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This week we are discussing how to build a great keyword research strategy. On Monday, John showed us how to layout a clear strategy before you even look up your first keyword. Once you have your strategy in place, Amber revealed six free keyword tools that will help you expand your list. After you have laid the strategy ground work, expanded your keyword list with every possible variation – where do you go from here? Where do you get even more keywords and additional traffic? Sometimes what you are looking for is hiding right in front of your eyes. Conduct another thorough review of your website, especially those pages that are deep within your site, for even more keywords ideas; you’ll be surprised at what you discover!
Sure, you know every limb of your keyword animal from head to long tail, and you know the 20% of your keywords that drive 80% of your traffic – but there are always ways to strengthen your keyword list, expand your keyword real estate, and increase your traffic. Yes, there are keywords that are hiding right out in the open and you just need to stop thinking so hard and find them! When you created your original keyword list you made an expansive list of your services and products, which is a great way to start but there is a keyword goldmine you may not be excavating to it’s fullest potential: here is a list of pages on your site that you should review again for potential keywords.
Product/Service Pages
Yes, when you created your initial keyword list, you brainstormed on every possible variation on your products & services. But I encourage you to look again. Don’t just look at your product/service name or benefits, really think about the solution you have to offer your potential clients. When users are searching, they are not always looking for a specific product because they don’t know the solution to their problem, so they may search on the symptom to their problem.
For example, if you offer lawn care service, your clients may not always be searching for “lawn care.” They may not even be searching for your core services such as lawn trimming, landscaping, grass seeding, hedge shearing, tree removal, but they maybe searching under “dead grass solution” if they need help with their lawn; or “hedge service,” or “raised flower bed” when they are searching for landscaping services. These are all symptoms to larger problems – how can you be the solution? Review your product/services pages and give this some thought!
FAQ Page
You may be answering questions about your company on your site that you are not addressing with your keyword list. Most FAQ pages give users a better understanding of who your company is, what you have to offer, the details of your offerings, and why they should choose you over the competition. Basically, this page answers questions (that’s obvious) and builds trust. Reviewing your FAQ page can be helpful in two ways: first, it will help you build your keyword list for terms & phrases you can add to your long tail keyword list; and second, this is a good source for PPC ad copy. Your PPC ad copy is basically providing an answer to a query, so there maybe text on this page that will inspire you!
News/Updates Page
New products, new services, speaking engagements, conference appearances, strategic alliances, news articles, product reviews, acquisitions, and list the goes on and on in regards to topics that you can cover on the news/updates page of your site. There could be new keywords lurking within these news items! A speaking engagement topic may contain keywords you don’t have your in campaign, or users may be searching for the firm with whom you are forming a relationship. A product/service review from another website may highlight a benefit or solution that you hadn’t even thought of before!
About Us Page
Branded terms almost always generate highly qualified traffic. Since the user knows who you are and they are actually searching for you, it doesn’t get any better than that! However, on your About Us page, how do you describe your company? There could be terms on this page that users are searching on, but they just aren’t aware they are actually looking for you. When users don’t know exactly what they want, they will describe it and see what the SERPs have to offer.
Site Map
If you were writing a term paper (and your website was the actual paper), then your site map would be the outline. Do a review of your site map just make sure that your keyword list has every bullet on your website outline, as these are the most important points/pieces of information on your site.
And a quick note: don’t forget to review these pages on your competitors’ sites as well!
Finding keywords within your website can be like finding loose change in your couch. It was yours to begin with, you may just have lost it temporarily. But when you do re-discover what’s been lost or misplaced, it gains extra value – even it’s only a nickel, or a long-tail keyword. These efforts will help you build a better keyword list and generate more traffic.
