Techniques for Choosing Keywords

Before you look for a magical solution for choosing keywords that will get you to #1 on search engines overnight (which we all know is impossible to achieve that quickly), you should get wise about keywords selection.

Selecting Relevant Keywords

Before you begin to implant keywords into your content, you should make a list of keywords that are relevant to your business.  It is important to include general words as well as those which are a bit more specific to what you do.  For instance, if you are a local business, your company type paired with your city name, county name or state name could be a great keyword to target.

Ask your clients and customers how they would try to find you on a search engine (without using your exact company name – this is too obvious) if they did not know your web address.  Use that feedback as insight as you narrow down your list of potential keywords to target.

Remember that if you opt to target irrelevant keywords – those that have little to nothing to do with what you do or what you offer – you will be drawing in useless traffic.  That reduces repeat visits; increases bounce rate; degrades your ROI (both in terms of financial and time investment); and, worst of all, it slaughters your rate of conversion.  Put simply: don’t do it.

Choose relevant keywords only.  That doesn’t mean they can’t be unique – they just need to relate to your site.

Using a Keyword Research Tool

To assist you in choosing keywords, you can try keyword research tools like Google AdWords Keyword Tool, Webmaster Tools, MSN Keyword Forecast, Google Trends, Hitwise and Google Suggest.

Remember that no matter what tools and keywords you choose, it is how you use words that really matters to the search engines.  The appropriate context and the “white hat” nature of your keyword usage are both essential.