Without nailing your keyword research your SEO campaign could be doomed from the start. Our Head of SEO, Jimmy McCann, recently spoke at the ionSearch Marketing Conference in Leeds and offered these 5 easy to implement, useful tips to choosing the right keywords for your business.

1. Killer Keyword Research
5 Tips and Tools
Jimmy McCann – Head of SEO @ Search Laboratory

2. #1 – Know the Market
• How does offering compare?
– Ask yourself.. will it convert?
• Range
• Pricing
• USP’s
Source - http://lukachtaengleman.blogspot.co.uk

3. #1 – Know the Market
• Use right terminology on your site
Reflect what users search for!
• B2B
– Avoid in house jargon
– Sector specific navigation
• Ecommerce

4. #1 – Know the Market
• Seasonality
• Adapt focus / strategy
– Ahead of peaks

5. #2 – Use your Loaf
• Be logical
• Assess keyword potential
– i) Search volume
– ii) Search intention
– iii) Relevance / ability to convert
img source flickr - betterbrandagency

6. #2 – Use your Loaf
i) Search Volume
• Use wordtracker / Adwords KW tool
– Adwords not 100% accurate
• Especially on low volumes
• However
– Good barometer for prioritisation

7. #2 – Use your Loaf
ii) Search Intention
• What does a user want to find from their query?
– Think about it
• Head terms
– Offer large amounts traffic
– Not all traffic is 100% relevant

8. #2 – Use your Loaf
ii) Search Intention
• Not specified, could be a host of things eg
– How does solar energy produce electricity?
– What is solar energy?
– I want to find out more about solar energy
because I’m thinking about getting some
solar panels for my house

9. #2 – Use your Loaf
ii) Search Intention
• Very specific to the service site offers
– Conversion rate higher
• Less difficult to rank for this term That’s what we do!!!
– Than ‘solar energy’

10. #2 – Use your Loaf
iii) Relevance
• Is keyword relevant to company’s products / services?
– Are they competitive in this area?
I need a solar We are solar
panel search - ‘solar panel installers’ panel
installer! installers!
User Company

11. #3 -
• PPC data to test the water
– Especially in emerging / ultra niche markets
• Conversion rate data key
• Exact match data only
img source – Leftcoastcowboys.com

12. #3 -
• Can be used to find actual search volumes
• Setup campaign
– Handful exact match keywords only
– Put exact negatives on other campaigns Accuracy!
• Make sure 100% impression share

13. #4 – SERP’s
• What does Google think is suitable?
• Helps assess intention
• Categorise competing listings
– Direct competitors
– Research
– Blended results
• ‘solar energy’ SERP

14. #4 – SERP’s
Research
Research
Research

15. #4 – SERP’s Research
News
Competitor
Images

16. #4 – SERP’s Research
Research
Research
Research

17. #5 –
• Organic traffic / conversions
– Not from page one
• Identifies easy keyword wins
– Traffic / conversions coming via page 2
Credit - http://www.distilled.net/blog/seo/tracking-referrals-from-second-page-of-google-in-google-analytics/

18. Key Tips – Show ROI
• Show return early in campaign
– Logical approach from ground up

19. Key Tips – Be Realistic
• Don’t aim above your station
– …(just yet)

20. Key Tips – Long Tail!
• Long tail keywords first
– Easier to optimise
– Will convert better
– Allows reinvestment into campaign / less risk
• Build up to head terms
– Naturally over time

21. Summary
• #1 – Know the Market
• #2 – Use your Loaf
• #3 – Test using PPC
• #4 – Analyse SERP’s
• #5 – Refine using analytics

22. Any Questions?:
www.searchlaboratory.com
jimmy@searchlaboratory.com
@jimmymccann / @searchlabs
JIMMY MCCANN /in/jimmymccann1982
Head of SEO