SEO Toolkit – Part 1: Keyword Research. SEO Has 3 Main Legs: Copyright 2010 - 2011, Subscription Site Insider a division of Anne Holland Ventures, Inc

SEO Toolkit – Part 1: Keyword Research

SEO Has 3 Main Legs:

Copyright 2010 - 2011, Subscription Site Insider a division of Anne Holland Ventures, Inc. All rights reserved.

Your Site

Keywords

Inbound Links

Keywords

Inbound Links

Your Site

Today’s Topic: Keywords

Today’s Topic: Keywords


A keyword can be a single word or phrase. Plurals are additional keywords.Misspellings are also additional keywords.

Using the right keywords helps your search engine ranking (it also helps your conversions).

See part 2 of our toolkit for more tips on using keywords on your site.

Part I: Finding Out Which Keywords Your Target Audiences Uses


Check Your Site’s Search Logs


What are visitors to your site typing in the search box? Use your most popular on-site search phrases as keywords in content.

Back-end report shows which words visitors are searching for:

Review Your Analytics


What words are visitors putting into search engines to reach your site? Changes month over month.

Lessons Learned:-Most common “typo” versions of your site name, may be worth buying & redirecting traffic

-More searchers typed “a b” vs “a/b”

-“split testing” a term we rarely use in editorial is used frequently by people using search.

-“multivariate” and “multivariable” testing a term we frequently use (it’s even in our homepage title tag) is almost never searched for… at least by traffic that finds us.

Example Report: SEO Traffic By Keyword


Review Conversion Data


Look at analytics for those who arrive at your site organically and through your Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising (like Google Adwords, Facebook ads, LinkedIn ads) for best conversion keywords and use them throughout the site.

How Do Your Customers Speak, Write and Spell?


Make a list of the wording + spelling your customers use on the following:• Comments on blog posts • Customer service calls and emails• Discussion forums• Twitter• Facebook

You might be surprised at the words they choose!

Example Report: Words Used by Bloggers To Describe Your Site


• The words that outside sites and bloggers use to describe your content are often an invaluable source of ideas for keywords.

• This is a standard WordPress report, but could be created for other CMSs as well fairly easily.

Ultra Precise Wording Counts


Example: A publisher is decided how to title a business-to-business webinar. Should she spell it out or use “B-to-B” or “B2B”? She used the keyword tool in Google AdWords to be sure.

B-to-B marketing = 4,400 searches per monthBusiness-to-business marketing = 27,000 searches per monthB2B marketing = 49,500 searches per month!!!

“B2B” is by far more popular!

Part II: Keyword Research Tools


Popular, Free Option: Google AdWords Keyword Tool

Gives keyword suggestions based on words


Google AdWords Keyword Tool Also gives keyword suggestions based on website URL


Google AdWords Keyword Tool

The match type you choose matters


Broad match: The sum of the search volumes for the keyword idea, related grammatical forms, synonyms and related wordsPhrase match: The sum of the search volumes for all terms that include that whole phraseExact match: The search volume for that keyword idea

Source: Google

Wide Variety of Keyword Tools at Variety of Price Points


$69/month or $379/year

$299-$999 per month

on the high end

$89.95 and up/month

$199-$499/month

$79/month


A Note About Competitors’SEM

Many keyword tools promise to give you plenty of data and insights on what your competitors are doing online. While this is helpful, don’t assume that your competitors are doing things right or following best practices. Take it with grain of salt.

Part III: 6 Steps to Finding and Using Newsworthy Keywords



GOAL: Tie Keywords and Content to News Events

When news breaks, web users search for analysis

Does your site have the expertise to add something to the conversation?

Use keywords tied to the news event Set up a system to be alerted to news

quickly and a way to respond by publishing content quickly


Note: You can use this same account to sign up for relevant email newsletters and blogs, etc. It’s a net togather news … not a communication account you’d use to email anyone.

Step #1: Set Up A Gmail Account for Newsgathering


Step #2: Search News By Keyword


Step #3: Scroll to Bottom Of SearchResult for “Create E-mail Alert” Link


Step #4: Surf Keyword Email Alerts Frequently Looking for News “Waves” Your SEO Content Can Hitch a Ride On…

Example Google Alert that inspired blog post on next slide:


Step #5: Develop Fresh Newsy Content for the Keywords

Here’s the blog post that resulted from the alert.

Put your newsy story where search spiders can find it – on your blog or homepage.


Step #6: Promote Your Story with A Press Release, Social Media

Part IV: Action Items


Create A Keyword List Memo


• Send to editorial AND marketing staffs

• Set up accountability procedures

• Include a list of keywords and keyword phrases that should be emphasized

• Mandate that no headline be created without keywords

• Require all internal links to be keyword-optimized, not just say “Click here”

• Make sure all URLs have keywords

Attn: Editorial & Marketing

Keyword List

Memo

Attn: Editorial & Marketing

Keyword List

Memo

Do A Monthly Keyword Audit


Do an audit of headlines and summaries monthly – or better yet have staffers do it themselves and report back – until you're sure the message about keyword importance has gotten through.

Additional Resources from


Links to Our Entire SEO Toolkit including:

Part 1: Keyword ResearchPart 2: On-Site ChangesPart 3: Building Inbound LinksChecklist: SEO for Subscription Sites

Can be found at:www.subscriptionsiteinsider.com/members/446.cfm

Documents

SEO Toolkit – Part 1: Keyword Research. SEO Has 3 Main Legs: Copyright 2010 - 2011, Subscription Site Insider a division of Anne Holland Ventures, Inc