Many search engine marketers and ad agencies offer
keyword research services. Keyword research and analysis aren't as simple
as using the tools available at Overture and Google. Web site owners must
go beyond these tools and look at the big picture.
Keyword analysis can be performed on three levels:
- Keyword research tools
- Web analytics software
- Site search engines
Data-mining all three levels provides site owners with
the full perspective of how target audiences find the information on their
Web sites.
Keyword Research Tools
Many of you probably already use the keyword research
tools available at Overture, Google, and Wordtracker. By all means, keep
using these tools. They provide great data for keyword research.
For long-term keyword analyses, we gather monthly data
from Google, Overture, and Wordtracker.
Additionally, we review related search results on
Yahoo, Business.com, and Teoma. By researching all these resources,
instead of just one, we can determine which specific keyword phrases are
the most popular on all these Web search engines and look for a common
denominator. I can also see subtle differences among the engines. Some
searches are more popular on one engine than another.
For many sites, creating a keyword phrase calendar is a
good strategy. The construction industry tends to be more active in warmer
months than colder ones. The cold and flu season is coming up in the U.S.,
which has implications for pharmaceutical and health-related Web sites.
By creating a calendar based on keyword research over
years, site owners know what pages to create for timely "natural" search
engine optimization (SEO) campaigns and what ads to create for
pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns.
Listed below are valuable links providing information
on keyword research:
By gathering and analyzing keyword data, Web site
owners gain valuable insight to user behavior and ways to create a more
user-friendly site that converts visitors into buyers.
Say a site owner discovers visitors are searching for a
specific keyword phrase on Google, then arriving at a specific page on his
site. He then discovers same keyword phrase is a heavily searched term on
his site search engine. This data indicate visitors might not be arriving
at the most appropriate landing page. Increasing optimization for other
site pages may be necessary.
Compare site searches that yield no results with Web
search engine data. If the Web search engines indicate a keyword phrase is
popular, and the site search engine shows visitors have a genuine interest
in a keyword phrase, you can create new information around a topic.
The goal of keyword research is to:
- Discover new keyword opportunities.
- Fix missed keyword opportunities.
- Generate a calendar of keyword phrases; some keywords are
more popular at different times of the year.
- Increase the number of clicks from landing pages to the site.
- Increase the relevance of landing pages from natural SEO, PPC
advertising campaigns, press releases, or offline marketing efforts.
Remember, keyword research and analysis is an ongoing process.
