How do you start building your key phrase list? It requires a little thought and a fair amount of research and insight, using tools that are readily available to help you grow and refine your list of keywords.
Key phrases are the very foundation of search. When a user enters a query on a search engine, he or she uses the words he or she thinks are relevant to the search. The search engine then returns those pages it believes are most relevant to the words the searcher used – and, increasingly, the implied meaning of the search.
Search engines have built a sophisticated understanding of semantics and the way in which we use language. So, if a user searches for ‘car rental’, the search engine will look for pages that are relevant to ‘car rental’ as well as, possibly, ‘car hire’, ‘vehicle hire’, and so forth. Search engines have also built up knowledge around common misspellings, synonyms and related searches.
Because of this, it is crucial that you implement keywords that are likely to be used by their target audience. Websites need to appear when their potential customers are searching for them. A large part of keyword research is understanding search psychology. When we build our key phrase lists, we are tapping into the mental process of searchers and putting together the right mix of keywords to target.
There are four things to consider when choosing a keyword:
Search volume
How many searchers are using that phrase to find what they want? For example, there is an estimated monthly search volume of over 338 million for the keyword ‘hotel’, but an estimated 6 600 searches per month for a key phrase such as ‘Cape Town Waterfront hotel’.
Competition
How many other websites out there are targeting that same phrase? For example, Google finds over 2 800 000 000 results for ‘hotel’, but only 3 210 000 for ‘Cape Town Waterfront Hotel’.
Propensity to convert
What is the likelihood that the searcher using that key phrase is going to convert on your site? A conversion is a desired action taken by the visitor to your website.
Related to propensity to convert is the relevance of the selected term to what you are offering. If you are selling rooms at a hotel at the V&A Waterfront, which of the two terms (‘hotel’ or ‘Cape Town Waterfront hotel’) do you think will lead to a higher rate of conversions?
Value per lead
What is the average value per prospect attracted by the keyword? Depending on the nature of your website, the average value per lead varies. Using the hotel example again, consider these two terms:
‘luxury Cape Town hotel’ and ‘budget Cape Town hotel’
Both are terms used by someone wanting to book a hotel in Cape Town, but it is likely that someone looking for a luxury hotel is intending to spend more. That means that that particular lead has a higher value, particularly if you have a hotel-booking website that offers a range of accommodation.
Key phrases are the very foundation of search. When a user enters a query on a search engine, he or she uses the words he or she thinks are relevant to the search. The search engine then returns those pages it believes are most relevant to the words the searcher used – and, increasingly, the implied meaning of the search.
Search engines have built a sophisticated understanding of semantics and the way in which we use language. So, if a user searches for ‘car rental’, the search engine will look for pages that are relevant to ‘car rental’ as well as, possibly, ‘car hire’, ‘vehicle hire’, and so forth. Search engines have also built up knowledge around common misspellings, synonyms and related searches.
Because of this, it is crucial that you implement keywords that are likely to be used by their target audience. Websites need to appear when their potential customers are searching for them. A large part of keyword research is understanding search psychology. When we build our key phrase lists, we are tapping into the mental process of searchers and putting together the right mix of keywords to target.
There are four things to consider when choosing a keyword:
Search volume
How many searchers are using that phrase to find what they want? For example, there is an estimated monthly search volume of over 338 million for the keyword ‘hotel’, but an estimated 6 600 searches per month for a key phrase such as ‘Cape Town Waterfront hotel’.
How many other websites out there are targeting that same phrase? For example, Google finds over 2 800 000 000 results for ‘hotel’, but only 3 210 000 for ‘Cape Town Waterfront Hotel’.
Propensity to convert
What is the likelihood that the searcher using that key phrase is going to convert on your site? A conversion is a desired action taken by the visitor to your website.
Related to propensity to convert is the relevance of the selected term to what you are offering. If you are selling rooms at a hotel at the V&A Waterfront, which of the two terms (‘hotel’ or ‘Cape Town Waterfront hotel’) do you think will lead to a higher rate of conversions?
Value per lead
What is the average value per prospect attracted by the keyword? Depending on the nature of your website, the average value per lead varies. Using the hotel example again, consider these two terms:
‘luxury Cape Town hotel’ and ‘budget Cape Town hotel’
Both are terms used by someone wanting to book a hotel in Cape Town, but it is likely that someone looking for a luxury hotel is intending to spend more. That means that that particular lead has a higher value, particularly if you have a hotel-booking website that offers a range of accommodation.
