Writing website content without SEO keyword research is like having a dinner party on your own – the food might be great, but nobody is going to know.
Ideally, you should do your SEO planning before you even start building your website. That way your site map structure and content are working together to get you up the Google search results.
So where do you begin?
Keyword goals
Why do you have a website? Most businesses are selling a product or service, but not everyone can sell online. For example, a tree surgeon can’t cut branches over the internet. Defining a keyword goal is about understanding what visitors expect from your website. If they can’t buy a product, could they download a brochure, subscribe to a newsletter or book a no obligation quote?
When it comes to SEO copywriting, keyword research is about getting into the minds of your customers to predict what they’ll type into Google. Only then can you create content which satisfies their query and leads them to take action. Once you understand the importance of keyword research, you can give your content and marketing activity a laser focus.
Keyword discovery
Once you have a keyword goal and some associated keywords and phrases, you need to discover how they perform in search results. You might think that you have some winning keywords, but they’re useless if nobody is searching for them.
Fortunately there are plenty of online tools available, including Google’s Search Console, which can help you discover the popularity of your keywords. For example, one of our clients wanted to use the phrase “Home Counties builders”. However, when I did my keyword research I realised that there was little or no search voiume for the “Home Counties”. My work found that people were more likely to search for specific locations such as Milton Keynes, St Albans, Watford etc.
Keyword competition
Unfortunately, successful keywords are used by lots of websites and big companies with equally big SEO budgets. The holy grail is to find popular keywords which have a relatively low number of competing pages and websites. When I do my keyword research I check for both search volume and competing pages, so that my blogs and website pages have the best chance of being found on the first page of Google.
Try using long-tail keyword phrases, consisting of at least four or five words, which are very specific. These have more chance of rising up the search results. For example, I have a client who is a tree surgeon and they wanted a blog to promote a mobile elevating platform that was available for hire. My keyword research identified an opportunity to combine the type of platform with the location to create a powerful keyphrase. Within a fortnight, the blog appeared on page one of Google, just below websites for national plant hire companies.
Google’s Keyword Planner can help you assess search volume and keyword competitiveness. Armed with this valuable data, you now need to target the keywords with the most number of monthly searches and the least number of competing pages.
SEO keyword campaign
Armed with your keywords, you can now roll out your SEO keyword campaign with relevant website content and promotions. Blog posts based on your keyword phrases are essential, while your core website content can be optimised for more popular search terms. Ensure your home page has a relevant call to action. You can track the performance of your new keyword rich content by monitoring traffic to your website. Learn from your top performing pages and then revisit pages that are underperforming.
Need help with keyword research?
If you want your website to shoot up the Google search results, contact me today to discuss options for rewriting your existing website content or creating new blogs. I would be happy to have a no obligation chat to discuss your requirements.
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