Digital marketers might disagree, but nowadays, it makes sense to say that search engine optimisation or online advertising isn't as hard as some people might think. What is hard, however, is driving the right people to your website – people who actually are interested in what you have to offer and would actually complete the buyer's journey to buy what you sell. That's precisely why effective and efficient keyword research is increasingly becoming indispensable. If you want to market your own or someone else's business online, keyword research is vital.
Today, any good marketer knows that a good set of keywords doesn't just get you to the top of search engine rankings for PPC and SEO. Keyword research can also get you to far more places to reach your target market. A good content marketer agrees that effective keyword research can help you choose the right topics to write about that would engage your ideal buyer personas. It cans also help choose the keyword phrases you can use to get discovered right away. An effective viral marketer recognises the right keyword or phrase (or hashtag) as the thin line between being virally discovered by people and being a flop. A successful affiliate marketer knows that the right keywords will draw leads and recruits a continuous flow of downlines for your business.
Finding the right keywords for your business to be picked up by Google and your target market easier and faster is a crucial step in building a marketing strategy. Picking up the perfect keywords to target for your strategy may be painstaking, but once you have those keywords in hand, optimising your website comes easy.
For your business to thrive, you have to choose keywords that will not only get you to Google’s first page, but will also generate enough sales. Good quality keywords initiate buyer interest and intent. Below are the three stages that represent the different types of interest, and the intent of people who use search engines for product research.
1. Out-of-the-market: This type of keywords is typically used by people who are looking for information on a topic of interest. These keywords, although they generate a lot of monthly traffic for your website, do not initiate buyer intent. Instead, they just express interest in a topic’s information (i.e. conducting school research). From a sales and marketing perspective, out-of-the-market keywords basically won’t generate money for your business, and are unlikely to get you to the top of search engines quickly. This is because these keywords are most likely highly competitive, and use general terms with usually high traffic volume.
2. Entering-the-Market: This type of keywords is used by people who might be interested in getting a product or a service like yours. However, they are still doing research on whether what you offer is worth their money. They may or may not eventually decide to buy. Hence, this is a fairly good keyword set that you can explore targeting. From a sales perspective, targeting these people with a strong enough message is a good investment for generating leads and sales. This type of keywords usually has a combination of industry terms and geographic qualifiers.
3. In-the-market: This type of keywords is used by people who have decided to buy something and are only doing further research to decide where or what brand to buy. In-the-market keywords are usually long-tail keywords that use a combination of industry keywords, geographic qualifiers, and commercial intent qualifiers. From a sales perspective, these are usually the keywords that come in at the tail end of the buyer’s journey and are the most profitable.
Examples:
Out-of-the-market: Digital Marketing
Entering-the-market: Digital Marketing Singapore
In-the-market: Digital Marketing Agency Singapore, Hire Digital Marketing Agency
Out-of-the-market: Chinese Food
Entering-the-market: Chinese Food Singapore
In-the-market: Affordable Chinese Restaurants Singapore, Chinese Restaurants in Marina Bay
No matter how good the quality of a keyword is, your efforts to optimise it would all be in vain if nobody uses it to search. A good set of keywords does not only initiate buyer content, but also drives a good amount of traffic from your ideal market to your website. You can use Google’s Keyword Planner to get an estimation of your keyword list’s monthly traffic volume. This will help you decide on whether a keyword is worth targeting or not.
Before finally deciding on whether or not to target a keyword on your initial list, you have to assess how competitive it is. Competition plays a big role in determining how long it would take for you to rank for a specific keyword. If you’re in an industry which is relatively highly competitive in nature (e.g. real estate, food industry) it's advisable to go for long-tail keywords first which aren't as competitive, so that your website can gain traction on search engines. After ranking for the long-tail keywords, you will have gained momentum and can then start optimising your site for more competitive and profitable keywords.
In Google’s Keyword Planner, apart from the average traffic volume, you'll also get to see how competitive a keyword is.
Another way to check the competitiveness of a keyword is to check for websites that are currently ranking for that specific keyword. If the SERPs are populated by authority sites (educational sites, Wikipedia, big brands), it’s safe to say that these keywords are very competitive.
To create your initial list, just list the words that pop into your mind when you think about your business—what you sell, and the industry your business is in. Think of brand terms, product names, and popular terms your target market uses when referring to products or services like yours.
When you’re done with your initial list, expand your list using tools and sources that are readily available. You can:
You may also opt to search for keywords by scanning your website or entering a category your business is in—Google Keyword Planner has those options, as well.
Just search for keywords on your initial list and see which websites come up in the results. Have a good look at their websites and look at the keywords they're optimising, and include them on your list. (Places to check: title tags, meta descriptions, and content)
Given the criteria above, you can now trim your list according to quality, traffic volume, and competition. This way, you can weed out keywords that would really be just a waste of time, and focus on those that can actually get your website found on Google. Your target market will therefore find you faster and easier.
How well have these tips worked for you? Let us know in the comments section!
Want to know more about the keywords that could land your page on top of search engine results and get you the sales that grow your business ? Talk to us today. At NEO360, we’re always open to the kind of collaboration that takes you to the forefront of your industry through a powerful and integrated digital marketing strategy with the highest possible ROI for your business.