Finding a proper keyword to target it’s not easy. There are few factors you have to keep in mind when selecting a certain keyword that you have to follow:
- First you have to find a keyword that has a decent monthly number of searches
- Secondly you can use a tool like Google Keyword External Tool to find related keywords, or use the Wonder Wheel Feature in Google Search, or you can just add modifiers to create derived keywords. Basically you will build a hierarchy that has the main keyword on top and the derived ones bellow. These modifiers can be anything from location to quality of service, price range and so on. Here is a small example:
“leather purse -> <color> leather purse -> <brand><color> leather purse” or leather purse -> <animal name> leather purse or <price range>leather purse or <brand> leather purse. - After that you go on Google and check for the competition:
- How high is the number of pages returned
- How many pages target those keywords in their titles and URLs
- Who is on the first page and how much authority those websites have
- Find answers to the question: why those websites are on the first page in Google? – see how they are targeting the keyword and what backlinks they have
- You would also might be interested in how hot is your keyword on social networks. This way you will know where it’s worth spending time marketing your content. Start with the interactive networks like Twitter, FaceBook, MySpace or LinkedIn and then analyze the more static communities of link sharing like Digg, Reddit or StumbleUpon.
- Use Google Trends to find information about:
- Time patterns
- What articles gathered the most views
- What countries searched that term the most
- What language is most used
- Also use the search feature in Google News to see what articles people are writing on the topic and how often: last hour, day, week, month or go into archives and check the titles. If it’s a blog go see how many comments a certain article gathered – you will get interesting information that you can use
- Search on Google Blogs to see how hot is your topic depending on hour, day, week or month
- Place a Google Alert on those keywords to see what others are doing to stay on top
Let me know if you have other suggestions on this topic. Would love to see your comments.