Avatar News: November 2016
Written By: Mark Rocket
Published by: Avatar Ltd
Greetings All,
Ahhh… lovely keywords, keywords, keywords. An integral part of SEO is working out what your target market are typing into the search box. It’s been a while since we’ve talked about them, so here’s a few areas to contemplate. If you’ve ever wondered how to use Facebook For Business, then check out our Top Value Pick. Then kick back, put your feet up on your desk to watch some videos and read some articles.
|
Keyword Research For SEO
Maximising the power of keyword selection is not just about focusing on one, two or three word search terms. Keywords for search engine optimisation need to also encompass natural language type phrases.
To give a real world example, let’s say you’re running a hotel in Christchurch. As well as the typical ‘christchurch hotel’ type keywords (which are hyper competitive), you can think about the natural search variations such as ‘hotel in christchurch near airport’. As search engines like Google are becoming more intuitive and street smart, this is a trend that is set to accelerate as searchers get more creative and specific with their search terms.
Gaining a greater understanding of your target market’s search intentions is the key. This process is often referred to as topical or semantic search, where the focus is more on a combination of related keywords and relevant search topics.
Some quick fire suggestions to consider:
- Topics. Research relevant topics and for each make a list of words and phrases people would use to search for the topic.
- Conversational Language. Conversational, or natural language, search phrases are increasingly being used. Start with what questions are likely to be asked about your business, including What, Why, Where, When, and How?
- Related Content. Spend some time pondering what would interest your target audience. Think about ‘how to’ guides, FAQs and/or related industries.
- Analysis. Keywords are commonly categorised into two broad types, head and tail. While the shorter, higher traffic ‘head’ keywords are important to recognise, the long ‘tail’ keyword phrases can provide higher conversion rates and have less competition.
Here are some tool suggestions:
- Google Auto Complete. When you type a search into Google it automatically provides you search term predications in a drop down menu. These search terms are related to what you are typing and what other people have searched for. The idea being that Google already knows what you are looking for and wants to save you time typing it in.
- Google AdWords Keyword Planner. This is Google’s own Keyword research tool and up until recently, it was probably the best out there. It still provides great keyword data except it no longer gives detailed search volumes for individual keywords. Instead it only provides a range which is not as useful. For the cost (free), it is still a very valuable keyword research tool.
- KW Finder. A reasonably priced keyword research tool that provides the search volumes for keywords that the Google Keyword Planner doesn’t. It also boasts a great user interface and provides SEO difficulty ratings and competitor analysis too. Try the free account to see what it can do before you decide to buy.
- MOZ Keyword Explorer. Another great keyword research tool with similar features to KW Finder although at a higher cost. But MOZ Keyword Explorer is much more than just a keyword research tool; it gives more in depth competitor analysis and brings many SEO functions into one place.
Contact Avatar if you’d like to discuss keywords or SEO further.
|
Tidbits
James Cameron Interview. We’ve got a soft spot for Mr Cameron. We started Avatar in 1998, but he admittedly took the word to a whole new level of awareness in 2009 with his wee film. Read an interesting article about how he’s living in New Zealand and why he’s eating a plant-based diet.
Wingsuit Crash Footage. Breathtaking footage of flying in a wingsuit before crashing and then check out the followup interview.
Human Population Through Time. It took 200,000 years for our human population to reach 1 billion—and only 200 years to reach 7 billion. A compelling video from the American Museum of Natural History.
|
