Before starting search engine optimization or setting up a pay-per-click program, smart internet marketers should invest in some keyword analysis and research services.
By SEM Manager Kathryn Katz
When someone asks me whether or not keyword analysis and research is important in attracting traffic to their website, it always gives me a pause and elicits a tiny laugh. Because for someone who’s been providing search engine optimization services for over five years, that’s not even a question…it’s a given.
Keyword analysis and research is key to attracting traffic to a website, because it’s the first step to any search engine marketing program, whether you’re using search engine optimization or pay-per-click services. However, before I can explain just how important keyword analysis and research is, it’s important to examine how visitors get to a website.
While a small number of visitors might find you by directly typing in the domain name or through off-line advertising, the majority of traffic comes via the search engines. All search queries start with a simple grouping of words that the person in front of the computer types in. That query goes to a database sitting at Google, Yahoo, MSN or some other search engine, where they have stored information on billions of web pages, all categorized by word groupings. Using a sophisticated algorithm, they pull the pages that are most relevant to the person’s search query and presto, the person in front of the computer is looking at a bunch of results that hopefully match the typist’s intention…and this whole process is driven by keywords.
Choosing the wrong keywords can be disastrous for a website. Because if the keywords on the website don’t match what your customers are typing in the search box, the search engines will never associate your website with the search queries and bring traffic to your website.
You can guess at what keywords your customers might be typing in the search engines, and put those words on your web pages. However, it’s a hit or miss process and you might be missing some potential traffic.
However, by using keyword analysis and research, you can find the right keywords to use on your web pages that get the most traffic from search queries, driving the highest potential of traffic to your website.
Where can you go for keyword analysis to help you research the best keywords?
Business owners have several options open to them. You can hire an internet marketing agency that offers search engine optimization services and/or a pay-per-click program, and pay them to find the best keywords for attracting traffic to your website. You can subscribe to a keyword research service, such as WordTracker (www.WordTracker.com) or Keyword Discovery (www.KeywordDiscovery.com) and perform the keyword research yourself. Or you can use free keyword research tools, such as Overture (inventory.overture.com) or Google AdWords (adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal).
The free keyword research tools are useful but don’t have the accuracy that WordTracker and Keyword Discovery offer. And doing your own keyword research through either the free or paid tools can be difficult if you don’t have the experience in keyword analysis to know what you should be looking for.
Like everything, you get what you pay for. Do-it-yourself keyword analysis and research will always be outdone by internet marketing professionals who have years of experience under their belt. However, do-it-yourself keyword analysis and research is always better than no keyword research at all. Don’t gamble with your website’s traffic by playing the guessing game.
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