Keyword optimization is the ongoing process of selecting keywords that are likely to be the most relevant for the search terms being keyed in by people searching for the type or category of product being marketed through the website. The aim is to properly select keywords (words or phrases) that can maximize ‘hits’ (people who click) on the website. People will likely click on the website if it is ranked high on the search engine results page (SERP) and if they find their search term (keyword) in the short description of the site in the SERP.
Keyword optimization therefore involves selecting the right (relevant) keywords; facilitating web crawlers (spiders) to easily find and index the relevant contents in the web pages by including important keywords in the anchor text of metatags; and ensuring inclusion of relevant keywords in header tags. Keyword optimization is crucial for the success of both search engine optimization (SEO) for organic searches as well as for pay-per-click (PPC) advertising.
The first practical step to get leads (keywords which can then be expanded) for keyword optimization is to try and think as customers searching for the product category would do. However, researching keywords manually is not a practical option when a large number of keywords and phrases are involved. Fortunately, online keyword research tools are available commercially on the Net, such as, for example, ‘WordTracker’ or ‘KeywordDiscovery’ etc, which can facilitate the process of keyword optimization. Continuous testing of keywords and phrases to ascertain their relevance in a dynamic market is also important for any successful keyword optimization process.
Landing page or sales page is the most important part of SEO. This is where products prosper or die a premature death. Why should SEO be so important for a landing page? This is because customers will come to your site while searching for the keywords. For example, if you were selling bicycle spare parts, you would like those interested in it to visit your site. This means if someone searches for bicycle spare parts, they should land on your landing page. You don’t want those searching for car spare parts coming to your site. Though both pertain to spare parts, one of them is of no relevance to you. This is where you must do your homework.
Landing page has other important functions. Getting customers interested in your product or service is the first objective. If a person has searched for keywords relevant to you and has reached your landing page means that you have done half the job. Making them to buy is another kettle of fish altogether. The landing page should be so designed that a visitor is enticed into making a purchase and that too immediately. If a person or customer decides to buy some other day, you have lost the battle of wits. A landing page will be performing its task effectively only if there is a purchase.
Landing pages should be designed keeping search engine optimization in mind. Keywords should be spread evenly over the entire page and should seem natural and not forced. Search engine algorithms are pretty smart and can penalize you if the keyword density is not natural. As far as possible we must ensure that the language can be understood by humans since it is they who would be purchasing your product or service. In our enthusiasm to manage a better page rank we sometimes forget that the ultimate aim of a landing page is to sell
It is being increasingly acknowledged that business specific keywords are crucial for the success of an Internet based business in today’s crowded and competitive online marketing space. One of the main objectives of having a website by a business is to make net users worldwide aware of the business. The website, in addition to providing information, must also enable a visitor to enquire about the products and services on offer and facilitate conversions. This can be achieved if well chosen and relevant business specific keywords are included in the website; keywords that precisely describe exactly what the business provides, such as specific product names, model numbers etc.
Business owners having (or planning to have) websites must work to identify business specific keywords that are relevant to their product-market mix and creatively weave such keywords into the website content with direct relevance to the specific web page the content is on. Business websites should not only be user friendly, they must also be search engine friendly. An effective strategy to achieve this when using business specific keywords is to incorporate business specific keywords as search engine friendly naming conventions for web pages.
Business specific keywords are mostly long-tailed keyword phrases. They may likely reduce general traffic to a business website for organic searches or the display frequency of pay-per-click (PPC) ads, but users entering specific keywords are typically more likely to buy; being in the final stages of the buying decision. Business-specific keywords will also help increase the search engine rankings of a business website; an added bonus!
Ever wondered where the advertisements on the right of search results come from? These are paid listings. You can participate in the Google AdWords or Microsoft AdCenter campaign and get listed in the paid section of search results. The difference between organic search and paid list is that in organic, you don’t have to pay for the advertisements. In paid listing, you have to pay to search engine providers if a person clicks on the ads. If no one clicks on your advertisement even if it is listed several times or even hundreds of times, you don’t have to pay. This model is called Pay Per Click (PPC). It has obvious advantages. Customers who are genuinely interested in your product or service are the ones most likely to click on the advertisement which means you get a better response to your ad. You can moreover measure cost of advertising versus conversion. By fine tuning your paid listings you can improve the click to conversion ratio. Search engines provide tools to measure various parameters of your paid listing. By monitoring the response you can understand the dynamics of the entire operation.
Just like organic search (SEO or Search Engine optimization), paid listing is also based on keywords. But in paid listings, search engines provide exact statistics of the number of times your advertisement was listed and the subsequent clicks which followed. Each keyword is analyzed separately. Organic search results can be improved if you opt for paid listing for some days. Once you have understood the relevance of specific keywords, you can modify your organic search campaign.
There is a misconception that you must either opt for organic search (SEO) or for paid listings. In actual fact, it is seen that running both the campaigns concurrently can do wonders to your search engine ranking. The process of learning becomes faster and you can quickly grasp the intricacies of your keywords and their impact on search results.
Search Engine Marketing or SEM is a widely used term for a form of Internet marketing that utilizes an array of online marketing strategies to promote a website, improve its ranking on search engine results pages (SERPs), and increase its traffic and conversions. These strategies, inter alia, include search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click advertising (PPC), paid ad placements etc.
SEM predominantly (though not invariably) combines search engine optimization (SEO) which pulls in traffic (website visitors) from organic (natural) searches, and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising which helps to draw in qualified traffic (people who are already searching for the product category being promoted by the website) through sponsored ads (or sponsored links) put up by search engines (against payment per click) on the top and right-hand side of the SERP.
Combining SEO and PPC techniques in SEM helps to drive traffic to the website as they focus on different segments of potential visitors and have different types of strengths. SEO has strengths where PPC does not, and vice versa. PPC, for instance, generates traffic faster (sometimes in hours) than SEO (which may require 3 – 15 months) whereas the cost per visitor is much lower with SEO than with PPC. SEO helps to generate higher volume of low-conversion traffic (good for increasing site visibility) while PPC attracts more qualified (higher conversion potential) but lower-volume traffic and so on.
The trick to any successful SEM campaign is to optimize the site for both SEO and PPC separately and to have a judicious mix of the two strategies depending on the target market and the website goals.
