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Keyword analysis is one of the oldest, most fundamental tasks in search engine optimization. All that content enrichment and link building has to be driven toward the right keywords, the actual queries people use to find content on the Web.
There are four kinds of keywords:
1. Brands (high value)
2. Pop expressions
3. Seasonal descriptors
4. Random descriptors
“Pop expressions” includes anything mentioned in the news, in music, in movies, on television, etc. “Seasonal descriptors” are things like “Christmas lights”, “Easter baskets”, and “Valentine’s Day Flowers”. “Random descriptors” might be “bar mitzvah”, “winnie the pooh”, and “seo theory”.
A random descriptor is not very popular, not likely to become popular, and won’t generate much traffic. But you never know. A random descriptor may graduate to obtain either seasonal or pop value. It could also become a brand. In fact, you could say that random descriptors are the Harfoots of keyword types — they are the most common, the most “plain”, least conspicuous keyword types. Or you could say that random descriptors are the stem cells in the body of query spaces. You never know what they will become.
Search marketing principles tell us to chase the money, but does that mean you compete for the most active queries with 10s of thousands of daily views or does it mean you compete for more of the least active queries where competition is less fierce but traffic is down?
Keyword pundits have been pointing out for years that there is little actual monetization for 1-keyword queries. If you sell used cars you’re probably better off in the “city name used cars” query than in the “cars” or “used cars” query (unless you can ship cars across country and people are willing to pay for that kind of service).
Rsearch indicates that consumers do a lot of research online before making a purchase decision. Like it or not, the average Web-based business site needs to provide as much information as possible to draw in those price-unconscious consumers who just want to be reassured that they are about to make a good decision.
I’ve done plenty of research myself for personal needs. I’ve looked up replacement parts for computers and entertainment systems; I’ve looked up instructions on how to tune universal remote controllers to my TV, DvD player, and cable system (BTW — there is no easily findable, very useful information in that area); I’ve looked up information on car maintenance, cell phones, foods, restaurants, store locations, business numbers. You name it, I’ve done the research online and odds are pretty good that you have, too.
You cannot optimize for an informational query by throwing a price and shipping information in someone’s face. You have to understand the queries before you can really optimize for them. If I type in “price of AT&T cell phone”, I’m going to start looking for the lowest price I can find and then compare upwards, looking for additional features I may want. Other people may start at the top and compare downward, dropping features as the price goes down.
How do your Web sites handle such queries? It’s not the search engine that answers the query, it’s your content (or someone else’s) that really answers the query. Keyword research has to pick the best questions for the right answers you can give people. You can optimize a single page for 100 SEO questions or you can optimize a page for SEO, pizza, and Britney Spears.
However, you cannot optimize a page for everything. And in most cases I don’t think you really want to optimize 1 page for 100 queries. It’s a fun trick but in real business you want to make a good impression and help people find what they are looking for as fast as possible. Requiring people to scroll through 100 questions to find their answer is not user-friendly. |
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