SEO How To: Choose the Right Keywords for Your Website

You might have great content, but if you are not choosing the right SEO keywords for optimization, you might not get anyone to see it.

There are plenty of SEO tricks and tips when it comes to getting found on search engines using targeted keywords, but the only way to ensure that your results are not only growing, but qualified, is to have an SEO strategy in place when it comes to selecting your keywords. One of the trickiest parts of building a social media strategy is that most people have no idea how search engine ranking positions (SERPs) are determined, nor do they know how to go about maximizing their efforts when it comes to increasing their SERPs. Below are a few of the best practices we have observed when it comes to choosing the right keywords for SEO on your website.

1. Don’t Go Overboard

While you might think that optimizing your site for dozens of keywords is your best option for maximizing SEO, the reality is that too many keywords will dilute your results and won’t help your SEO for any one category. We have found that optimizing for five keywords is the golden ticket when it comes to SEO. So, while your industry might have hundreds of keywords to choose from, try and keep it simple in order to avoid missing the mark entirely. Ultimately, you want a keyword density across all of your content between 2% and 5%. What is keyword density? This is the number of times your keywords are mentioned in relation to the total number of words in you content. So try to keep that in mind as well when drafting your posts.

2. Love Your Industry, Not Only Your Brand

Industry keywords perform much better than specific brand keywords. You might think that the more you mention your specific brand, the higher it will rank. While this is true, people might not be searching for “Acme Car Repair” – in fact, the majority of searches will not. So you are better off optimizing your content for the generic “car repair”, and other industry keywords as opposed to simply optimizing for your brand. While the ultimate goal is for people to be searching for your brand specifically, it may not start out that way. Not all of us are a Coca-Cola or a Harley Davidson, and may not have an internationally recognized brand name. So focus on the generic and allow your brand to reach the top of those results organically.

3. Do Your Research

Before choosing any one keyword, it is important to know whether or not you are choosing the right keywords. In keeping with the previous example, you might think that “automotive repairing” is the right keywords for your brand. But without the proper research, you might not realize that “car repair” has not only more global search results, but less competition density. How can you figure this out? The Google Keyword Tool allows users to search for keywords for free, and helps you choose the best keywords for you industry along with other suggestions for comparison.

The image above shows a comparison of these two keywords in terms of monthly Google search results along with some additional suggestions for other keywords. Studying this data will allow you to choose the best keywords when it comes to drafting your content for SEO.

4. SEO is an Ongoing Process

SEO is constantly evolving, and if you optimize for a set of keywords today, it might not be the same tomorrow. (Well, it might be the same tomorrow, but you know what we mean.) This holds particularly true for seasonal industries. Say you are living in the Northeast – the search term for “cheap winter tires” will be much higher during the winter months than in mid-July. So be sure to update your content regularly (corporate blogs are a great way to do this) and do your research on a regular basis in order to ensure that your site’s SERP does not drop over time.

5. Speak with the People

While your car repair company might be full of experts using complicated mechanic jargon throughout the course of the day, that does not mean that your average customer will have any idea what that means. As a result, he or she will not be searching for those terms when trying to find you. Optimize your results on a global level and avoid using complicated internal terms so that even the least savvy customer stumbles upon your page. Expertise is a great thing to have, and will result in increased business, but optimizing for terms that most people do not use will never help your SERPs.

Can you think of any other keyword selection tips that will help boost your SERPs? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!