Selecting key words

Key words to get to the top of search results

Key words. Key words. Anything for the right key words.

Search engines index key words. Searchers type key words into the search feature of the engine. Web sites are found with key words. So key words are hugely important when it comes to getting found by customers. You have to ask yourself, what makes good key words? The answer is; "your customers use them". Selecting the right key words is an exercise in getting into the customers’ mind.

You are limited in how many key words you can use. Search engines may reject your listing if there are too many key words. And using too few words may result in lost sales. So what should your key words be and how many of them dare you use?

There are three things you should do to decide. First, visit your friendly neighborhood search engine and try to find a couple of competitor’s web sites. Look at the sites at the top of the rankings and, as you visit each site, click on the right hand mouse button and select ‘View Source’. In the source code, you will see a line similar to the following:

< META name="keywords" content="internet marketing, internet public relations, online marketing, internet PR, PR books, web site design, web site marketing, web site promotion, Outlook mail blaster, web site template" >

What if you don’t find any key words? That means one of a couple of things. First, it may mean the site you visited PAYED for their position. The internet is an auction and most engines sell the opportunity to pay for top rankings. Second, it might be the engine you used takes the key words out of the text on the web page itself. If you don’t find key words on the site you visit, try another.

Assuming you found some words, there are several things you can learn. Empirically you know that the key words at the site you visited are good words, and not too many words. You know this because you found the site high in the search rankings. Count the number of words, note the sequence, and note all the words used. The designer of this site thinks those are the right words and apparently she is correct - because you found the site.

The second thing to do to decide on your key words is to visit the search engines where you will register your site. Each one has a FAQ (frequently asked questions list) about how to best prepare a site to get registered.

The third and final thing to do is study the traffic that comes to your web site. A study like this is performed with the aid of a statistical package (e.g., Web Trends) that has a key word analysis feature. A sample is below.

Analysis of Key Words Referring People to Marketing for Idiots

Keywords
Referrals

web site templates
1127

email blasters
1190

web templates
903

email blaster
654

outlook mass mail
621

outlook send to a file of email addresses
601

My suggestion is to study the habits of your competition and your customers carefully. Be like the fisherman who takes a moment to ask, "what are they biting on", and "where is the action". If you do this, you will get better results from your search engine registration.

For more information on how to implement key words, see the article entitled Design your web site to get search engine registration.

Comments on this article? Contact me!

About the Author

Jeff Gilman writes for Marketingforidiots.com

jgilman@marketingforidiots.com
http://www.marketingforidiots.c