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Step 1: Determining Your Best Keywords
Why You Should Keyword Optimize Your Site
Keyword optimization deals with optimizing your site based on keyword relevance . For Example, if you have a site that sells Blue Widgets, the keywords and phrases should be blue widgets, blue widget makers, buy blue widgets, widgets.
A common error is to target very generic and competitive keywords, such as "widgets" or "top widgets" as one of your top keyword selections. The disappointment is that millions of other sites may be vying for the same keyword. To determine your competition, let's do a quick search in your favorite Search Engine for your top term [ I'll use Google].
Do a quick search in Google for the keyword "flowers."
As you can see the results are a staggering 114 MILLION web pages for the term flowers! This represents the number of pages you have to compete with to achieve a top ranking for the keyword "flowers" - and by the results you can see this keyword is considered a very competitive term. [And we only searched in 1 Search Engine.] Remember, results will vary from Search Engine to Search Engine.
In choosing keywords be conscious that highly competitive terms are the hardest to achieve a high ranking. This is not to say a top ranking cannot be accomlished, but be aware it will take time. A LOT of time and even then you may not reach your desired goal.
The correct way to determine your best keywords is to look at it from a more specific approach.
Do another search in Google but make the term more specific: "Amaryllis Flowers."
Note the results are more manageable with only 843,000 results. [Fig 1B - below] . The competition still seems staggering - but this is actually a manageable term. "Red Amaryllis Flowers" would be an even tighter niche keyword.
The more competitive the keyword the more you need to optimize your site. A well organized and optimized site that provides relevant information ranks higher. Another marketing tip to gain targeted traffic for those hard to achive terms is to use a Pay Per Click program such as Adwords. Remember this marketing can become very costly very fast - so testing is crucial when using PPC programs.
So now you see the benefit when researching for keywords and phrases that are more specific.
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