I posted an article a few days ago about the significance of keyword research for any new SEO action plan. Keyword research can be a long and tedious task and sometimes does not pay off if you are not doing it correctly. Before you begin to research the keywords you think are the best for you business, make sure they really are the best words/phrases to pick. If you are a real estate firm, it may seem like the best keyword to work on is real estate, but this is almost always not the case.
If you were to Google "real estate" it should become obvious that it is highly competitive. Google returns about 657,000,000 results for "real estate" and the first page is filled with the likes of realtor.com, realestate.com, Yahoo! Real Estate, Wikipedia, eBay and CNN. Century 21 doesn't come up till the third page and it is the highest ranked of the big real estate firms for this search. Your company has no chance dominating this keyword.
So what should you do? Look at the long tail, which means that you should find specific keywords that are not nearly as competitive as "real estate". So now let's try Googling "residential real estate in Midtown Atlanta". What a difference! Instead of 657,000,00 results, you now only have 181,000. The top results are mainly local companies that would take days to find if you were sifting through the results of the "real estate" search. And let's face it; nobody is going to click past page five of the results for any Google search. If you are a real estate firm based in Atlanta, or have an office there, this is a much better keyword to choose.
Why is it better to pick the long tail keyword? Let's say by pure magic, someone finds your Atlanta based real estate company on Google when they search "real estate". You now have received 1 click from 500,000,000 people who Googled "real estate", but this person was only searching "real estate" because he wanted to find information on the state of the real estate market in New York City. You're out of luck on this one because:
- You are not a real estate magazine or blog and do not have market spotlights at your website.
- You are an Atlanta based real estate company and have no office in NYC, or even in the whole northeast for that matter.
So now that 1 click you finally earned after all the hours of SEO work and funds you used has been wasted because the keyword was way to broad. You should focus on niche keywords, especially if you are a smaller company with small pockets. SEO can be a time intensive project and for an entrepreneur to waste that much time on SEO for the wrong keyword instead of the core business might prove fatal.
Finally, using a specific keyword will significantly increase your conversion rate. When people are searching broad terms, they most likely are not looking for anything in particular, which means there is a small chance for a sale. However, when someone searches an extremely specific keyword, there is a drastically higher chance of that individual purchasing your product or service.
Keep checking back for more specific posts on Keyword Research and SEO.
The Four Elements blog focuses on content that will help young entrepreneurs, but also has valuable material for seasoned professionals. The content has a strong emphasis on web 2.0 and search engine optimization.
A specialty holdings firm based in Atlanta GA, Four Elements is comprised of young and talented individuals boasting a variety of skill sets in business development, investment services, creative design, and marketing promotions. Founded by Max Finn, Zeshan Muhammedi, Taylor Pemberton, and Samuel Schreiber, Four Elements believes that every thriving entrepreneur and business deserves dedicated persons focused on building a sustainable business without having to visit a variety of companies. By bringing top tier management and growth strategies, Four Elements will increase the quality and consistency of your business's results in a global, technology-driven economy.
Four Elements serve as a one-stop source for developing businesses that need competent support, but do not have the time, personnel, or inclination to search out and manage multiple resources across different business disciplines.