Every year the search engines change, forcing online marketers to alter their tactics right along with them. Yet as online marketing processes become more advanced and search as a whole becomes far more targeted, too many marketers begin to jump from tactic to tactic all the while forgetting where they came from. Instead of searching for the next best thing to attempt to target your audience just a little better, sometimes it pays to go back to the beginning, back to the fundamentals when you first conducted your keyword research. It’s a new year and that means that some of your search data may have changed since you least updated the keyword research for your business. To make sure your business is using the very best keywords and to make sure nothing has changed since the very beginning, take a trip back in time and start your keyword research all over again. You never know, altering your research and the keywords you use may help you break plateaus and achieve all new higher rankings. Let’s look at a few steps you can take to go back to the fundamentals when researching the best keywords was the most important thing on your mind.
Forget Broad Keywords
Updated keyword research should focus on specific keyword searches, not broad keywords that have way too much competition. Today’s search engine users know that a broad search for ‘flat screen television’ is going to yield millions upon millions of results. On the other hand, a search for ‘Panasonic 50” flat screen,’ complete with a model number will yield far more accurate results. These types of keywords, the ones that mention actual brands and models, end up leading to actual sales pages. That’s exactly what users want.
The keyword research shows that today’s online user wants a more streamlined experience. The closer the user can go from keyword search to product information or purchase, the better. Keep this in mind when conducting your updated keyword research.
Brainstorm Keyword Ideas
Taking the above information, think of all the keywords your prospects and customers might use to find your online presence and buy from you. What unique phrases would they use, what problems would they be facing that they would need answers to? Those are the phrases you need to go back and conducted updated keyword research on.
Keyword Research Tool
Use the Google Adwords keyword tool and populate the search box with all of the keywords you’ve produced through your brainstorming session. The great thing about the Keyword research tool is that it will automatically categorize your results. Want your search terms separated by product? The platform does it for you. Model number? Done. Go through each product and conduct the proper research until you find the keywords you’re looking for.
As it was in the beginning, it’s always high search volume data and low competition. Search for the keyword terms you find ideal in Google’s search box to see what kinds of results you get. This process may be tedious, but the updated keyword research will help you target your audience much more accurately.
Unique Content on Category Pages
A neat trick to help you gain more prominent search results now that you are aimed with more accurate keyword research is to add a little overview text to each of your category pages. Then you will want to use your new hot keywords as your categories. Write a sentence or two, such as a sales message or call-to-action, and you will present a whole new search result for search engine users to find. Your overview will appear with your new keywords right in the search results. The space is bigger than normal results and search users will be able to click on each of your categories right in that one listing.
Get Started on Your Keyword Research Today
With the first of the year still in our rear view mirrors, the time is now to update keyword research for your online marketing campaigns. If you are currently utilizing a lot of broad terms or you seem to have hit a plateau in the search results, or both, you will benefit greatly from brand new keyword research by going back to your roots.
Take a trip to the beginning of your campaign with updated keyword research and optimize your campaigns to the best of your abilities. You’ll target your audience better, you’ll earn better search results and you’ll surpass any competitor that chooses to use the same keyword research year after year.
