Reality Check: A Straightforward Guide to Keywords and Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Web site owners need to have realistic expectations when it comes to the world of keyword selection.

It's essential to understand your audience, as well as to aim appropriately at powerful, concise keywords that are not vague or generic-those broad, expansive keywords that rarely attract the audience you are seeking--and lead to disappointing rankings and wasteful expenditures of cash resources.

If you want a healthy return on investment (ROI) with search engine optimization (SEO), your success ? or failure ? hinges on the keywords you select when combined with other factors like link popularity and web site design.

If your web site has content and design barriers, lacks saturation (a term used to describe how well a site is indexed by search engines) and isn't found on many other relevant web sites, you're odds of ranking well are pretty low.

Be careful with keyword research so that you don't miss excellent opportunities or aim so broadly that you target phrases that will never rank well. Get your act together. Here are 5 tips to guide you along the way in your research. They may help you make good choices, achieve high rankings and bring more traffic (and leads) to your web site.

1. Know your audience and think through your business goals.
Many businesses simply pick keywords out of thin air. They don't talk to customers or hot prospects in order to determine what might be a useful set of keywords. Your keywords need to match your business strategy. What are your main products? Where are sales lagging? Are there products or services that do well and could soar with SEO? Which products have the highest margins? You should have scores of other questions that make sense for your business. The information should be readily available. If it's not, you're way behind in the SEO process.

2. Watch the broad search terms.
Companies make a mistake in this area more than any other place. The keyword landscape is more inviting than a one-hour toy store shopping spree for a child. The excitement forces people to ignore reality. Who can blame them? Wouldn't it be great to be #1 on Google for "food," "cars," "software"? Yes, single words can help drive sales. But they're difficult to achieve. Link popularity, web site content, site structure and other considerations will impact rankings.

3. Learn how to form search terms.
You can start with "automobile" all you want, but build on your core phrase by adding on other words like "suppliers," "products," "services," "companies," "firms."

4. Analyze log files.
Often overlooked and easily underplayed, web site log files reveal much about the way people search. You can generate many keyword and search phrase ideas just by examining the data with an intuitive sense.

5. Know your link popularity.
First you need to know your competitors ? compare their link popularity to yours. How far do you need to go to catch up? Study who else links to their site. Would those web sites be willing to link to your site? Would you be required to do a link exchange with them? Use a Link Popularity Check (www.checkyourlinkpopularity.com) service to ascertain how your site is faring with link popularity.

Get additional keyword tips through our free keyword development report. Our FREE guide, "Reality Check: A Straightforward Guide to Keywords and Search Engine Optimization (SEO)," helps business owners navigate the often misunderstood world of keyword selection, including how to pick them right words and mistakes to avoid.

Get your copy today of our SEO white paper here: http://www.fathomseo.com/forms/keyword_form.a sp.

Michael Murray is vice president of Fathom SEO, a Cleveland, Ohio-based search engine optimization firm. The SEO firm is a member of Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO) and SEO Consultants. He also authored the white paper, "Search Engine Marketing: Get in the Game" and the manufacturing SEO study "U.S. Manufacturers Resist Natural Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Online Sales Leads." michael@fathomseo.com

---

Professional SEO: Hand Off to Bob or Outsource the Job

We are often asked if professional SEO (search engine optimization)... Read More

Keyword Targeting Strategy In Your Site

Once the keywords have been decided for the site one... Read More

Google, Adsense, SEO, and How It All Works

Google uses an algorithm to determine the search engine results... Read More

Local Customers Know Where to Find Local Businesses... the Internet

Through search engines and directories, the Internet provides a quick... Read More

10 Ways to Tackle Keyword Research and Selection

You need to be extremely careful with keyword research so... Read More

Google Takes Care of Idiots Too

There's an old saying that goes, "God takes care of... Read More

Are Your Keywords Making Money for You?

I built my website, it's perfect. My chosen subject of... Read More

MLM and SEO - Bad Business! No Business!

MLM has been around way before the Internet. It is... Read More

Lets Make Your Website #1

Their is simple way of making your website rank top... Read More

Google Groups

Some very early users of the Internet - not the... Read More

The Great Search Engine War, Where Content is King

When search engines first appeared, they were simple affairs consisting... Read More

Fresh Content Improves Search Engine Optimization

Many search engine optimization companies will sell you a search... Read More

So, Where Has Your Search Engine Been Today?

Visit Google, Yahoo, MSN or one of the lesser search... Read More

How To Use Google As A Niche Website Builder

The popularity of weblogs or blogs has gotten a lot... Read More

Search Engines Are Going to Love You for This

What's the most potent free traffic source on the web?***... Read More

Adding City Names At The End Of Your Keywords Can Bring You More Profits

In recent times, I have been closely studying keywords that... Read More

SEO For Ecommerce

Ranking well under the free listings in the major search... Read More

Whats the Big Hurry?

Quite often I get asked what the magic solution is... Read More

Google, Yahoo!, Pandoras Box And The Lottery

In the fall of 1990, the musical group Snap had... Read More

What In The World Is This Google Sandbox Theory Thing? And How Do I Beat It?

Ok, so over the past month or so I've been... Read More

The Sandbox Effect

What once many people thought they had a penalty, is... Read More

When Google PR Tool Bar is Down!

Where is the need to worry? Who needs a PR... Read More

Optimize Your Site Pt2

6: The hidden benefits to having the right links. Every... Read More

5 Qualities to Look for in a Search Engine Optimization Program for Your Website

These days with millions of websites out there, you need... Read More

The Top 3 Mistakes That Can Ruin Your Websites Search Engine Rankings- and How to Fix Them!

Getting your website up and running is hard enough. After... Read More

Ten Steps To A Well Optimized Website - Step 4: Content Optimization

Welcome to part four in this search engine positioning series.... Read More

Design A Spider Friendly Site

To be successful in the search engines it's important to... Read More

Dont Get Banned by Google

There are many Black Hat techniques that people use to... Read More

Sales And Crawlers, Update! Update! Update!

The importance to the algorithmic web crawlers that speed throughout... Read More

Search Engine Optimization Techniques

Search engine optimization is the process of increasing the amount... Read More

SEO Trade Secrets - 8 Great Tools for Search Engine Optimization

About 80% of website traffic comes through search engines. And... Read More

What is the Google Dance?

As with any good web developer, the ability to time... Read More

Search Engine Optimization for Beginners

If you are confused about terms like "search engine optimization"... Read More