Keyword Research – Is it SO simple?

Posted on 29. Oct, 2009 by Franz in Web Marketing

Note: This is not a post that teaches you how to do SEO. I’m writing this down solely for conceptual purposes, discovery and my analytics. Keyword research is governed by a lot of surrounding factors, so if you need specific information on how to deal with it, you can contact me through Twitter or email.

Keyword Research

Often, people relate search engine optimization (SEO) with keywords: More commonly the <meta> tag, title tag <title>, heading tag <h*>, links tag <a>, paragraph tag <p> and image alternate <img alt=”keyword” /> tag. But no matter how well you place your keyword, it’s essential that you run extensive keyword research first. Here’s why:

Even if you know where to put your keywords, selecting the WRONG keywords will not yield favorable results.
Targeting generic keywords may not work for you, short term without PPC – E.G. shoes, shoelaces.
Different parts of your website requires different keyword targeting. E.G. homepage – shoes, services page – shoe repairs, accessories page – shoe polish, etc.
Your keywords have to better be ‘geographically targeted‘ or locally ’spoken’. E.G. Malaysia – Bak Kut Teh; America – Herbal Pork Soup; Malaysia – Sendirian Berhad (SDN BHD); Singapore – Private Limited (PTE LTD).
So that your keywords aren’t so lingually challenged. E.G. common Malay – Berzina; Penang Malay – Konkiet.
So that you know which keyword terms are more popular. E.G. consoles vs. platforms.
So that you get a good idea of what long-tail keywords are used, and how they’re trending.
So that you don’t waste money on full blown PPC campaigns (whether you’re investing or looking to invest into it).
So that search robots aren’t confused. (Homepage – Shoes. Contact page – Shoes. Services page – Shoes. Product page – Shoes.)
So that you understand and know market demands through the search medium. E.G. Plastic Warfare Guns, Malaysia, 1-100/year.

I may have missed a few, but please bear with me; I don’t write manuals. You probably get the ‘keyword research idea‘.

Keywords & Relationships & Key Search Terms

As much as I love to yap-yap-yap all day about:

“You still need good copywriting because you’re not just letting search robots read your keywords.”
“You want quick results? Invest a bit on PPC so that you can conduct quicker finds on ‘converting’ keywords.”
“You need to organize your keywords according to marketing (campaign) intent – Traffic, info, sales, awareness, etc.”
“You still need to identify dominant keyterms in a keyword.” E.G. Nike shoes or Sport shoes.
“People generally mistype keywords (typo) for search terms or it’s mutated.” E.G. shoes > sheos.
“There are many keyterms that lead to 1 sole meaning.” E.G. cheap, discount, bargain, offer, low price, best deal, affordable, etc.
“Keywords change as trends change and volume of use (popularity).” E.G. Lee Kit Siang scandal, (2 months later) Lee Kit Siang demoted.

Keyword relationships. Probably one of the best things to start with when you’re looking for keyword suggestions and connections. For example:

Keyword Maps - Mapping Associations and Relationships

When you understand keyword associations, you’re more likely to understand how your consumers would think when you do research on your keywords. We’ve always been looking to identify consumer intents (or wants), but we can only do so much with so many free tools.

Keyword Relationships: Thereafters & Alsos. This is also important as you may want to know the answer to the question:

“If my potential customers searches for the car Audi (Audi-lovers), what other brands would they also probably search for?”

Here’s your answer.

Keyword Research - Relationships: Thereafter and Alsos' for Search

Why would this matter, you may ask. Because knowing what and how your consumers relate brands to each other makes you ‘think’ about your own set of products/services. That you can be actively targeting the right target market, while knowing consumer behaviors and therefore closing more (and better) sales.