Search engine optimization is something many consider to be a necessary evil. It is an easy theory to understand but often difficult to master. However, as long as people have a need to find information quickly, search engines will continue to be relevant. Therefore it is a good idea to understand the process and learn how to use to attract people to your business, particularly if you are looking to get the locals into your store. Whether you are using free methods or developing a paid search engine campaign, the heart of your search engine marketing efforts are your keywords.
Keywords are the words and phrases which people in your target market use to find information online. For example, if a person was looking for a local search engine marketing company to help them with their internet marketing then they would enter something like ‘Search Engine Optimization Los Angeles’ or something similar into the search bar. In order to know what keywords your target market are using, you need to what the people in your target market is like. Are they cheap? Do they like upscale product? Are they college students or part of the over fifty crowd? Each demographic will use a different type of search term. Therefore, you will want to spend some time brainstorming what those terms would be.
Keywords are the words and phrases which people in your target market use to find information online. For example, if a person was looking for a local search engine marketing company to help them with their internet marketing then they would enter something like ‘Search Engine Optimization Los Angeles’ or something similar into the search bar. In order to know what keywords your target market are using, you need to what the people in your target market is like. Are they cheap? Do they like upscale product? Are they college students or part of the over fifty crowd? Each demographic will use a different type of search term. Therefore, you will want to spend some time brainstorming what those terms would be.
Good tools to use to assist you in coming up with good search terms are WordTracker and Google’s Keyword Tool. Once you have your keywords, they need to show up in key places on your website. The most important place is in the title tag. The title tag is the words that show up at the top of your internet browser. These are the words that Google uses as part of the blue link to your website. For proper SEO, you should write your titles so that the keywords are included as close to the beginning of the title as possible.
To capture local business, your site should include geographic keywords such as your city, county, and state whenever appropriate. Going back to our search marketing company example, they would use keywords such as ‘SEO Los Angeles’ to ensure they show up in the search results for businesses looking for them in their local area. Other things you can do to boost your local profile is to claim your business profiles on Google Places, Bing Local, and Yahoo Local. This will also help ensure that you company shows up in local search results.
