Keyword Basics Part 2: Discovering the keyword matrix by Ken McGaffin, 28 December 2006

This is the second in Ken McGaffin's Keyword Basics series and a simple method for expanding your lists of profitable keywords. The secret of writing great online copy is simple: use keywords - the words people use when they search - in your copy.

The reasons for this are twofold:

1.If you use the words people use when they search in your copy, page titles, descriptions and links, then you’ll score well in search engine results and more people will find your site.

2.The language you use will be appropriate to your audience. And as any seasoned direct marketer will tell you, speak to people in their own language and they will be more likely to buy from you.

That of course begs the question, "How do you find your best keywords"?

Most people either just guess or do perfunctory research using one of the many free keyword tools that you'll find online.

But if you want to succeed online, you've got to spend enough time and energy finding out the words your customers really use when they search. You'll need not just 20-30 keywords, you'll need hundreds - and many of the most successful online companies will have thousands of keywords.

The keyword matrix is a simple methodology that allows you to build a comprehensive keyword list using the Wordtracker database. Here are the three steps involved: you can also download the Excel spreadsheets we generated for this example - this gives you almost 5,000 relevant keywords using the full version of Wordtracker and 85 relevant keywords using the free trial version.

Step 1. Start with a common word or phrase that is appropriate to your business

Start simple. Your starting point does not need to be clever or creative. All you need is a common word or phrase relevant to your business - Wordtracker will help you find clever keywords later.

So in the example above, a good starting point would be the word 'chocolate'.

Using the keyword researcher at Wordtracker, you can find 1000 keywords that all contain the word, 'chocolate'.

Excellent. So far, so good. Now all you have to do is rush off and optimize your web pages for those phrases, right?

Wrong! That is what most people will do and as a result they will miss out on some very powerful keywords that are not immediately obvious.

Time to move on to step 2 and get inside the keyword matrix.

Step 2. Find words that are related to your original keyword

Here the task is not to find relevant keywords that contain the word 'chocolate': in fact, it is just the opposite - to find relevant keywords that do not contain the word 'chocolate'.

Go to the related keywords feature on Wordtracker and enter the word chocolate. Wordtracker now searches 100 websites that score well on search engines for the search 'chocolate' and extracts the phrases that those sites use. From that you'll find relevant keywords such as truffles, cocoa, fudge, confectionery, gifts, gourmet and so on.

Scan the list of related keywords and pick the ones that YOU feel are relevant to your business. Your input is required: Wordtracker is not a machine that churns out a list of keywords that will automatically bring you a fortune. If that was so, everybody would get the same results. Rather, Wordtracker is a tool that allows you to find your best keywords.

So from the list of related terms you might pick truffles, cocoa, fudge and candy.

Step 3. Use the related words to generate many more relevant keywords

Essentially, this repeats step 1 for each of the related keywords that you have chosen. Take each of your chosen related words and enter them into the keyword researcher in turn.

By following this methodology, you can quickly generate hundreds of relevant keywords that reflect the subtleties – and niche markets – within your marketplace.

Here’s what your final matrix may look like:

Final words

The average person will do their keyword research once and then forget about it.

But that is the way to get average results. Effective keyword research is an ongoing process and to get outstanding results you must work at it regularly.

Successful keyword researchers will:

1. Regularly check your keyword counts on Wordtracker - they can go up and down over time.
2. Continue to add more keywords to your matrix. The more effective keywords you have, the more profitable your online business will be.

3. Monitor how well your keywords do. Performance will always be a mixture of:

   • Keywords that bring good traffic and good conversions (these are the words people use when they are in buying mode)
   • Keywords that bring you good traffic but poor conversions (these are the words people use when they are in research mode)
   • Keywords that bring low traffic but great conversions( these are the words that represent buying behavior in niche markets).

Overall, there will be a mix of such keywords in any comprehensive keyword matrix.

In the next issue, we'll look at how you can pick the most competitive keywords from the sample matrix that we have developed for 'chocolate' and how you can use those keywords in your web site copy.

You'll find links to the other three articles in this series below:

• Keyword Basics Part 1: How Search Engines Work
• Keyword Basics Part 3: Choosing Your Best Keywords
• Keyword Basics Part 4: Using Keywords In Website Copywriting