SEO for Dummies part two

Posted on 21. Feb, 2007 by DeanHunt in SEO

Welcome to the second part of my SEO for dummies guide.

Today I will be discussing keyword research.

Keyword research is the process of choosing what keywords to try and rank for. It is a process that is often overlooked, but highly important.

To do this simply grab a pen and paper and try and imagine what people would type into Google to find your site. When you have a list of 20 words/phrases pass the pen to a friend or family member and ask them to do the same. It is always a good idea to get help from someone who has no SEO knowledge, as their answers will not be influenced by ranking factors etc..

When you have a list of around 40-50 terms you will need to pick the main ones for your main page. These can be more competitive than the other terms, and you will need to use this  keyword research tool

The key to keyword research is to find the fine line between too competitive and no searches.

e.g If you have a shoe shop you could try and rank for “shoes” or “buy shoes”, but it would take years and a huge budget to rank for these terms, so you could be more focused and choose “blue shoes from London on offer latest deals” but then you would find that nobody searches for that term. So you need to find what I call the “keyword sweetspot”. With practice of using the keyword research tool this will become easier with time.

Dean