Using Keywords - A Primer. Part 2: Generate search engine friendly content by Ken McGaffin, 14 December 2007
Keyword research tells you what people are looking for online and therefore it is one of the best ways to find ideas for content on your website.
But many people only use keyword research to polish content after it has been created. This is at best time-consuming and at worst creates roadblocks to getting your content out where people can find it. It is much more sensible to do your keyword research before you start any writing.
Why? Because then you’ll:
know that people are genuinely interested in what you're writing about
be able to structure your article using keywords throughout
find that the structure makes writing easier, and that the resulting copy is to read
create search engine copy easily in record time – and that will save money on later optimization.
Brainstorming exercise
Here’s an exercise to stimulate a useful content brainstorming session;
Preparation..
Pick a number of important market sectors for your business and draw up a list of at least 50 keywords for each. Check the popularity of each keyword and rank them in descending order.
Brainstorm..
Get your team together for the brainstorm (if you work on your own, ask some of your current customers or friends familiar with your business to help). Tell the team that their task is to build lists of important issues in each of your market segments.
What are your customers looking for?
What problems do they encounter?
What benefits do your products bring?
What is making news in the sector?
What new trends are emerging?
What will the future be like?
And so on.
Generate lists for each of your target segments, then rank them in whatever terms you like. That might be on their importance, on the level of difficulty in addressing them, or matching your company abilities or priorities.
Match the keyword with the content..
This is where the fun can really start. Get your team to consider first the list of keywords, then the list of issues for each sector, and then match them to create an idea for an article, a report or any other type of content.
For example, a bank might pick 'business credit card' as an important keyword, and they might realize that many small businesses are drowning in a sea of paperwork - an important issue in their marketplace.
They could then write content around the fact that their business credit card statements give small businesses an easy way to track all their expenses.
So matching the keyword and the important issue gives them an article idea, ‘Business credit card eases small business paperwork’. This by definition is both search engine friendly and focused on an important issue.
Using keyword research in this way will give you many content pieces to publish on your website – you’ll never be short of an idea again.
For more articles in this series, have a look at:
Using Keywords - A Primer. Part 1: Optimizing Your Current Web Content
Using Keywords: Identify And Exploit Niche Markets
About Ken McGaffin
Ken McGaffin is Chief Marketing Officer at Wordtracker. He is an experienced internet marketing consultant and has worked for major pharmaceutical companies, advertising agencies, government bodies and non-profit organizations.
14 comments
As an online marketer for small businesses, I find this is the best way to create traffic-generating content for my clients. Great article.
I agree totally. Finding the right keyword always inspires the content. It is much harder the other way round.
Sorta duplicated the first two paragraphs there :)
Me three, totally makes sense to know what customers will type in the search field in order to find your site before creating content.
We also have to keep in mind the competition for a given keyword, if number one is too competitive then create content for number two.
Great article.
I am 100% in favor of doing keyword research before publishing to your web site. It improves the articles you post by providing creative structure and market relevance.
Keyword research is just a natural isn't it? I mean, if you are staring into a void instead of writing to create business, isn't the easiest way out to begin with a framework that is already in place? It takes you from fear of the blank screen to a great article outline. And what better structure to use than highly searched for themes and phrases, that have not been fully satisfied in the online market?
Everyone wins here; you get the traffic, and readers get what they want - the quality content they were searching for.
Too cool for words I say, John
I was glad to see your top bullet point in the Brainstorm segment. (What are your customers looking for?)
Next to keyword selection, that is the most important thing when writing any article. Looking thru your customer's eyes and writing about their concerns or interests will help you build credibility with the reader.
Great article.
Marco CEO of >>_abcSeo.it
now i'm just learning, so please take this with a healthy grain of organic salt :-)
and, i'm enjoying what i'm finding in articles like this on wordtracker (only my second day even looking at the site, show's you "how" new i am), but...
the article seems to slant mostly toward someone looking to target high searching prospective clients/buyers/searchers, but kinda ignores the person or group that has a more restricted product or niche in place that's the purpose of their being in business (or non-profit, etc)
if one is offering, say, specific medical or educational info on specific illnesses or educational needs, i wouldn't think that group would want to abandon their interests because they find that the search range for (making this up) "advanced cellular thinking on the creation of stained glass" is limited
more specifically, with my own work, i've spent decades building a body of art and writings i'm realizing i can now start displaying online (thanks to the very thing ya'll are writing about, the new far ranging reach of the internet), but other than possibly slanting a new painting's or writing's subject matter toward a widely seen need (again making this up), such as, "valentine gift writing for makers of art piled up in their house and garage" - yes, "very" long tail :-), see i'm learning, then my task is to find the keywords that are both the best far reaching and applicable to what i already have and will be posting for the next few years (it'll take that long, that much content)
and you probably cover that in another article i haven't yet come across; but wanted to chime in that, good as your article is in terms of great info, it applies more to a certain segment of content providers, and maybe should be tagged as so
and again, since i am so new to this, my apologies in advance if i've mis-read or mis-understood your intent or message
sincerely,
adan lerma www.adanlerma.com
ps - re-reading your article, it may be possible to apply some of what you suggest in my "artist comment/update" i write for each page; thanks again; truly good info
Thanks for the information . . . I contribute articles to Associated Content and your information will certainly be of use to me when I write.
I can't resist: where's Part 1 and how do I access? Otherwise, a very helpful article with a lot of good information. I agree with Adan Lerma's 8 January comment, which is that the theme favors sites that are selling more than sites that are educating, but still, the information is valuable.
Not at all. This works for info sites as well as selling sites. The point is, if you offer info that no one is looking for, no one will find it. If you do keyword research to find those things people DO want that are as closely related as possible, and write about it, you can bring those who might also need your chosen content.
I wholeheartedly agree with the concept of driving content from an understanding of the terms and thoughts prospects or readers are using. And that's the key - have we asked them? It's too easy to make those assumptions, or rely on simple research which throws up a long list of potential candidate words, without putting those in the context of the actual thought processes our readers are engaging in. What they search for, and what they reallly wanted to find could be different things! And what they buy or value might be different from what they started out looking for...
i'm enjoying what i'm finding in articles like this on wordtracker
I can't resist: where's Part 1 and how do I access? Otherwise, a very helpful article with a lot of good information.
@watch - it's here:
Using Keywords - A Primer. Part 1: Optimizing Your Current Web Content
You can find the rest of the articles from the 'All Articles' link near the top of the page.