What’s a Keyword Worth to You?
Posted on Mon, Jun 04, 2012
Selecting the right keywords for your search engine optimization tactics is as much art as science, perhaps more. Most companies conduct a bit of research but, in the end, they tend to rely on gut-instinct as much as data. There’s nothing wrong with that approach. If that’s your approach and you’re pleased with the results then keep doing what you’re doing.
If you’re not pleased with your SEO results, then here’s another approach you can use:
Ask yourself: Is the suggested keyword relevant to your website’s content? Will your target audience use this keyword when searching for your products or services? Will searchers find what they are looking for on your site when they use this keyword? Will the traffic you receive from this keyword help you reach your goals, financial or otherwise? If you answered “Yes” to these questions then proceed to the next step.
Experiment yourself: Type your keywords into the major search engines, primarily Google since it has over 60% of the search engine market, and evaluate the results. This kind of competitive analysis will help you understand how hard it’s going to be for you to rank high, which means page 1 or 2, on the search results. If you’re a small company and in your keyword research you discover that pages 1 and 2 are all multi-billion dollar companies then you’ll want to test a different keyword. Are there paid ads next to and at the top of the page? Typically that means it’s a high-value keyword that converts well so you need to keep that “relevancy” in mind as well as the “competitive” aspect of the keyword when making your final decision.
Buying ad-space: If larger companies have your keyword blocked out of page 1 and 2 then maybe a modest test ad campaign is worth testing? In Google Adwords or Bing Adcenter choose “exact match” and point traffic (click-through’s) to the page on your site with the most relevant content for that keyword. Measure contacts, sales, downloads, or whatever call-to-action you’re using over at least a week or 50-100 clicks and before deciding if the campaign is successful or not.
Data and the Bottom Line: The final step is to use the data you’ve collected to determine if the keyword’s value. To illustrate, if your ad generated 1,000 impressions, 100 click-through visitors to your site, and 10 customers with a total net profit of $250, you now know if paid search engine marketing can be a profit adder or just another expense for your business.
Search engine marketing and keyword selection require constant testing and analysis. If you’d like to learn more about keyword selection and paid search engine marketing, please contact us at 1 800 707-9150.