Selecting the Right Keywords for Search Engine Marketing

Here’s a fundamental concept that all budding search marketers need to understand: How to choose effective keywords for your online marketing efforts.

While approaches and strategy change from medium to medium (search engine optimization keywords vs. pay-per-click keywords vs. local search keywords) there are some fundamentals of keyword selection that work across all types of search engine marketing.

Defining Keywords
Before we jump into the actual keyword selection process, I want to define what a keyword is in a search engine marketing context. So, in the context of this description, we’ll refer to a keyword as:

A single word or multi-word phrase that is used when searching for information on a search engine.

Even though “keyword” seems to indicate that it’s only a single word, such as “insurance,” it can also be a short phrase, such as “auto insurance,” or an even long phrase like “my grandmother wants to buy auto insurance for her 1982 Buick.” In this context, if a searcher is searching for something on a search engine, that search is a keyword! (That’s a lot of search in one sentence!)

Intent Is Everything
Figuring out the intent behind a searcher’s keyword is one of the greatest challenges facing both search engines and search marketers. A classic example of this is the keyword “apple.”

From the perspective of a search engine, the word apple could mean a number of things. It could refer to…

• Fruit
• A computer company
• The baby of Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow

The information provided by a search like “apple” is too broad to easily provide accurate search results based off of the keyword search itself. However, as a searcher further refines the search by using keywords like “apple pie,” “apple macbook” or “apple paltrow,” the search engines can more accurately display results and advertisements to searchers. In turn, the searchers are happier with the results they receive and are more likely to click on a search result.

Starting Your Keyword List
Keeping everything mentioned above in mind, let’s talk about how to start your keyword list.

First things first: Write down some potential general keywords that a searcher might type to find a product like yours. Make sure to avoid industry or company specific lingo that your potential customers may not use. Try to get into your customer’s mindset and figure out how they would search for your product.

For example, if you sell backup and data recovery services, a customer is not likely going to search for the industry term BDR. Instead, they will think to look for something like “computer backup company,” “data recovery computer,” or even “how to back up my macbook.” These consumer keywords are the ones to focus on.

Once you have written down some ideas, go to your keyword tool of choice (we like the Kutenda keyword tool for obvious reasons) and plug in your keywords. The keyword tool should then present you with the volume of the keywords you entered along with other keywords to consider. Look at the list and find solid-looking keywords that have the highest volume of search activity – then put them into a spreadsheet.

You now have a keyword list, but you’re not off to the races quite yet; just because a keyword has the most search volume it doesn’t mean it will be the most profitable for you. Why not? Again, it comes down to intent.

Keyword Intent
From a search marketer’s standpoint, it’s good to keep your potential clients’ intent in mind when choosing your keywords. Just as the search engines have problems when they get overly broad keyword searches, advertisers can face problems as well.

A key benefit to search marketing is that you can target prospects that are actively searching for your product or service. When your keywords aren’t targeted very well, you loose this advantage, and your search marketing campaigns will suffer.

A good test when looking at potential keywords is to think of what stage of the buying process a searcher would be in when they type in a particular keyword. Many search marketers break purchasing intent down into three categories:

• Browsers – searchers who are in information-gathering mode
• Shoppers – searchers who have an identified need and are weighing their options
• Buyers – searchers who are ready to buy something now and are looking for a place to do it

For example, if you were in the digital camera business, examples of these searches would be:

• Browsers – “best digital camera,” “digital camera information,” “digital camera reviews”
• Shoppers – “Canon digital slr camera,” “compact Sony digital camera”
• Buyers – “Canon powershot SD780,” “Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1”

While it may be beneficial to show up for keywords that would appeal to browsers, buyers and shoppers, you should focus your primary SEO and PPC efforts to bring in more shoppers and buyers than browsers. This will help you get more targeted traffic from people who are most likely to purchase a product or service from you. Targeting browsers may get you a lot of clicks on your ads, or visits to your site from search engines, but usually the searcher isn’t inclined to buy at this point. (And remember: You don’t want to pay for clicks that don’t ultimately result in sales.)

Now That You’ve Got Them, Use Them
Once you’ve found keywords with solid search volume and that target the shoppers and buyers in your industry, it’s time to start using your keywords to drive new leads and make new sales. Your researched keyword list can be used to:

• Create and optimize new content for your web site
• Build pay-per-click accounts
• Create keyword focused local listings

With the right keywords, you’ll be able to get quality traffic from search engines that will be both cost effective and targeted. So what are you waiting for? Start your keyword research process now!

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