“Sod” is a great keyword for Emerald Sod Farms in Metro Denver Colorado |
Good Keyword Research is Absolutely Critical to Local Search Engine Optimization
IX Brand SEO Services Company helps small businesses rank higher in Google results and helps them use social media tools to connect with new customers. We serve clients throughout the greater Houston area from offices in Sugar Land and Wharton, Texas. Call 979-531-8300 to visit about your situation online.
Keyword research is the absolutely vital first step in developing great online visibility for your business. If you don’t know what search terms your customers are using online, you won’t be able to build those keyword phrases into your webpage titles, descriptions, headings, image tags, link anchor text, and page copy. If those keyword phrases don’t get built into your website, your website will not appear in search results for those terms and you will lose customers to your competitors with better online visibility.
Many business owners tell me that their web designers or web developers ask them to provide the keywords. This is a sure sign that you are headed down the road to developing a website that may look good, but it will be a website that will be hard for your customers to find. It’s a fact that as a business owner, you don’t know some of the keywords your customers are using to find businesses like yours online. Only by using keyword research tools like those provided by Google and by other companies like Wordtracker, will you be able to identify the words and phrases people are using to search for your products and services.
For example, a dental clinic might not realize that people will be using keywords like dentist and tooth ache to search for services. A personal injury attorney many not realize that potential clients will search for a car crash lawyer. A podiatrist might not know to optimize his or her website for foot doctor. Keyword research ensures that your web developer will know what words and phrases to emphasize in building the site and developing content for the site.
Identify the Keyword with High Search Volumes and Low Competition for Use in Your Site
Even though you may know the words and phrases your potential customers are using to look for your products and services, that knowledge won’t do you much good if you only optimize your website for keywords with lots of competition. The key to doing well with your website early in its life is to identify the keywords without much competition and optimize your website for them. As your website grows and develops a reputation and as you build the number of inbound links to your website, you’ll be able to also perform well in search engine rankings for the more competitive keywords.
The better keyword research tools provide measure of the competition for various words and phrases. Make sure that your website is optimized for the keywords that you are likely to do well with in search engine results. If your website designer can’t show you measures of competition for the keywords being built into your new website, then insist that he or she find someone who can. Here’s a sample keyword analysis provided by Wordtracker:
Wordtracker – Search Volume, Competition, and Keyword Effectiveness |
If your website is built from the start with great keywords with low competition, you’ll enjoy the advantage of a great online presence early on and your search engine rankings for more competitive keywords will also climb. If you start with poor keywords or only the most competitive keywords, your web presence will not provide much of a benefit to your business.
IX Brand SEO Services can provide you with keyword research relevant to your business and the competition measures for those keywords. Give us a call at 979-531-8300 to get your business website off to a great start!
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