Search engine optimization – SEO – is usually the first thing that comes to mind for business owners who want to get better results online.  Is SEO a waste of money?  It can be – or it can be your best investment for online success.  The difference is in how you get started.

The purpose of SEO is to get your website to the front page of Google search results (yes, there are other search engines, but Google is the prize).  You want one of your pages to be in the top ten results that Google displays when one of your target customers types a keyword or keyphrase relevant to your business into the search window.

Unfortunately, too many business owners waste their SEO dollars by optimizing their sites around the wrong key words and phrases – either keyphrases that have very little search volume, or keywords that are so competitive that it’s impossible for a new web page to get first page ranking any time soon.  Neither approach will bring traffic to your web site, which is the whole point of SEO.

How do you avoid those mistakes?  Know your keywords, and know your competition.

Know your keywords.  How do you know which keywords and keyphrases your potential customers are using to search for your business? Ask Google. Google’s AdWords Keyword Tool will tell you exactly how many people are using exactly which keywords and keyphrases.  Go to https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal and type in the keyphrases you think people might use to search for your business.  You’ll get the actual search volumes for those phrases, along with a list of synonyms and related phrases, including their search volumes.  Type in the URL for your website (or a competitor’s website).  You’ll get another list of relevant keywords and keyphrases, along with search volumes. Set aside the keyphrases that don’t have significant search volume.  Focus on the most searched phrases.  Optimize your web pages only for keyphrases that actually get searched – that’s where the traffic is.  It’s simple, it’s obvious, and it’s all too often overlooked. Read More→