Keyword research is one of the most important aspect of search engine optimization but many tend to believe that keyword research is a one time process. You do a keyword research and select good keywords for your site and you are done. That is completely not true.
Keyword Research is an Ongoing process
As an example the title of one of the post phpBB Vs vBulletin and why vBulletin? but it could have been “phpBB Vs vBulletin” but I added “why vBulletin?”. See it in Google and it ranks well for both the keyword “phpBB Vs vBulletin” and “why vBulletin?” So serious keyword research should go with each and every page of your website.
I use Google’s Keyword Suggestion tool and WordTracker’s Keyword Question Tool to find out good keywords. Lets take a simple example.
SEO is a very tough market but still we want some long tail keywords which are related to SEO that have good search but not much of competition. How we can find such keywords?
Keyword Question Tool and when you search for SEO you get the following
Now we see that “what does seo stand for” is asked quite some time and so lets see the kind of competition it has.
Quite low when compared to SEO. So you can target such terms in your website to gain low yet targeted traffic. This should be done for your site all the time.
But if you are not planning to subscribe through Email. Try subscribing to RSS.
I do lot of experimentation on new ways to internet marketing strategies for my web properties and like to share my experiences on ways to make money online @ IMTips.co. Read more about me
{ 34 comments… read them below or add one }
Hello Shabir,
So it is advisable to use “what does seo stand for? phrase in the web content to get more targeted visitors- correct?
Which tool you have used here to check competition?
Ideally yes. Less competition and yet considerable traffic.
PLs ignore my second question. I checked the same.
I did the same exercise for “Fitness”
-In your example, why you did not choose ” what is seo” becuase this question is asked for 56 times while “what does seo stand for?” is asked for only 28 (25+3) times.
It is hard to believe that the question : “what does seo stand for? ” is asked only for 28 times in one year time.
Usvp
Because it is more competitive.
Shabir,
Thanks.
I assumed the same. So one has to check the entire list of questions and then select the more competitive one. Great.
In Keyword tool, few are having lesser monthly visitors are than “what does seo stands for?” phrase but still shows as medium competitive. for example, in the same list you can see: ” find seo company” has only 140 local monthly searches, comparatively lesser than “what does seo stands for?” but this phrase is medium competitive. Why it is so Shabir?
Thanks
Because more people may be competing for that term.
So we should consider the phrase that has the least competitor level shown in rectangle or the one has the least number of local searches?
Less competition but more searches.
Thanks. But when there are more searches for a particular phrase why it it is less competitive? When more people search for a phrase or word that particular phrase or word suppose to be more competitive, but here it is showing different, so I asked.
A phrase is searched more but less competitive can mean lot of things and we cannot have a general one single statement as to why it is so.
Hi,
I used the KEYWORD question tool (wordtracker.com). But one has to purchase this to continue search.
Is it possible to use GOOGLE KEYWORD TOOL instead? I searched on it but could not find any option for KEYWORD questions in it. Please comment. Thanks
Any keyword tool is fine as long as you know the relative search performance of one term with respect to the other.
Hi,
It is interesting. Finally my blog is listed first in Google search.
When search for keyword : “Wealth and Income Protection” and “Wealth & Income Protection” in Google, my blog site comes in the first page. (www.collegeezzay.blogspot.com)
However, as you explained in your blog where your title keyword split in to two short keywords, I would also like to split this KEYWORD in to two.
Currently my site is not showing up when I use Keywords: ” Wealth Protection”
or “Income Protection” or “Wealth and Income”
BUT it shows up only when I use the complete Keyword sentence: “Wealth and Income Protection”
Shabir, how to make my site optimized for first and second part of my title keyword? I checked both these short keywords and their competition rate is not high. How to optimize my site for the keyword : “Wealth protection”?
THanks
Salma, you can optimize for long tail keywords but for short keywords you not only need on page but also off page like links and other things to rank well. Concentrate on building links.
Ok. You mean, I must link my blog site to another site that is listed in the search results for the keyword I want ( In this case : “Income protection/ Wealth protection”). Is that you mean? or any other ways? I did not do any link for my tail keyword but it is still showing up on the first page.
Similarly, I checked your post ( this one!) This post comes in the first page of Google search results when I used : ” Do serious Keyword Research” and ” Do serious Keyword”.
BUT when I used keyword : “Keyword Research” ( this keyword has low competition!) this post is not showed up!!
Hi Shabir,
I am looking out ways to make links. Thanks a lot.
Check out some of my Link Building Articles
Hi Salma, when you have long tail keyword you can easily rank without external links and only based on internal linking like links from home page because of low competition. If competition is lot you will need lot more links than just internal links.
Thanks Shabir.
The pleasure is all mine.
Hello Shabir,
I used GOOGLE Keyword tool and it is very much useful. Could you suggest any free Keyword Tool that can be used Offline as well
I want to use Keyword tool when I am not connected to the internet. Is there any Keyword tool that I can install in my computer and use it as and when I require even I am not connected to the internet?
Thnks and regards
Use Google Adwords Editor Tool as well and I am not sure if it works offline or not but as it is an application it may work.
Hello Shabir,
Is there any free Keyword Tools like Google available to use when I am not connected to internet?
I look for a Keyword tool which can be installed in my computer so that I need not be online when I want to search or analyse Keywords. Do you have any tool to suggest, Shabir?
THanks and regards,
Salma
Shabir,
Finally my blogsite home page got its PR1. However, its insider pages are ranked as N/A. Only the home page is ranked 1. Why is it so? These posts in this blog sites are one year old.
Insider posts suppose to be ranked 0 instead of N/A. I do not understand why it is showing PR as N/A while my blog site is not new and more than one year old.
Waiting for your valuable comment on this. Thanks
Does it matter if it is 0 or N/A and to get good PR you will need links.
Hi
You are right Shabir. N/A and 0 both are same. However, just for the curiosity I asked. I just want to assure that PR N/A is not because of some decline action from Google.
Google is declining the Toolbar PR anyways and so you can never say why 0 or N/A
Shabir,
I changed my old domain to a new one. The old domain carry PR 1 and some alexa ranking. Can I retain the same ranking in my new website? If I do redirection, will I able to retain search and PR ranking?
Is there any place online where I can sell my old domain? ( Only the domain name)
Regards
Salma
Salm, you should do a 301 redirect and your PR and alexa slowly but surely will transfer to the new domain.
Shabir,
Thanks for your suggestion. I wonder how do I do 301 redirect for CO.CC domain (My old domain) to my new domain. Can I know how long it will take to transfer my old ranking to the new domain?
My blog is hosted with blogspot.
CO.CC offers forwarding option in DNS settings where in visitors who type my old URL or click on any submission link of my old domain would be automatically taken to my blog with new domain. But, I do not know if this option would retain my old rankings.
With .co.cc domains I am not sure what controls they provide but if they allow a .htacces file you can do a 301 redirect.
Ok
Should I do redirect with my domain registered company or at the hosting company?
Sorry for asking this because of my ignorance.
No, you should redirect using your hosts because domain registrar not always allow 301 permanent redirect.