5 tips to choose the right keywords for SEO

It is important to choose the right keywords and phrases to optimize your website content and make it more visible to the searchers and search engines. SEO, or search engine optimization, is a time consuming process; however, it is integral to online marketing and is required to generate website traffic and quality leads.  You need to find keywords that best describe your products and services, are not competitive, and yet provide good traffic returns. They should also demonstrate the right balance between popularity and competition.

Here are a few tips to help you choose the right keywords for your SEO efforts.

1. Identify your target audience

You need to identify who would be looking for information on your website. For instance, if you have a website that is selling kids clothes and accessories, your target audience would be people with children.

The next step is to conduct research into your area of expertise to determine what the industry buzz is about. The internet is a fantastic resource for topic research. Browse through the social networks and join discussion groups to understand what people are talking about.

2. Create a list of keywords for your web content

Jot down the list of words and phrases you identified during your research. You can now make your list more specific by identifying the keywords that associate with your industry, describe your industry terms, and your products/services. In case of kids clothing, your target market would be apparel. The industry keywords could be new season ranges or kids apparel online. Your key competency can be jumpers and cardigans for girls.

3. Research competition

The Google Keyword Tool will help you choose the best keywords for your website. The fact that Google dominates the search market means that this tool is pretty accurate at showing you what keywords the majority of people are using to search for your product or service. Open the tool and type in the keywords you have selected. Keep the synonyms box checked and also click “’Get Keyword Ideas.’ The tool will list the search results for the specific keyword you entered. Then underneath that, there will be a list of synonyms for that keyword.

4. Optimize your website for keywords

Use your keywords throughout your website copy, where they make sense. You also have to maintain the balance between quality content and right keyword density. While keywords are fodder for search engine spiders, high quality content is pre-requisite to motivate leads and convert them into customers.

You should also use keywords in meta tags, meta descriptions and title tag. Break the copy of your web page into small paras, or preferably, into bullet points and provide suitable headings with the keywords/phrases. SEO is an ongoing activity and so be sure to review your content and strategy after every 4 to 6 months to ensure it is in sync with Google’s search algorithms and matches competition.

5. Avoid Black Hat SEO practices

Black Hat SEO practices include unethical techniques such keyword stuffing, doorway pages, invisible text, and more. Search engine spiders are programed to spot these pretty easily. If you are caught, your website may be penalized or even banned.

In organic search, you cannot buy visibility with cash. Properly based keywords in your content will boost your site’s relevancy and visibility to a given search.

In case you are challenged for time or are not familiar with SEO content writing, you can hire professional copywriting companies to choose the right keywords and draft search engine optimized content for your blog or website.