Keyword Analysis and Search Engine Marketing
Tips for Bloggers and Niche Marketers
Ever since I first became interested in Keyword Analysis, back in 2002, the majority of websites that deal with this subject have been spinning the same story on how you should research keywords. I’m sure you know how it goes… a) log into Wordtracker, enter an obvious keyword that relates to your market, b) take note of the results, enter those top keywords back in and drill down further into those categories, c) run a related word search on those used in steps a-b to get additional keywords, plug those back into step a) and repeat until you have so many keywords you may as well give up.
For some projects, that’s fine - if you want to generate a long list of keywords for an effective Pay Per Click (PPC) campaign, or look for keyphrases that have characteristics of high search and low competition in the main search engines… that’s still going to be a major strategy, but I don’t believe it should be the only one you consider. The Internet has changed significantly since 2002, the blogging phenomenon for starters has introduced a better way to create a long stream of useful content and in combination with the rise and rise of Social Media sites we now have a vast structure to network that content in ways that in many cases transcend the major search engines.
Keyword analysis is all about goals, and with many new ways for people to find your content, comes many more opportunities to study the habits and needs of your target market as they perform their actions. What questions do they ask? What topics create the most confusion? are key concepts in your industry widely misunderstood? What differences in search behaviour exist between a customer looking to buy, and another doing research? Answers to questions like these will not only help you target your market more effectively, but they will also help you create better content and a more engaging website covering topics your readers want to hear.
Information rich publishers such as blogs and niche marketing sites need to look beyond Keyword Analysis for SEO and PPC purposes only, we need to find the questions and then supply the answers - ultimately I think this will lead to dominant search positions as well, not only as you focus on creating lots of highly targeted, relevant content, but as search algorithms evolve, the relevancy of this approach can only improve.
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