How to be shown in Google search results
Each search in Google brings up a different list of websites in its results, relevant to the words that the user has typed in. For example, ‘cupcake gift packs’ will show different results to ‘motorcycle mechanics’.
This seems obvious enough but it is also true for more subtle differences. To continue with the example above, a search for ‘cupcake gift packs’ will have different results to ‘cupcake deliveries’. If you sell cupcakes, which search term is best to appear on page one of Google for?
You can answer this question with Keyword Research.
What is Keyword Research?
Keyword research is part of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and, arguably, the most important starting point. Before you can optimise your website for a keyword, you need to find out what terms people search for.
Note that the word ‘keyword’ is just industry speak for a ‘search term’ or ‘phrase’ that people type into Google.
3 steps to find the best keywords for your business
1. List what you do
Write down each of the products and services your business offers.
Ensure each of these offerings has its own page on your website. Google ranks web pages individually so you want to try and get each webpage ranked in the top 10 for different search terms.
With the cupcake business example from the beginning, it would be best to have a dedicated page about deliveries and another dedicated page for gift packs.
2. Keyword research
This is the process of finding out the phrases that people use when they search Google. For example, if a business provides inflatable castles for parties, they need to know how people search for this. You probably have a fair idea but use keyword research to find out if you’re right.
For each item that was listed in the ‘what you do’ step, above:
1. Find the search terms people use
Search the product or service in Google and scroll to the bottom of the page. There will be a list of related search terms. Note down all that apply to your business.
2. Find how many people search each term
Enter each of the terms into a keyword tool (try Neil Patel’s Ubersuggest) to find out how many people search the term and how difficult is it to get on page one. The SEO Difficulty (SD) is a rating that shows how many competitors there are for this term. This is shown on a scale of 1-100, under 30 being easy, over 70 being hard.
To continue with the inflatable castle example, Keyword Research shows there are 1300 searches per month for ‘bouncy castle hire’ with a difficulty of 28 compared to 170 searches per month for ‘jumping castle rental’ with a difficulty of 44.
3. Choose keywords to target
In the example, above, ‘bouncy castle hire’ is clearly a better search term to try and rank for as it has more searches and less competition. So, when it comes to giving your webpage a title and writing the heading of the page, you should include that phrase, e.g. ‘Bouncy Castle Hire in Toorak’. This is called ‘keyword targeting’.
Not all keywords are created equal, though, so don’t just go by search volume.
Search intent
When choosing a keyword to target on your site, be sure to consider whether they are looking for information or if they are looking for a product. You can only target 2-3 search terms per webpage so you want these to be sales-focused. This can be subjective so the rule of thumb is, if you search a term in Google and it brings up a Wikipedia page, the search intent is for information.Keyword difficulty
Some keywords have a lot of traffic but are difficult to rank for, some are easy to rank for but don’t have much traffic. Your best option here is to hedge your bets. You can target 2-3 keywords per webpage, so, providing they’re relevant to what the page is about, aim for one of each.Keyword strategy document
Create a spreadsheet and list all of your web pages, the keywords you plan to target and the search traffic in separate columns. This will help you later when you’re writing copy and also can be helpful for quickly checking you aren’t targeting the same search term on two different pages.
Now it’s time to put your keyword research into action
Once you’ve completed your keyword research, it’s time to move on to the next step – on-page SEO where you’ll be incorporating the search terms throughout your website, across the relevant pages. Learn more about what is on-page SEO.
Remember that is not the quantity of keywords, but rather, the quality of keywords that you artfully weave throughout your content – Google will penalise you if your content is found to be spammed with keywords.
Check out the rest of our ‘How to do SEO’ series:
How to be shown in Google search results (current article)
Increase your web traffic by writing content for on-page SEO
Don’t have time?
Contact Spotted Web Marketing. We’d love to work with you on implementing a tailored SEO strategy for your business.