How to Conduct Effective Keyword Research

One of the most important steps asmall business owner should take when starting a search engine optimization (SEO) campaign is to make sure you are targeting the right keywords with your content, blogsand press releases.

The best way to do this (that’salso at no cost) is using the Google Adwords Keyword Tool. This tool was build to help advertisersdoing Pay Per Click Advertising (PPC) through Google AdWords filter and pickmore effective terms to place in PPC campaigns; and since PPC and SEO are oftenhighly correlated, it is also a valuable tool for researching SEO keywords.

Google’s keyword tool let’sanyone with or without an AdWords account expand and filter relevant keywordsquickly.

To start, type in 5-10 keywordsand phrases that describe the product or service that you want to rank for:

If you are a local business, tryadding the following modifiers before and after certain keywords:

●    Zip code

●    City

●    State spelled out

●    State abbreviation

●    Country

●    County

●    Region

●    City, State

●    “in” city

●    “local”

Once you have a solid list, typein the capcha and search.

At the top of the results youwill find detail on each of the keywords that you typed in; below that Googlewill expand your list and provide up to 100 keyword ideas related to the termsentered. If you are just learning SEO some of these results may be surprising toyou.

Next, click the “Local MonthlySearches” header to sort both lists by the average amount of times the term hasbeen searched in your country or language.

Then scan the list for keywords keywords that:

●    are highly relevant to your business

●    contain a low to medium competition ranking

●    have a sizable number of local monthly searches

The competition ranking isspeaking to the competitiveness of the term as it relates to PPC advertising,but it can be generally related to SEO as well.

If you would like to save yourfavorite keywords, check them off and click the download drop down menufollowed by the selected option.  This will let you save yourchecked keyword list in a variety of formats.

Keyword research works best ifyou do several of these types of searches, constantly washing the keyword listthat you build on subsequent expansions.

Once done you can then either usethe final list of 5-10 keywords as the ones you are going to target, or use anSEO-specific tool to check the SEO competition for related terms. SEOMoz (paid)and the SEO SERP plugin for Google Chrome are greatoptions for this.

To learn more about how to build an SEO foundation, check out Grovo’s expert serieswith Zach Ciperski, VP, Coffee For Less, Director of SEO, Elite SEM.

In this video series Zach coversa variety of topics, including:

●    A history of SEO

●    Choosing the right keywords

●    Onsite SEO optimizations

●    Creating SEO friendly content

●    Basic link building

●    Social media SEO

●    Video SEO

●    User experience and SEO

●    Mobile SEO

Special Thanks to Nick Narodny, Co-founder, SVP of Business Training for Grovo for sharing his expertise with the readers of the Marketing Blog!


See you at the top,
Mike Fleischner

#1 Rankings For Your Website Or Blog!

This week I read an amazing article by Ryan Woolley via Search Engine Watch which really hit the mark. Being nuts about search engine optimization and getting my websites and blogs ranked in the top organic positions has always been an obsession for me.

And lately, there's been a lot of conflicting information about SEO and what factors have been given additional weight from the latest Google algorithm changes.

That being said its very difficult to separate fact from fiction when so called "experts" profess the impact of Google's seemingly daily, weekly, and monthly changes. The reason I've decided to mention Ryan and this week's article is because it really drives home what we knew all along - that sound SEO principals are still the driver of top search engine placements.

Achieving top search engine placements requires an effective recipe that delivers consistent results. This secret recipe is one that might need a few tweaks here and there but consistently performs. The recipe consists of good keyword research, on page optimization, off page optimization, and measurement.

In the diagram presented in this post, you see the factors that are essential for off page optimization which is largely comprised of building inbound links to your website or blog. Whether you focus on forum posting, guest blog posts or commenting, the goal is to attract and develop inbound links to your web properties from high authority sites and pages. I know the recipe is fairly simple but finding the ingredients can be a real challenge. This is why individuals and companies that do a good job of SEO are so widely regarded and sought after by those seeking top placements.

One of the most important aspects of off page optimization is not just where you are getting links from buy how they appear on third party sites. In addition to the sources of inbound links noted in the fantastic article by Ryan is the need to pay attention to the format of your links. Always make sure to include your keywords in the link text of the link. By embedding your keywords, you give Google and other major search engines a clear understanding of what terms your site should be associated with.

By starting with on page optimization and building a consistent inbound link development program, you can dramatically improve your search engine ranking. Add the proper link formatting, using anchor text, and you're sure to get the results you're looking for.

Do you have some valuable link building ideas you'd like to share? Be sure to Like, Retweet, and +1, this post as well as comment to share your ideas.