When it comes to online marketing strategy, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is an integral part of the equation. SEO includes a diverse set of techniques that are used to not only increase the targeted traffic, but also create brand awareness. While there are several SEO techniques, one of the time tested method that has proven results is the usage of keywords. In fact a majority of SEO strategies are built around the keywords chosen.

Usually the results displayed on the top of the search engine page get the maximum impressions and clicks. This can actually result in significant increase of traffic to your website. Relevant keywords in title tags, meta tags and throughout the site help your pages to show up on top. Keyword optimized descriptions and tags are a must if you want to see a considerable rise in your click through rates.

Common Mistakes

Once marketers decide to concentrate on SEO marketing, they rush off and end up making more mistakes than they care to admit.

• Keyword Stuffing: Most common mistake of all is keyword stuffing. Imagine reading a copy that is repeated over and over? This is a shady tactic and will do more harm than good. By stuffing your web page full of keywords, you won’t boost your ranking but will end up with Google kicking you down the result pages.

• Misinterpreting Volume Estimates: Although Google adwords tool is very advantageous, many of the marketers often end up misinterpreting the results. When using this tool, it is very important to take all 3 match types into account, rather than relying solely on broad match.

• Same Keyword Targeted Repeatedly: You have done your research and finalized on keywords that match criterion. And what do you do? You are on a spree to use these keywords in everything you create. And the end result, you compete against yourself and kill your own pages ability to draw new traffic.

Best Techniques:

When you get into SEO, you primary goal should be to use keyword research effectively. In fact, it should be one of the most essential skills of any digital marketer. It is just not enough to create a good list of SEO keywords for promotion. It is the job of the marketer to get the best results out of keyword research. So, how do you go about doing it?

• Get Inside the Head of the Searcher: It is the most important step of keyword research. Put yourself in the shoes of your potential customers; try to think how they will. Understand their preferences, have a look at your blog posts, comments etc to get ideas. Create a seed list of keyword ideas that will cover all aspects of products and solutions that you offer to the customer. User interviews or surveys though length procedures, often give valuable information.

• Brainstorm Keyword Ideas: Most overlooked method, but totally effective – manually brainstorming keyword ideas. Brainstorm and create a list as big as you can. And later in the process analyse your brainstorm list and refine it using some keyword research tool.

• Proper Keyword Research: Keyword research is a vast area and should be tackled carefully to generate leads and get conversions. Take two different approaches to keyword research: content centric and keyword centric. Pick keywords based on the existing content on your website, at the same time identify potential search terms and build your keywords around them. Using Google’s Auto suggest is a great idea. Make use of the suggested keywords for the keyword phrase that you entered.

• Keyword Research Tool: For your keywords to be most effective, you have to first find the right keyword research tool. This tool will not only give you the most efficient keywords, but will also be less time-consuming. Don’t rely on just one single tool. Take the help of different tools as each tool has a different medium to generate results from. Some of the popular keyword tools include SERP Checker, Keyword Spy and Google Keyword Planner.

• Competitive Analysis: Analysing your competitors is a very important part of keyword research. Start by learning what the competitors in your circle are doing, what kind of keywords they are using. Scan your competitors’ site pages to get an idea of the targeted keywords they are using. You can also check the search results to see which websites already rank for your targeted keywords. This will give you an idea of how difficult it will be to rank for the particular keyword.