New Article - The Best Keywords Ever

[thejenn]

Authored by: Stoney deGeyter

Full Text: http://www.searchengineguide.com/degeyter/009869.html

A Snippet:

No, I'm not going to give you a list of most searched or most clicked keywords or whatever. Instead I'm going to talk about how to determine which keywords will be the best for you.

[copywriter]

Good advise in a short quickie article. It is definitely about more than numbers.

[Logan]

Yep, good article and it is definitely more than numbers. My post is going to be longer than the article .... but .... I think if there is one thing any new seo can do to be successful it is grasping this. It really can make all the difference. I had a customer - xyz who I helped launch a site about 6 years ago. It was work and we focused heavily on conversion and long tail keywords. The site rose to success. The business was then sold and I wasn't not involved for a few years. They used other seo services, starting out with a company they refer to as "the criminals" and had a lot of issues with their rankings. They then went to seo company b, and basically said we want to rank for these prime keywords (discount widgets, etc) because we know people search them a lot and we want to get back to the traffic levels we had before "the criminals". In fact we want this so much, and are so sure we will sell $x that we'll pay you this big fat amount. It was a sure deal to them. Impressively, seo company b after much work did get top rankings for those keywords, and as expected the number of visitors did return to the previous levels achieved over the first three years. But, as ston3y reinforces in his article, even though they had great rankings and the same number of visitors ... their sales were only half the level of what was previously achieved and the conversion rate was terrible.

While it is truly a matter, imo, of understanding your market, product, audience, etc ... one rule of thumb that I continue to find true is that the more words in a keyword phrase then the more likely the visitor is to convert. This means that 10,000 visitors for "discount widgets" is not going to compete when it comes to conversions/sales versus 10,000 visitors who are referred by long tail keywords (for example - product names, attributes, etc).

Outside of focusing on long tail keywords, I'm curious what others do to find the best converting keywords. While popularity isn't usually substantial, using keywords like "buy", "for sale" and other qualifiers also work well for me usually.

[copywriter]

the more words in a keyword phrase then the more likely the visitor is to convert.

AMEN! You got that right.

And why is that? Because visitors start a search (at the beginning of the buying process) with a broad look around. They are just seeing what's what and beginning to collect information. They realize (or some just wonder if) they have a need and are mulling over the possibility of doing something about it.

By the time they get smart and start typing in " large five fingered blue wooly monster" instead of just "wooly monster" they are ready to make a buying decision.

However, keywords are just the beginning. You have to start there, but (as has already been said numerous times) just ranking high for keywords won't automatically get you conversions.

[Logan]

Great point! For some reason this thread is drawing the stories out of me....but it reminds of many years ago when I went to go buy a car. I was ready with a good deposit in hand. I went straight to the dealership that I thought was going to be the best. As I introduced myself to the sales person, I mentioned that I was interested in buying and he was lucky enough that his was the first place I stopped. He cringed a bit, then went on to explain to me that he'd much rather prefer if it was the last place I stopped. He went on to explain that the first stop is rarely where someone will actually buy - as we use that reference to make other comparisons when visiting subsequent competitors, and everyone shops around. Its more about the buying process, but based on my experiences its important to understand. If you do understand that, you will then go back thru your competition and see how you do compete when making comparisons. You want to be at the end of the buying process, and be very competitive so that those who are making comparisons will convert.

On a side note, this - imo - reinforces why the #1/top position (in particular w/ ppc) may not always be the 'best' ranking. Sure, you want to be above the fold on the first page ... but something to consider if you are assuming #1 is "always" best.

[zoobie]

True. Thank you for sharing. Good point.

[copywriter]

On a side note, this - imo - reinforces why the #1/top position (in particular w/ ppc) may not always be the 'best' ranking. Sure, you want to be above the fold on the first page ... but something to consider if you are assuming #1 is "always" best.

Absolutely correct!

[krtup]

From a consumer/buyers perspective I would totally agree with the sentiment reinforced here (that ranking #1, especially in PPC is not necessarily good).

Not only do we as consumers like to check out more than one option before parting with our $$$, I believe we are also becoming more discriminating about which links we click on based on the other data available (descriptions, etc). I won't waste my time clicking on something that doesn't seem to be a fit, even if it appears #1 or #2.

[carlar9]

Very good article, short and to the point. I liked it.

[beebalm1955@hot]

Thanks for the info. This whole keyword/search engine thing is new to me. I've put my business on a few search engines, but they are search engines I've never heard of before...will they still be as effective as the big, well-known search engines? Any thoughts?