (Month A to Month B):
This shows the trends for the selected keyword between the periods highlighted as Month A and Month B. This is a visual indicator of how the keyword performs month to month. You may see some bar charts that change adversely indicating it to be a seasonal keyword, where as others may have consistent traffic levels.
Highest Volume Occurred In:
This shows the month with the highest traffic level from the trend data that was populated in the previous column.
Once you have gone through the keyword list, you can begin adding all the keywords that are deemed with potential or relevancy.
Use the Add button which is a clickable link. Once this is clicked it will be added to your keyword seed list. The keyword seed list can be found on the right hand side.
As a general guideline, try and target keywords that:
" Have a higher cost per click
" Have a lower advertiser competition
" Have a higher monthly local and global search volume
" Have traffic that is more consistent rather than seasonal
Follow those guidelines to filter out keywords.
Please remember that for large websites this process might take quite a long time to complete. The research is not necessary once the most important keywords have been discovered and selected. Internal page keywords are best assigned based on the content within the page..
There is no right or wrong level of keyword selection, as a rough guide, the website should target no more then 10 core keywords. Secondary keywords can be in any quantity providing the website has pages with content that utilizes the selected keywords.
Some people decide to write additional content and pages for their website so that they can increase the keyword scope.
Once you have finished selecting keywords, you can check your seed list, it will look something like this only with different type and volume of keywords:
Once you are happy with your list, select the download these keywords option under TEXT. This will prompt you to open a notepad file, click Open and you will be presented with a notepad file with your new selected keywords.
Go back to your browser, In Google adwords, select Tools and then More Tools and then wait for the new page to load.
On this tools page, select Traffic Estimator (Screenshot below)
Click the traffic estimator link and it will take you through to the traffic estimator tool.
You will be presented with another set of options,
For number 1, copy and paste the keywords out of you refined notepad text file. The keywords you will be pasting in are the refined keywords from the first part of the keyword research process.
For number 2, simply select your currency type i.e. DOLLAR for USA, and enter a large amount. This just ensures that none of your results are filtered based on spending amounts. Since we will not be bidding on these keywords, enter a large value to prevent any keywords being filtered. Number 3 can be ignored, it has no connection to SEO.
Number 4 allows you to target locations, simply fill this out depending on the region/location you deal with. If your business is UK based and UK foused only then select United Kingdom (as shown in the image below). If your business is based in the USA and focuses on the USA market then do the same as above but select United States instead.
Once you have filled out the form submit it.
Once the data has populated, you will be presented with the results from the traffic estimator
Once this has displayed click the DOWNLOAD AS CSV button.
Open the file in your spreadsheet application. You will see the following fields:
In this spreadsheet, you can now organize the keywords based on estimated clicks per day lower and upper. You can also filter them by average CPC (cost per click).
In excel, you can perform a sort function that allows you to sort by one variable and then by a second variable, see screenshot below:
Once you have run the sort feature you can then create a final list in your word/spreadsheet application. The selected keywords should be split into 2 groups, the first group should be the most competitive and valuable keywords. The second group should be the remaining keywords which can be integrated into the website.
You now have successfully chosen you first set of keywords based upon search data. This process is a great way to filter out invaluable keywords or keywords that are not relative.
If you are performing work on behalf of a client, you will be able to provide evidence which can re-enforce keyword selection.
You can continue to the next part of search engine optimization, however, if you really want to get the best out of keyword research why not look at Google's insight tool.
Google Insights
This tool allows you to further interrogate keyword values, as well as comparing keyword search volumes against other keywords. This tool is great when researching the traffic values between keywords.
You can visit the tool at:
http://www.google.com/insights/search/
Make sure you are signed into your Google account. If you are signed in, the results from Insights will be enhanced with numbers.
Screenshot of Google Insights:
Above you can see the search terms that have been entered. You can see how the keywords have performed against one another over the years where the data is available. The more popular the keyword, the higher it will appear up the chart. Fluctuations are a reflection of the keywords change in traffic at various periods throughout the year.
This tool can be used to further enhance the keyword research process. If you are producing a report, this tool is a great way to produce some charts.
Its quick, easy and simple:
Simply fill out the boxes and use the filter option if you would like to change the regions and time period. Once you have filled out your keywords into the boxes and completed the filter options you can then populate the data by clicking search.
The data displayed will give you an insight into each keywords trend patterns:
The coloured lines are connected to the keywords via the boxes where the keywords were entered.
Here you can see the behavior of the keywords traffic over a 5 year period. From this data we can deduce that the keywords appear to be seasonal, suffering a decline in the winter months and peaking in the summer months.
Other data includes the region of popularity: & Search Terms Related to Central Keywords
