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Five Steps to Selecting and Implementing SEO Keywords
Search engine optimization is the process of making your Web site more accessible for the search engines so they can index your information and point people to your Web site when they search for specific keywords. Keyword selection is one of the most important steps in search engine optimization, so knowing how to select the right keywords for your Web site will help you to make sure you’re making the most out of your efforts. Here are five steps to selecting keywords so that you can make the best keyword decisions for your SEO strategy.
1. Sit down and think about what your Web site is about. Come up with a preliminary list of keywords that people might use when looking for products, services, and information in your field. This can be a very general list of terms – you’ll narrow the list down later in the keyword selection process.
2. Review the list you made in step one and try to come up with alternate keywords that are similar to the ones you listed. For example, if you sell pasta products, you could make your list of keywords even more specific by listing the different types of pasta that you sell. Then your list might be expanded to include ziti, rigatoni, spaghetti, manicotti, and angel hair pasta. The more specific you can make your keywords, the better your chances of finding keywords that have little competition from other Web sites.
3. Use your lists to move on to the research portion of the keyword selection process. Using software programs or Web-based tools, you can find keywords that match your needs and also have low competition. You may need to make your keywords even more specific. The process may take you from “pasta” to “angel hair pasta” to “whole wheat angel hair pasta.”
4. Review the popularity of each search term compared to the competition for each keyword on the World Wide Web. Make your keyword selections based on the balance between search term popularity and competition from other Web sites. This will help to use the keywords you selected and for better SEO results.
5. Implement the keywords on your Web site using unique content, meta tags, alt-image tags, page titles, site maps, and anything else you can use to incorporate the keywords you selected. Keep track of your site statistics so you can see what needs to be changed once you have implemented your keywords.
Knowing how to research and select keywords is one of the most important parts in the beginning optimization of your Web site. If you follow the five tips above, you can select some solid keywords with low levels of competition. You’ll be glad you took the time to conduct all of this research when you’re able to implement your keywords within your Web site and start seeing increased traffic and better sales for your business.
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