Search engine optimization (or SEO) is a great way to drive more traffic to your small business’s website. Through engaging and helpful content, you can increase your rank on search engines and get more eyes on your business. The more people see your business, the more likely they’ll be to remember it. And remembering is half the battle when it comes to making a sale. How do you get people to visit your site? One way is through keywords.
What is a keyword?
A keyword is what people type into search engines to find the answers to their queries. It may look something like “marketing service near me” or “small business marketing tips.” There are also long-tail keywords, which are really more like phrases or questions. An example of a long-tail keyword might be “How do I conduct keyword research to improve my SEO?”
If you’ve ever done a Google search, you get the picture. Keywords help Google understand your business so it can match your website with a potential future customer’s search. Now, how do you find keywords to use on your site? Below are 3 tips to get you started with your keyword research.
1. Identify your target audience.
It’s hard to know which keywords you should use if you don’t know who you’re trying to reach. Identifying your target audience will help you understand which keywords are relevant and which ones are irrelevant. Keep average reading comprehension rates for your target audience in mind when picking keywords. Consider whether your brand could benefit from using trendy slang or if traditional terminology is better. If you have a lot of customers who don’t totally understand your business, but they know they need you, consider keywords that describe your products or services, along with the actual terms themselves.
2. Look at your competitors.
By analyzing what your competitors are doing, you can see what’s been successful and what’s been a flop. Look for any gaps in the information they present and fill them in on your own website. If you sell gourmet hot dogs, and the other gourmet hot dog vendor in your city is only ever posting about beef hot dogs, you can steal some attention away by posting about chicken or turkey or veggie dogs. And when it comes to the flops, learning from your competitors’ mistakes can help you avoid the same pitfalls yourself.
3. Do some searches for businesses like yours.
By conducting test searches, you can see what comes up when your customers are looking for you. Google has a handy auto-suggest feature that fills in the search with popular search terms that may match up with yours. This is a good way to see what people care about and how people look for things. You may also notice a lot of the top results landing on websites like Reddit, or other discussion forums. If there are a lot of forums showing up, that likely means there aren’t a lot of better results for those keywords. Build content around those keywords and bring that traffic to your site.
Put your keywords to work
Keyword research is a great way to improve your small business’s SEO. Once you’ve gathered the terms you want to use, you can use them to build engaging content and increase your website’s rank on search engines.
If you find that you’re too busy running your small business to conduct the keyword research for it, give us a call! Bold River Marketing offers web design & SEO services, along with social media management, videography, and more. We can help you create optimized content with the right keywords to start growing your rank and your revenue!