Keyword research is a vitally important aspect of your search engine optimization campaign if not the single most important aspect of your overall campaign, without exception. Keyword research is a big part of SEO and internet marketing and therefore requires some understanding and grounding in its basic concepts.

 

Keyword Research describes the practice of looking at what users are searching for and how they search for it on the Internet. This research is not an exact science and shouldn't be discussed like it is. Keyword research is critical to understanding the marketplace and developing websites that mirror search pattern reality. Keywords drive the search engines and many webmasters know this but they still fail to find the best keywords for their website. Your keyword research doesn’t only help with search engine visibility, but it also can open your eyes, as an entrepreneur, of complimentary markets, products or services that you should be addressing. 

 

The first keyword research tool at your disposal is your own Web log. Your Web log is one of the richest sources of actionable keyword research and it can be located in your website statistical information. A common misconception about conducting keyword research for a SEO campaign is thinking you already know which words and phrases a customer would use to find your site. What you believe to be a common search word or phrase may not pull the searches you believe it would. A good practice is niche research for keywords and phrases because you are working with an obvious topic. Researching niche profitability is vital, especially if you will be spending money on pay-per-click search engine campaigns.

 

Google is the most frequently used search engine on the planet and beats it closest competitor, Yahoo, 10 – 1 in online searches. Google is now the largest search engine going, and has access to more search data than any other company. It won’t treat you as relevant until someone else does first so it’s a good idea to get noticed online in other ways first before trying to catch Google's critical eye.

 

If you run a broad-match campaign on Google, there are three reasons your log-file keywords should be used to adapt your campaign: Popular keyword phrases for a broad-match listing might work best within their own Ad Groups with tuned creative (specifically written for the phrase that's a significant traffic driver).

 

Google's Keyword suggestion tool can give you keywords, related to your website (if you select the appropriate tab) and offers you a wide selection of phrases that real people have typed in and searched for (normally one month previous, it isn't a dynamic real time database).

 

For long-term keyword analyses, I gather monthly data from Google, Overture, and Wordtracker. In the same way that stockbrokers use existing data and tools to try to best guess what the market is going to do, we keyword researchers are doing a similar thing. By gathering and analyzing keyword data, web site owners gain valuable insight to user behavior and ways to create a more user-friendly site that converts visitors into buyers. This data indicate visitors might not be arriving at the most appropriate landing page.

 

Having a keyword list and using keyword data to optimize your campaign is vitally important. Learn good research habits for keywords and phrases and it will pay huge dividends in traffic and perhaps profitability. Remember, keyword research is an integral and extremely important part of your overall search engine optimization process.

 

Richard Embro-Pantalony is the author of Profiting Big With Your Real Estate Website and is a contributing author to www.realestatemate.com and www.agentsmate.com