Finding Targeted Keyword Phrases Your Competitors Miss
Daria Goetsch Search Innovation
Finding keyword phrases your competition is missing is easier
than you might think. Combinations of two and three word phrases
are often overlooked by your competitors when vying for the top
competitive terms. This missed opportunity may be a benefit to
you to overcome your competition in the search engine rankings.
Think Like A Searcher - Study Your Target Audience Really look
at the audience you want to bring to your website. Are there
terms you might not ordinarily use, or that your competitors
use, that would work for a small portion of visitors? Remember
that single words tend to be more competitive. Find two and
three word phrases that would work for a searcher looking for
your website topic. If your visitors usually search on "vertical
widgets", look at "horizontal widgets" as well. Dig deep to find
terms that might not be obvious to you. Be sure to focus your
terms on the actual topic of your website, and terms that people
would really search for. Have another person compile a list of
keyword phrases used to find your website or product. You'd be
surprised at the number of variations two minds can come up with
instead of one. Think like a searcher - not a website owner.
View Your Competitor's Source Code And Content For Keyword
Phrases Viewing your competitor's source code is very easy and a
good way to see what keyword phrases (if any) they are using.
Using your browser, view the source code of their page. The
title and meta tags should contain the same keywords or
variations of keyword phrases if the competitor's website is
optimized. Look over the web page content as well as for keyword
phrases worked into the text, image alt text, headings and
hyperlinks of the pages. If their pages are not optimized you
may gain an even bigger edge on the competition by optimizing
your web pages.
Using Keyword Tools To Find Variations Of Keyword Phrases The
Overture Suggestion Tool will provide keyword variations. You
can find the tool at
http://www.content.overture.com/d/USm/ays/index.jhtml
Clicking on the suggestion tool link will bring up a window that
allows you to search for terms and variations of terms. Begin
with your list and see how many variations come up with the
results. You might be surprised at the popularity of some of the
search variations you see. Be sure to add you new keyword
phrases to your list.
WordTracker is a keyword tool as well, you can purchase a yearly
subscription or even a one day subscription. Learn more about it
here: http://www.wordtracker.com/
Search On Keyword Phrases In The Search Engines Using your
expanded list of keyword phrases, search for those terms in the
search engine databases. Note the number of search engine
results. The more results, typically the more competitive the
term. See the differences in number of search results for plural
versions as opposed to singular versions of your keywords in
each engine. Note the descriptions that the search engine
results bring up - are there any keyword phrases there that
might apply to your website? Don't forget the ads Google
displays in their search results. Study the ads that come up
with your search terms as well. While you are searching on your
keyword phrases, check your competitor's ranking, along with the
new keyword phrase variations you come up with through the
Overture Keyword and WordTracker tools.
Add Keywords Reflecting Your Local Cities And State You can also
target local areas by including them in your title/meta tags and
text of your web pages. List only the cities and state you
reside in and/or provide services to. You never know who will be
looking for a local contact producer of "blue widgets" in your
city or state. Some people prefer to work with a local company.
Adding in those type of specifics, even on your contact page
with your local information, can pull in traffic your local
competitors are missing.
Check Your Site Statistics Last but certainly not least, check
your search engine stats program or raw server logs to see what
terms your visitors are using to find your website. There may be
combinations of words your visitors are using you have not
thought of or that may not be in the content of your pages.
Incorporate Keyword Phrases Into Content Of Your Web Pages Once
you have your list of varied keyword phrases, work them into
your web page. Incorporating these terms into your web pages
should "make sense", in other words, they should read well and
not sound "spammy". Most of all, they should realistically be
part of the content of the page, not placed there only because
you need them in the content. Have another person read your copy
to see if it sounds reasonable to them.
Keyword Variations Make A Difference Don't miss out on the
keywords your competitors might miss. Those extra keywords could
translate into profits and increased viewing of your website by
visitors who might otherwise not find you.
# # #
Daria Goetsch is the founder and Search Engine Marketing
Consultant for Search Innovation Marketing
(http://www.searchinnovation.com), a Search Engine Promotion
company serving small businesses. Besides running her own
company, Daria is an associate of WebMama.com, an Internet web
marketing strategies company. She has specialized in search
engine optimization since 1998, including three years as the
Search Engine Specialist for O'Reilly & Associates, a technical
book publishing company.
Copyright © 2003 Search Innovation Marketing. All Rights
Reserved.
Permission to reprint this article is granted as long as all
text above this line is included in its entirety. We would also
appreciate your notifying us when you reprint it: please send a
note to reprint @ searchinnovation.com.
About the author:
Daria Goetsch is the founder and Search Engine Marketing
Consultant for Search Innovation Marketing
(http://www.searchinnovation.com), a Search Engine Promotion
company serving small businesses. She has specialized in search
engine optimization since 1998, including three years as the
Search Engine Specialist for O'Reilly & Associates, a technical
book publishing company.
