Let’s talk about keywords. These are the words your target audience types into their favorite search engine (the Google), to look for more information on topics you can help them with. It’s the cornerstone of any SEO strategy. Figuring out how to find the right keywords for your business can be a challenge.
Keywords and Key Phrases
Before we go any further, it’s important to note that we’re not talking about single words here. You’re not going to rank for “accounting” for example, even if you are an amazing CPA and that’s what your clients are looking for. Instead, what you want to go after are longer key phrases that give you a good indication of what your people are looking for.
For example, let’s say you are a small business accountant who specializes in taxes, and you’ve been out networking. You overhear a growing group of business owners complaining about increasing tax bills. A key phrase you may want to look at for a blog post or informative article could be “how to spend less on business taxes” or something “how to keep more of the money from your business.”
If I’m writing about SEO and trying to find people interested in a training program or a short guide to help them find out what their customers and readers are looking for, I may use a phrase like “best way to find targeted keywords” or even “how to discover what people are searching for online.”
How To Find The Right Keywords
The next question is of course where you find those keywords. How can you find out what your target audience is typing into their favorite search engine?
It starts with a guess. I hope you know enough about your topic and business niche to come up with a list of several words and phrases that you think your potential clients may be using. From there you have options. One of your best and free tools is Google. Start to enter one of your keywords and see what the autofill options are. Play with different terms and start making a list. Once you have that list, search each term and scroll down to the bottom of the first search results page. You will see a list of related searches. Add those to your list of keywords and key phrases and choose several that make sense for you and the type of content you want to create.
Another option is to use a keyword tool. If you use Google AdWords, or have at least an AdWords account, you can use Google’s free tool which gives you quite a bit of information on search volume and the likes. Other paid keyword tools are also available.
What To Do With Keywords
Use your keywords and key phrases where it makes sense in the title and content of your blog posts, articles, video descriptions, and so on. Don’t force it. Always write for your reader first, search engine second. If you can use it in the title, and definitely use it within your content, multiple times or several variations of your main keyword within the content depending on length. Don’t overdo it, but help both your readers and the search engines see what your content is about.
