Facebook Marketing Series #5 – Keyword Research
Keyword Research is a critical component in just about everything you do online. It is the core of what search engines use to rank and list website. So don’t you think you shoud do a little research to make sure you are using the right keywords that are not only relevant, but are POPULAR?
Keywords are used in social media bios, blog posts, your site pages, URLs and meta descriptions so make sure you have a set of keywords that make sense to you, your customer and search engines. You will reap the long term benefits of better search ranking for your website and your social media presence.
Lets get started…
Keyword Types:
- Single Keywords: like “shoes” is certainly going to have a higher volume of searches but the competition will be pretty fierce and harder to achieve first page results. There is always going to be someone with deeper pockets than you have to make sure they do everything to get on the first page of single word terms.
- Long Tail Keywords: on the other hand get less traffic but are much easier to rank for and can be easily added to new blog posts, social media post and website pages. They still get a fair share of traffic and to your benefit of speaking to your target market. The searcher buyer is being more specific about their buying needs.
- Local SEO: helps industries that are more local services and don’t cater to a global audience. How often do you search for a plumber, maid, lawyer or dentist and don’t add you city? I don’t and I even understand that google has geo-location so it knows where I live and I still do it so make sure your prime services area are including in your mix of long tail keywords.
From an advertising perspective the higher the competition the higher the cost to you if you use these in your PPC campaigns and other online advertising methods.
You can find new creative ideas on keywords everywhere. Shopping online or in the store, look at branding and descriptions, Google Trends, Amazon and the list goes on and on. Two of the easiest ways to do some initial research is Amazon and Google use the “auto fill feature” these if you didn’t know are some of the most popular keywords so they they are offered as suggestions.
Do this on Google and Amazon
If you have a Google Account you can also use Google Keyword Planner
Or you can try Long Tail Pro: http://longtailpro.com/cb/
Things to Try…
Try to wrap your single keyword around some popular search supporting terms:
- Best, Top, New [keyword] for Men, Women, ____, _____
- Where to buy [keyword]
- Cheap, low price, deals, expensive [keyword]
- [keyword] on sale, coupon
- [keyword] VS. [keyword] (comparison)
- [Keyword] in [City], [ST]
- [Keyword] near me
So now what, what to do with my keywords?
This is where it could get technical but if you are willing to learn or already know your website in and out you need to add these keywords in the follow places.
- Title of page, blog or social media post (65 characters or less)
- Meta description, try to put the keywords as close as you can to the front (140 characters or less)
- H1 tag, H2 tags (supporting tags)
- Page Content: Squeeze it several times in the copy but do not “keyword stuff” the page Google will see this as an act of Search Terrorism and ban you.
- ALT tags: used for adding descriptions to images.
Then track your results and monitor how you preforming
There are several online services that help you track your ranking long term. Some of the best we use are about $100 a month. But are included in some of our care plans. It is important to monitor your performance to make sure you are meeting you business goals. Every day, every week, every month. It is a metric that matter to your business. If you need some SEO assistance let us know.