5th Dec 2008, 11:00 PM | #1 |
pbwsfi Join Date: 2008 Location: California
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So I've started Suzanne Morrison's "ABCs of SEO" and find it very interesting (2 lessons in so far). The BIG question, and I'm sure it is probably asked 1,000,000 times, is just what strategy should be used in selecting keywords? By that I mean it would be pretty easy to use stuff like "work at home" or "make money online" but suffer the consequence of competing with millions of other websites. Would it be wiser for a newbie to start with something a bit less competitive then change as the learning curve improves? Just wondering how all you veterans have figured it out!
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6th Dec 2008, 12:03 AM | #2 |
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Hey Bob, I'm sure Suzanne can answer this question much more thorough than I ever could but I'll give it my best shot. You basically want to search for long tail keyword phrases that are low competition with high search volume. For example, instead of optimizing your articles and/or web page with the keyword phrase "work at home" you may have more success with a phrase like "work at home business opportunity" -- as long as it get a decent amount of search volume and build from there. Stay away from high search volume/high competition phrases like "work at home". "home business",etc. There is definitely a science to it and I am still learning something new everyday. Keep reading Suzannes course and things will begin to come together. She's a master at SEO. You can use tools like wordtracker, SEO Book Keyword research tool, or Good Keywords to help you nail down the best keyword phrases for your site. Good Luck Steve |
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6th Dec 2008, 08:42 AM | #3 |
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Hi Bob, Glad you finding the e-course useful Choosing your main keywords for your home page can be tricky, especially in the home business/work from home market. If you have a new website, picking a highly competitive phrase like "work from home", "home business", "make money online" etc is not going to help you in the short term. Most of the traffic from Google comes from the first two pages of results and getting to the first page or two for competitive phrases like this could take you years of hard work (building links). It is better to be on the first page for a term that gets a couple of thousand searches a month than to be on page 20 of the results for a phrase that gets 50,000 searches per month. For this reaon I recommend going for a term with a lower volume of searches and less competition to start with. Once your site gets more established you can start to add more competitive phrases. That is the strategy that I would recommend for your home page. At the same time you can get lots of traffic by blogging or by adding additional pages to your website. Choose a low competition phrase with a low number of searches like Steve describes above. Choose a different phrase for each page or blog post and put that phrase in the post title and a couple of times in your blog post. I describe this strategy in more detail here: How to Multiply Your Search Engine Traffic Cheers, Suzanne |
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6th Dec 2008, 12:10 PM | #4 |
pbwsfi Join Date: 2008 Location: California
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Thank you for your suggestions. That was where I thought I should go, but it helps getting confirmation. I have begun the process of researching my keywords (Lesson 1) and will try to add them to my home page as soon as I feel a bit more comfortable with changing things on my website(another task to be learned!).
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17th Dec 2008, 06:47 AM | #5 |
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Do not give up on high competing keywords! I fully agree with targeting long tail keywords as the main keywords for new websites. However, chasing the most searched shorter keywords is also very important. I also agree it can be difficult to get indexed and hard to get on the first 2 pages of SERP for the shorter, more in demand keywords. But that is not a reason to give up on them. Yes you have to work harder. And yes, you will not see results quickly, but they are still vital to long term success. It just means you need to concentrate more on back links such as article directories, social sites, hub pages, blogs etc. So never give up on the high demand high supply keywords. especially since the competition is not following all the rules! The real winner is to go wide, not deep with your keywords. Do not concentrate too much on going deep with your keywords. That is a mistake most people make. Think about all the different ways people search. Think about all the "masses of different words and sentences" people use in stead of just home business or home based business, or work at home etc. Going wide is definitely the winner. The wider you go the better. As long as you stay focused and targeted you will quickly start to dominate. Once you are established you can attack every deep keyword in your niche. And as I said: Back links. Add lots of articles to the directories. Syndicate the articles. get a squidoo lens for every keyword. Get a blog for every keyword. Do the same with hubpages. Use the right anchor text and you will see real results. Wishing you the greatest of success. Sincerely, John. |
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27th Dec 2008, 07:48 PM | #6 |
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Also, mispell a word. Sometimes people type so quickly that they don't notice they've mispelled a word. Check with one of the trackers for the mispelled phrase and see how many searches are done on it. It seems to be working for me. It minimizes my competition. Good Luck! TJ |
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