When Words Are All you have

What is keyword research?

When searching a particular topic using search engines, people tend to use a handful of keywords to find content pertaining to that topic.  When websites contain these keywords, the website achieves optimal rankings in search engine search results. 

For this very reason, marketers undertake keyword research to identify these popular keywords and to determine those that are most relevant to their brand and product.  As products and brands become more common and well-known, and keywords become more generic, advanced keyword research begins to also consider the competitiveness of the keywords.  

2.    Benefits of Understanding Keywords and Doing Keyword Research

Once upon a time, searching for products and services involved weeks of calling and visiting stores, scouring the yellow pages, and perhaps even visiting the library for category information.  Remember those days?  Some of us may.    

Many of us however, have repressed those painful memories and embraced technology's ability to search at the click of a button.

As marketers, we are rejoicing and despairing simultaneously.  Yes, we can now easily and freely make available information pertaining to our products and services via the readily available internet; however,

how do we ensure that we get our information out there

(above and beyond all the cyber trash) for every relevant search that is performed?

Just as most species of animals, human beings follow certain patterns of behaviour that can make them predictable.  This means that if we know what consumers will do or how they will react, we can cater to them.  If we know what they search for online when they are searching for our product or service category, we can ensure that they receive our information.

This is exactly what keyword research is about.  It's about achieving search engine optimization through finding out those keywords that are popular with searchers and incorporating them in our sites and content so that when a search is performed, our site appears in the search results.

Many keyword research gurus however advise that it's not always best to use the most popular keywords, unless of course you run a mega-brand and have unlimited marketing moolah at your disposal.  Popularity in itself can be a drawback - just ask the popular kids in school.  Everyone wants a piece of what's popular and by jumping on the bandwagon, you'll be competing pointlessly.  Sometimes it is better (and cheaper!) to search for keywords that you perceive to define your product, or better yet, search for keywords that consumers perceive to define your product. 

There are numerous other trade tricks that wily  keyword researchers hide in their hats and up their sleeves.  Two of the more common ones are geographical targeting and the use of long tails.

Geographical targeting refers to the inclusion of specific locations in the search.  When searching for products, it is common for consumers to search by their local area.  Why search for a fridge in Perth when you live in northern Sydney?  Simply acknowledging geographical targeting in your keyword research can stretch that marketing budget a mile.  

Long tails on the other hand refer to the extensions, combinations or mutations of key words.  This could mean the use of suffixes, prefixes, street slang, and numerous other variations of words.  Knowing and incorporating the possibilities in keyword research is critical, as it is rare that consumers will type exactly what you think they will type.  Behaviour may be predictable, but we are still not mind-readers!  On a side note, it must be mentioned that while incorporating long tails in keyword research may be expensive with all the possible keyword variations, not incorporating it could mean that the search engine's full potential is not harnessed to the advantage of your website.  

Keyword research is one of the critical pillars of search engine optimization.  It is advisable to use these optimization tools together for the best results as they tend to complement each other.  One without the other is like bread without the butter or jam - dull, bland, boring, highly ineffective, and just not good enough.