Master Your Keyword Strategy | LogicClassroom by Boston Logic

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Boston Logic's Senior Marketing Associate, Angela Davis, talks about the techniques and tools behind building and monitoring an effective keyword strategy to help your website rank higher in search engines.

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Presented by: Angela Davis, Senior Marketing Associate

T: 617.266.9166www.bostonlogic.com

Master Your Keyword Strategy!

Developing a Keyword List

Keyword Research & Analysis

Implementing Your Strategy

Monitoring Your Success

Questions

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CLASSROOM OVERVIEW

WHAT IS A KEYWORD [A.K.A. KEY PHRASE]?

Words or Phrases Your Clients Would Use While Searching for Your Products, Services, or Website. (or While Looking for Solutions to Their Problems)

Also Used by Search Engines to Index Your Site / Determine What Each Page is About.

The Foundation of Your SEO & PPC Campaigns.

By Creating a Highly Relevant Keyword List, Your Site & Ads will be Shown to the Most Interested Users and Improve the Performance of Your Site!

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“LONG TAIL” & “HALO” TERMS

“Long Tail Keywords” are More Targeted (3+ Word Phrases)(Ex. “Luxury Apartments in Beacon Hill” vs. “Boston Apartments”)

“Halo Keywords” are Variations of those Keywords.You will naturally rank for these other terms over time by using them in your content.

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DEVELOPING A KEYWORD LIST

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Step 1: Brainstorm! Ask Yourself Some Basic Questions

WHERE ARE YOU? Where is Your Office Located?

What Geographic Areas You Are Willing To Travel To In Order To Serve Your Clients?

Where are Your Potential Clients Located?(Ex.: Do You Help People Relocate From Other States / Countries?)

Are You Trying to Expand Your Service Area?

This will help you begin thinking of location-based keywords.

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WHAT DO YOU DO?

What Are Your Products / Services?

What Is Your Industry Niche?

What Makes You Unique from Your Competitors?

Why Would Someone Choose You Over Your Competitors?(Better Value, Better Service, More Experience, More Fun, etc.)

This will help you begin thinking of industry-based keywords.

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WHO ARE YOUR CLIENTS?

What Problems Do Your Products / Services Solve?

Who Have Been Your Favorite Clients in the Past? Why?

Who Have Been Your LEAST Favorite Clients in the Past? Why?

What Words or Phrases Might a Client Use While Looking for Your Products / Services (or a solution to their problem)?

Try to Put Yourself in a Potential Client’s Shoes! They Might Not Know the Industry Terminology You Do!

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DEVELOPING A KEYWORD LIST

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Step 2: Do Some Investigating!

CHECK OUT THE COMPETITION View the Websites + Social Media Profiles

of Your Competitors + Industry Leaders.

Companies in Your Area Offering Similar Products + Services.

Companies in Your Industry but in Different Locations Than You.

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TAKE NOTE:• What You Like / Dislike About Each Site As a User at First Glance?• How Do They Organize Their Information?

SPY ON YOUR COMPETITION WITH SOURCE CODES! Reading Source Code Data can Provide More Insight!

1. Visit the Home Page + Other Pages You Are Interested In.2. In the Navigation Bar of Your Browser, Click ‘View’.3. Look for ‘View Source Code’ or ‘View Source’ Option & Select.

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‘CRACKING THE CODE’ IS PRETTY EASY…

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Look for the Meta Title & Description & Keywords. Some Websites Don’t Have Them. Often Similar to Front-End Content, but Not Always.

DO WHAT YOUR CLIENTS WILL DO - GOOGLE IT! Don’t Forget to Test Your Keywords in the Major Search Engines! View the Paid Ads + Organic Results for Each Term. Are The Results What You Expected? Who’s Ranking Highest?

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TAKE NOTE:• Of the Page Titles & Descriptions You Are Seeing in the Top Results!

DEVELOPING A KEYWORD LIST

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Step 3: Organizing Your Information

STEP 3: ORGANIZE YOUR INFORMATION Create a Spreadsheet Listing All Your Keywords / Phrases So Far.

Be Sure to Include: Areas / Locations You Serve Words for Products & Services Industry Terms & Layman Terms Words Your Discovered During List Creation Phase

Sort Your List: Sort Alphabetically to Help See ‘Holes’ in List If You Serve a Large Area, Make a List for Each Region

for Locally-Targeted Marketing

This Will Be the Foundation for the Next Step: Keyword Research.

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THE SCIENCE OF KEYWORD RESEARCH

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How-To + Tools To Help!

FREE KEYWORD RESEARCH TOOLS Best FREE Option:

Google Adwords Keyword Tool

Other Places for Ideas & Research: Microsoft AdLab Google Trends Google Webmaster Tools Bing Webmaster Tools Twitter Trending Topics Other Social Media Channels

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KEYWORD TYPES FOR GOOGLE ADWORDS (PPC ADS)

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BROAD MATCH

Phrase Match

exact match

GOOGLE ADWORDS: KEYWORD TYPES DEFINED

[Exact Match] = Add Brackets Around Words Ex. Keyword: [tennis shoes] Ads Appear: When query contains only the words tennis shoes in that order and no other terms before or after.

Broad Match = Default Option, Enter Words NormallyEx. Keyword: tennis shoes Ads Appear: When query contains the words tennis and shoes in any order and can also be coupled with other terms. Also shows on similar or relevant terms.

“Phrase Match” = Add “Quotations” Around WordsEx. Keyword: “tennis shoes” Ads Appear: When query contains the words tennis shoes in that order only and can also have other terms before / after.

- Negative Keywords = Helps You Target Better! Ex. Keyword: -used Ads Appear: Ensures your ads won’t show up for queries that include these terms.

NARROWING DOWN YOUR LIST

“Low-Hanging Fruit”

High Local vs. Global Search Volume

Mix of Long Tail Keywords & More Generic Terms

Mix in Some Highly Competitive Terms(there’s a reason they’re popular!)

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NARROWING DOWN YOUR LIST

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IMPLEMENTING YOUR KEYWORD STRATEGY

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GETTING YOUR KEYWORDS ON YOUR SITE!

PLANNING IS IMPORTANT!

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Cluster Similar Keywords Together to Help Set Up Your Website’s Information Architecture.

You Don’t Want Your Site Pages Competing with Each Other!

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Create categories sing specific

keywords

ON-PAGE OPTIMIZATION OVERVIEW Remember to use Relevant Keywords Throughout

KEYWORDS IN YOUR HEADINGS IS KEY!

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Search Engines Also Give More Weight Heading Tags

HTML Offers Six Different Heading Tags:

<H1></H1> Through <H6></H6>

In Default State, H1 is the Biggest Font Size & H6 is the Smallest

H1’s are Most Important, H2’s Second Important, etc.

‘WYSIWYG’ Visual Editors Handles As User-Friendly Drop-Down EASY! Like Selection a Font Style in Microsoft Word!

Use Keywords & Phrases for Biggest Impact on SER

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HIGHLIGHT THE KEYWORDS IN YOUR CONTENT Search Engines Give More Weight to Bold and Italic Words

Tells Search Engines ‘This Word or Phrase is Important’

Use Keywords as the Anchor Text for Links to Other Pages of Your Site

KEYWORDS IN BLOGS CATEGORIES

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General Index of Common Topics You Blog About

Use Relevant Keywords for Category Titles If Blog Platform Allows for Category Descriptions- USE THEM!

Don’t Add Blogs to Irrelevant Categories – Will Frustrate Users!

Don’t Have Redundant Categories! Google’s Recent ‘Panda’ Update Frowns On Repetition & Stuffing of ALL KINDS.

Create Categories Using Your Keywords

KEYWORDS IN BLOG TAGS

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Not As Important to SEO As Other Optimizing Techniques Too Many People were ‘Keyword Stuffing’ Search Engines More Advanced Now - Algorithm Changed Think of Tags That Will Be Useful to Humans

More Post-Specific Than Categories

Good For Topics Important to That Individual Post Names of Celebrities or Events Mentioned in Blog Post, etc.

Good For Halo Terms (Variations of Your Keywords) Ex: If Your Keyword is ‘Fenway Apartments’ - Use Tags Like ‘Fenway Rentals’ ‘Fenway Student Housing’

INSERTING & OPTIMIZING IMAGES

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BEFORE YOU UPLOAD: Image File Name

Indexed by Google Images Image File Size

KB not MB or GB!

WHEN UPLOADING: Title Alternate Text Description Link to Relevant Pages Image Caption for Readers Image Alignment Image Pixel Size

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Create categories sing specific

keywords

META DATA OPTIMIZATION

Keywords: Specific/relevant keywords you want your site to rank

forDescription: 160 Characters or

Less Describing Your Blog Post or Webpage

Title: Interesting & Engaging Title.

60 Characters or Less.

Meta Data Describes the Web Page or Blog Content.

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Create categories sing specific

keywords

HOW META DATA APPEARS IN SEARCH RESULTS

CONTENT OPTIMIZATION CHECK LIST

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Create categories sing specific

keywords

CONTENT CREATION AROUND KEYWORDS________________________________________________________

BOLDING / ITALICIZING KEYWORDS________________________________________________________

HEADINGS (H1) & SUBHEADINGS WITH KEYWORDS________________________________________________________

HYPERLINKS TO OTHER PAGES USING KEYWORDS _______________________________________________________

ADD TAGS AND CATEGORIES(BLOG SPECIFIC)________________________________________________________

PHOTO/OTHER ART________________________________________________________

META DATA________________________________________________________

MONITORING YOUR KEYWORD STRATEGY

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REFINE YOUR LIST & STRATEGY AS YOU GO!

Firefox Rank Checker – Good for Quick Checks, Data Exportable

Track Referring Sites / PPC Ads, and Search Terms Used to Bring Visitors to Your Site for FREE with Google Analytics & Google Webmaster Tools!

Track What Terms People are Searching for Once On Your Site, too!

Google Places Insights Provide a List of Search Queries Used to Reach Your Listing.

Use the ‘Broad Match’ Setting in Your PPC Ads, then REFINE YOUR KEYWORDS for ADGROUPS by using the ACTUAL KEYWORDS Users Entered.

Ask Boston Logic For Help!

TOOLS TO CHECK YOUR RANKING & PROGRESS

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Use Tools like TweetBeep, GeoChirp, and Google Alerts for Email Updates!

Monitor: Company Name, Trademarks, Website & Blog URLs Relevant Employees Names Brands, Products & Services Events, Webinars, Seminars, Conferences Competitors & Relevant Employees Your Core Keywords / Phrases Industry Terms

LISTENING CHANNELS

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FREE MONITORING TOOLS

Plagiarism checks- Copyscape: www.copyscape.com

SEO Tools.. Firefox Add-on: https://addons.mozilla.org/ Firefox Rank Tracker: http://tools.seobook.com/firefox/rank-checker/ Link Diagnosis: www.linkdiagnosis.com SEO Quake: www.seoquake.com Search Status: www.quirk.biz/download-searchstatus SEO Spy Glass: www.link-assistant.com/seo-spyglass SEOmoz Tools: www.seomoz.org/tools

The SEOmoz toolset includes a complete suite of SEO tools designed to help with every aspect of SEO including competitive analysis & keyword difficulty

SiteExplorer: http://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com Allows you to explore all the web pages indexed by Yahoo! Search. View the most popular

pages from any site, dive into a comprehensive site map, and more

QUESTIONS?

More LogicClassrooms by Boston Logic: www.bostonlogic.com/logic-classroom

Read SEO Tips on our Real Estate SEO Blog: www.realestateseo1.com

For More Information, Contact: Angela Davis, adavis@bostonlogic.com

T: 617.266.9166www.bostonlogic.com

@BostonLogic /BostonLogic /user/BostonLogic