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Search Engine Optimization Starts with Keyword Research

keywords seo
Search Engine Optimization Starts with Keyword Research

Optimization starts with keyword research. In the past companies decided what promotional material to send out and hoped they could reach an interested audience. Well, the Internet changed all of that.

Now your prospective visitor is online and searching for something. They type keywords into the search engines that describe what they want to find. They are the ones who start the communication – they're actively looking for something and if you don't show up in their searches, they will find someone else. 

But you have to know what they're searching for. – what keywords they use. And guessing is not enough - keyword research is the key


It takes careful, in-depth keyword research to find out

  • What your audience is searching for

  • What keyword are they using

  • Which keywords are most viable

  • Who else is optimized on these words

  • How many websites are you competing against

We often find that the words the owner or the executives of the business suggest are not what the searchers are calling it. Only keyword research finds the actual words people type into the search engines. Keyword research also helps to determine the volume (locally or globally) each keyword attracts.

You may find it's a completely different word. One client was doing a website for a permanent display and they called it an exhibition. But very few people search the word exhibition. However, a large number search on the museum.

It can be a slight difference in the words that prevent your success. It can be as simple as using the singular form or the plural.

For example, only 2400 people searched for grand canyon tourist attractions in the last 30 days but 27,000 searched grand canyon tours.

If you are off on your keywords, you miss all the qualified traffic. And people searching on the Internet are very qualified traffic. They are ones at the tip of the lead funnel. They are already interested and looking for information on a subject.

Before you start to develop any content for your website, blog/article, or press releases, you have to start with good keyword research.

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