Reverse Engineering SEO: Keyword Research - Search Engines - SE Optimization

Before we mention anything about keyword research, type this phrase in your browser's search box, "SEO services in Michigan". The search engine you're using will pick this up and show all the relevant or related websites. The words you typed are actually keywords or more specifically keyword phrases. The websites listed and displayed are the result of search engine optimization techniques done on those websites. The better the techniques used, the higher your rank will be. One vital component of SEO is selecting the right words or phrases through keyword research.

What is Keyword Research?

It is the process by which you find and select the right words or phrases for you to optimize your site. Keyword research isn't as easy as you think. It takes time and diligence to accomplish. For example, you want to know what keywords you can use for violin lessons. I recommend a free keyword tool in which almost everybody is familiar with, Google Adwords Keyword Tool. When you get to Google Adwords Keyword Tool, type violin lessons and a list of related words pop up. The next thing to do is take a look at the columns on your right. One of the columns is labeled Global Monthly Search Volume. This column tells you the approximate number of internet users who typed each keyword per month. Choose the keywords with greater than 2500 search volumes. This will ensure that you have an audience who are actually typing and searching those keywords. List the keywords that you have selected. More importantly, after choosing the keywords you have to know how many people are competin g for that keyword. In other words, is there an easy, medium or difficult competition for each keyword that you use? You can either get one of those paid keyword analysis tools or use the free version of Traffic Travis. You would want to get keywords from those with easy competition so you will rank high. These keywords with easy competition are the ones you will use in your blog posts and articles which in return will make you rank higher in the search engines.

Keyword Stuffing

Avoid keyword stuffing; this is a method in which your keyword density or the number of times you use your keyword is more than two percent. You blog post or article gets flagged down and can be penalized by search engines. This method was used before to increase ranking by using keywords repeatedly to the point the article losses meaning. Remember you are writing good content for human readers and not search bots.

The Verdict

Without choosing the correct keywords through research, the search engines will not know where to find your site and determine how high it will rank in its pages. If these important points are too much to handle, don't worry, that's natural. To make the process easier and hassle free for you, find an SEO company to take care of your keyword research. Better yet, go the extra mile and get the whole package, not just keyword research. Let them do what their good at.