Selecting the right keywords is the heart and soul of any search engine optimization campaign. Keywords and relevant phrases are what your target audience will type into Google or any other top search engines to find your business, website or online profile.
Researching and selecting the best keywords and phrases is one of the most important ways in any SEO and online marketing strategy. One of the biggest mistakes when starting with this process is selecting the wrong keywords and then building a strategy around those keywords.
Here’s a couple of mistakes to take note of while doing keyword research.
Keyword research mistakes
Search volume: Never select the keywords based on a daily search volume. Be smart and select keywords based on relevance instead. Would someone that used the search engines for a specific phrase really buy what you are selling? Focus rather on acquiring interested people to your website.
Order of words: Don’t choose keywords that doesn’t follow a specific reading order. Do your research for keywords based on phrase match instead of broad match items.
Keyword length: Don’t select short keywords. Even though you might think these are powerful and sometimes they are, short phrases doesn’t attract buyers. People that are interested in buying will use more than 2-3 words to describe exactly what they are looking for. Research specific phrases that you can use.
Keyword information: Select phrases that people are using to perform a specific action. Don’t focus on only attracting keywords if people want information. You are not WikiPedia so don’t optimize your website only for people that are looking for information.
Local search: If you are a local business, don’t focus on international and broad phrases. It’s easier to get ranked for local keywords together with your area of operation. Most of the top search engines are using local keyword phrases, so the sooner you start with this, the better.
