Finding Keywords To Increase Website Traffic

In this blog post, I’d like to share with you how to find the right keywords that will help you see an increase in traffic to your website. Let’s start with the basics- what is a keyword?

According the Wikipedia, the definition of keyword is: a key word is a word which occurs in a text more often than we would expect to occur by chance alone. Key words are calculated by carrying out a statistical test (e.g., loglinear) which compares the word frequencies in a text against their expected frequencies derived in a much larger corpus, which acts as a reference for general language use.

The keyword list building can sometimes feel like you’re on a search and rescue team with no idea where or what you’re looking for. Fear not my friends- here is some great tools and ideas to help you compile a solid keyword list (and maintain it :).

The following tools are going to be a great help in your keyword journey and you’ll see details about each one.
Google Suggest Tool
Ubersuggest
Google Keyword Planner
Thesaurus
command + F (apple) or control + F (pc)

Google Suggest Tool
You’ve seen this tool in action many times, but may have simply not realized it’s usefulness. You simply type a keyword search in google and as you type, google “suggests” keywords you’re trying to use. These suggestions can give you some great ideas of keywords to use that you might not have thought up on your own.

The other great thing about the Google Suggest tool is that there’s a great potential for your customers to follow the suggestions Google prompts and use those keywords.

Ubersuggest
Once you’ve tried Google Suggest, you might be left wondering what else can give you even more keyword suggestions. Answer: Ubersuggest! They claim themselves to be (and I agree on this one) “Google Suggest on steroids”. Here’s how it works.

Go to ubersuggest.org –> type your keyword in –> enter the captcha –> choose the “suggest” button.

Next, see the list of keyword ideas below your search –> click the + icon next to the keywords you like

Lastly, choose “Get” (on the right side of the page) –> copy your keyword list and paste into your own document where you want to keep your keyword list.

Google Keyword Planner
Those of you who’ve used Google’s Keyword Tool, it has now changed to Google “Keyword Planner”. This is another tool that allows you to search keywords and gain great information on what to use & why to use it.

Start by logging in to your Google AdWords Account –> choose the Keyword Planner tool – or if you’re already logged in to Google, just go to Google Keyword Planner.

Choose “Search for Keyword and ad group ideas”

Enter your keywords in the product or service category (no need to enter your website / industry unless you just prefer to) –> click “Get Ideas”

Choose “keyword ideas” tab –> Search the list of keywords that could work for your website

Notice the columns stating the number of searches each month, competition and average CPC (Cost per click for paid advertising). This information can be helpful in your keyword selection and each has it’s own benefit. On one hand you can choose keywords that are the most searched (which most likely have high competition and will take more efforts to get in the top search results). On the other hand, maybe you want quality over quantity and choose to use keywords with a high cost per click (usually not with the highest searches). It depends on your goals with your SEO efforts and which keywords will best help you meet those goals.

Thesaurus

Google loves synonyms. This is where the thesaurus comes in to play! Once you’ve got a nice keyword list going, you can search your top keywords in the thesaurus and find some synonyms of that word, and incorporate those into your content and meta tags as well.

Thesaurus.com is a free online thesaurus you can use, among many others.

For example, if one of your keywords is “Photograph”, you might look this up in the thesaurus and find synonyms that also align with your business, like “photo”, “image”, “print”, “still”, “head shot”, “enlargement”, etc…. This simple process is a great practice to help you confirm with search engines like Google, Bing & Yahoo that you are truly representing the information you put forth.

“Find” Shortcut

Lastly, a simple trick that works in many scenarios in addition to keyword searching is to use the command + F (apple) or control + F (pc) and search any webpage for the occurrences of a keyword to find all of the occurrences of that keyword in your text.

How can this help you? You can research how your competitors are using keywords to help them gain higher rankings. This is a great way to learn 1) new keywords 2) new ways to use keywords in your content and 3) how many times keywords actually appear in top search result web pages.

Notice where the keywords are used. Title, headers, links, general content, footers, etc. Also search for synonyms. How often are those used and where?

Take this invaluable information and use it in your keyword list. Once you’ve created this keyword list, continue to maintain it (I recommend monthly updates of this keyword at a minimum).

So, how can you find the best keywords to use on your website that will help increase your search traffic? Start by researching your keywords and getting ideas of others that are similar and also work with what you represent. You can use free online resources like:

Google Suggest Tool
Ubersuggest
Google Keyword Planner
Thesaurus
“Find” shortcut (command + F) for Mac or (control + F) for PC

If you need any assistance or advice with finding the keywords for your website, or with any SEO or web development areas, I’m more than happy to help. You can reach me anytime via email or call to talk (310) 801-0784