Do Keyword Research – and Watch Your Online Traffic Increase

keyword-research-laptopThere is a lot of information about the game of Internet search and how important it is to your bottom line that your website gets great positioning. We all know one thing, Page One, position one is the best possible place to be found. So how do you get there? First of all, 90% of all online traffic is driven by search.  Traffic is what you’d guess to be – in numbers, the quantity of people who visit your website. They probably found your website by doing a search at one of the major search engines like Google, Bing or Yahoo. You’ve heard the term “Google it!”?  That is what it means when someone says: 90% of all online traffic is driven by search.

If you could get a list of the search phrases people use when they are looking for your particular product, or service, you could make a lot more money.  You want a list of the most important terms typed in by people searching for you (and your competitors).  You can produce this kind of detailed information manually, or hire a search marketing company. If you like to analyze, you can get an idea where to go with it. If you are too busy running your business, let the professionals gather and analyze for you.

Do a search yourself for a “free keyword research tool and you’ll find Google’s Keyword Tool contained in its AdWords property and the SEO Book, both excellent places to gather information. You can also get suggestions from Wordtracker’s free keyword suggestion tool. Make a list that makes sense to you and start searching the Internet to see which companies or competitors show up for the phrases you think are important to your website.

If You Know HTML…

  With a little knowledge of HTML, you can also look up your competitor websites and take a look at the page source for their home page.  In the head section of the code near the top of the page, look for the keywords meta tags. The keyword phrases in use for the website will be listed as “content” within the tag.  This is how it looks: <meta name=”keywords” content=”keyword phrase one, keyword phrase two, etc.” />  

After you have selected the keyword phrases that make sense, now incorporate those terms into your web page title, navigation and content, you will be well on your way.

If you’ve done a great job with your research, and your search terms and website content are relevant, you’ll see the traffic increase at your website!  The best advice is to become an active participant in a continuous process of research, implementation and improvement.  This time is never wasted!

spencer powell inbound marketing certified professional

Blog Post Written by Spencer Powell

Spencer is the Inbound Marketing Director at TMR Direct. Spencer specializes in helping clients create and execute effective inbound marketing campaigns.