If you need to ‘find’, or need to be ‘found’ in the search engines, then the line between success and failure is thin indeed. And to get on the right side of that line, you need to do your keyword research.
Whatever you do with the internet, using keywords correctly is important. This has always been true if you own or manage websites, or indeed if you use a search engine to find products or information, as most of us do. With the rise of social networks and Twitter the importance of good keyword selection moves into a further dimension.
When I produce a website (like this one) I need to know some hard facts before I start the hard work:
- How many people out there are searching for what I have to say, or sell? And which exact keywords or keyphrases do they type into Google (or Bing! or whatever) when they search the web?
- How many other websites are there who are offering similar web content to the site I’m creating? (This is “The Competition”).
- How strong is this competition? Which sites rank well in the SERPS (search engine results pages), and how did they achieve this high position?
Armed with this knowledge, I decide firstly whether there is indeed a market for what I have to offer, and crucially whether I’m able to compete for a high ranking in the SERPS. If either of these tests fail, then I have a cup of coffee, shed a silent tear, and move on.
But do you see how interesting this process of balancing the equation can be? The ‘Eureka’ moment when you discover that thousands of people are searching for ‘keyword research’ (because that’s what they want to engage in), but all the SEO software websites out there are optimised for the ‘keyword analysis tools’ keyphrase because that’s what these companies produce?
Finding these imbalances between supply & demand is a real charge. In the above example (sadly, fictitious) an enterprising individual would arbitrage this supply gap by creating a website optimised for the ‘keyword research’ key phrase and do deals with the software creators to forward his traffic to their websites in exchange for a referral or affiliate commission. And then move to the Bahamas I should think.
Now these websites need not be huge (this one isn’t – but you found it didn’t you?). They do need to be ‘relevant’ for all kind of reasons; and most importantly they need to appear relevant in the eyes of Mr Google. If you didn’t already know, Google is completely obsessed with relevance – and rightly so. When that moment arrives when Google SERPS offers up data which is irrelevant to the searcher, Google’s days are numbered. Their whole business model is at risk.
My keyword tool of choice, which really does help find these gaps, these market niches, and channels me to produce relevant and unique content, is Market Samurai.
Click here to download your free copy.
