A journalist asked me recently to name the most critical
element of any search engine optimization campaign. I didn't
hesitate to respond 'keyword selection'.

Like it or not, the keywords and phrases you select to describe
your site within your META tags and body text can make or break
your listings in the search engines. It's a sad fact that most
companies are targeting the wrong keywords and losing traffic
as a result.


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Even sites that have excellent rankings will not benefit if
those rankings are for unsuitable keywords. Let me give you an
example:

A few months ago, we had an Australian client who wanted us to
implement an optimization campaign to improve their search
engine rankings, but without jeopardising existing rankings
they had achieved for two particular search phrases: “Internet
solutions Australia” and “online banking solutions”.

Can you guess what products and services this company sells?
The search phrases don’t really give much away do they? In
fact, this company is a distributor of web site design software
that is specifically tailored for banks. Now ask yourself this:
if you were a bank looking for this company’s products, would
you have typed in either of the phrases above to find their
site? I doubt it. You would type in something more logical
like “web site design software” or “web sites for banks” right?

This company was clearly targeting the wrong keywords and
phrases. Their top ten rankings for these phrases were
irrelevant, because nobody was searching for these phrases in
relation to the products this company was offering. The phrases
they had chosen are what I call “jargonised”, that is, they are
filled with industry jargon and buzz words. Take “Internet
solutions” as an example. Such jargon has found its way into
our language with the onset of the digital age and is bandied
around boardrooms and marketing departments everywhere. However
the definition of this phrase is very broad and could be used
to describe anything from a dial-up connection to a web site
itself. It’s not a logical choice for searchers and is
therefore useless as a key phrase to target.

To prove my point, I researched the client’s chosen phrases
using Wordtracker keyword software and then did comparison
research using the more logical phrases above. The results were
crystal clear: the logical, simplified phrases were many times
more popular than the “jargonised” ones. Once I demonstrated
this to the client, they were more than happy for us to conduct
more thorough keyword research and start their search engine
optimization campaign with a clean slate.

When selecting the keywords and phrases for your site, remember
to select search terms that describe your products and services
in the most logical, simple and specific way. By doing so
you’ll not only increase the search engine traffic to your
site, but you’ll ensure your visitors are highly qualified to
buy your products and services when they arrive.

The above article may be re-published as long as the following
paragraph is included at the end of the article and as long as
you link to the URL mentioned below:

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Article by Kalena Jordan, CEO of Web Rank.
Kalena was one of the first search engine optimization experts
in Australasia and is well known and respected in her field.
For more of her articles on search engine ranking and online
marketing, please visit www.high-search-engine-ranking.com