Whenever I start to work with a new client I always ask them first to provide me with the list of up to 10 keywords that are the most important for them or the most related to their business.
Once I have this list of main keywords (keyword phrases), I start using that list as the source of truth and I use various methods to expand this list.
First of all, I like to [bctt tweet=”use an app for Mac called SimpleMind to create a mind map of keywords” username=”slavarybalka”] I learned this method from Jon Ball at SMX West 2012. Jon used mind maps to facilitate link building campaigns, and I figured out this method would be great for keyword research.
Here is an example of an actual keyword mind map that I built for one of my clients:
[btx_image image_id=”245″ link=”/” position=”center”]This is an example of a keyword mind map that I built for one of my clients.[/btx_image]
Your end goal is to have a keyword mind map similar to the one above. As you can see, the more generic topics have branches with more granular keywords.
When I work with a website that provides services then I have 2 major section to allocate keywords to: Services and Blog.
Services section represents a static list of pages, each service type has a page of its own.
For example, in case with a dental website, the service pages might be: Porcelain Veneers, Teeth Whitening, Root Canal Therapy, etc. Each of these pages will have a separate bucket list of keywords associated with it.
Blog section can have an unlimited amount of blog posts in it and so you could use longer keywords for blog posts. For example, if you are a dentist, you could have a blog post centered around this long tail keyword: “how do dental implants work”. This would be your main keyword in that group of keywords. Additional related keywords in that group might be: “how do one day dental implants work”, “dangers of one day dental implants”, “how do all on four dental implants work”, etc.
With that in mind, I proceed to the next stage.
After you’ve found out what your core keywords are it’s time to expand your original list.
I like to use several tools for that:
Besides the 3 Google methods that I outlined above, [bctt tweet=”there are 3 more tools you could use to enrich your list of keywords” username=”slavarybalka”]. Let’s type in this keyword “indoor lighting” in Google. When you finish typing, do not hit Search. You will see something like this:
[btx_image image_id=”258″ link=”/” position=”center”][/btx_image]
This feature is called Google autosuggest, and it can be turned on and off in the search settings. You can add a space and a character:
[btx_image image_id=”257″ link=”/” position=”center”][/btx_image]
or a space and a number:
[btx_image image_id=”256″ link=”/” position=”center”][/btx_image]
You could also experiment with wildcards like this:
[btx_image image_id=”260″ link=”/” position=”center”][/btx_image]
As you can see this is a very powerful tool to uncover new keywords related to the main topic and generate insights for future content.
Aside from this method, there are two more.
If you scroll down a bit, you might see something like this:
[btx_image image_id=”255″ link=”/” position=”center”][/btx_image]
You can start clicking on the questions in this section to drill down into a particular topic to uncover more related subtopics. Google will continue providing you with more and more questions and answers as you keep clicking.
Finally, scroll down to the very bottom of the search results. You might see something like this:
[btx_image image_id=”254″ link=”/” position=”center”][/btx_image]
See if there are any useful ideas in this section.
There are also other great keyword tools out there that I used before like MOZ, WordTracker, Ahrefs, SpyFu, SECockpit, but these days I am using only the ones at the list above.
BONUS: Here is a tool I like to use that helps me save much time when composing an expanded keyword list: Data Miner. This is an extension for Chrome browser that allows you to extract any kind of information from web pages. For example you could use this tool to bulk scrape the list of questions people ask on a professional forum in your niche.
There are even more sophisticated methods that involve more in-depth competitor analysis, machine learning, natural language processing, etc. The methods I’ve provided above would be more than enough for you to generate a solid keyword list for your SEO strategy.
When I work with a content writer, I always ask them to cover the topic they are writing about from as many various angles as possible. Literally I ask them not to leave any stones unturned. That’s why when you do your keyword research you want to think about many different types of questions website visitors might ask and use the corresponding keywords strategically in your page copy.
Google has gone a long way in determining what the page is about. Keywords still play an important role in this process, however, the way Google processes the keywords has changed dramatically over years.
Around 2012 there existed a golden rule of thumb between SEO folks that recommended that your keyword density should not exceed around 6% of all words on the page.
In 2013 Google rolled out their Google Hummingbird update which utilized semantic search and focused on the natural search queries instead of plain keywords. For example, instead of focusing on the keyword “mens engagement rings” you wanted to focus on something like “how do mens engagement rings work”. Capitalizing on that algorithm update I had a great success creating an article that answered the question “what food can I eat with dental veneers” and another one about “dental veneers pros and cons”. These articles brought tens of thousands of visitors to one of my clients over years.
Also, there used to be such thing as TF-IDF, which is the formula by which search engines determine how words on a web page are related to one another and which keyword phrases are more important and which are less. TF-IDF algorithm is still there, it’s just a part of more complex systems now. You can find a good article about the implementation of TF-IDF algorithm in search engines here.
A few years ago Google started using RankBrain which is a sophisticated machine learning algorithm powered by neural networks that determines what the web page is about, how relevant it is to other pages, and where it should be ranking in Google Search results.
Given all of the above, my personal approach to keyword application these days is as follows:
Once you have applied the keywords to a web page on your website you want to start tracking and monitor the progress. If your web page was not optimized at all and you added meaningful keywords that people are actually searching for, you should be able to see an almost immediate improvement in positions. For example, if you put a keyword in your page title, this will send a really strong ranking signal to Google.
At the image below you can see the correlation of factors influencing the position of a web page in search results. This analysis was based on 700 search results for keyword phrase “property management software”:
[btx_image image_id=”271″ link=”/” position=”center” size=”bateaux_medium”][/btx_image]
As you can see, there is some negative correlation between the position of a web page in search results and the presence of the keyword in page title (-0.31) and the presence of the keyword in the meta description of the page (-0.30). The negative number means that the lower the position is i.e. #3 instead of let’s say #34, the more it is related to the presence of the keyword in the page title and in the meta description of the page.
Over the years, I’ve figured out that the most important thing about keyword research for SEO is being creative. Now that you have these tools and methods at your disposal feel free to experiment and combine them with one another.
If you know any other interesting methods of keyword research please share them!
Here is what I recommend to focus on in 2018 to get ahead of your competition, to attract and retain more customers, and to take your company to the next level:
1. Customer Success and Search Intent
Create the best customer experience possible. Tap into your database of the existing customers and create marketing personas. Then get into their shoes and try to understand what is their true intent when they make a decision to buy from you.
Go over your website as if you were a potential customer. Answer the following questions:
Are there any obstacles in the conversion process? (buttons not clickable, page elements not visible/not accessible)
Do they understand what your company can do for them in the first 3 seconds after they have landed on your website?
Ask yourself: “How can I add even more value to my current, former and potential customers?”
2. Technical SEO
Make sure your website is faster than your competitors’ websites. Make sure it has no errors in the code. Implement schema.org markup on your website. This will help Google to index your website better and understand what your website is about, providing better search experience for your future customers. Make sure your website is on https and not on http. This is a must in 2018 for better ranking in Google.
3. On-page SEO
Make sure your page titles, page meta descriptions, h tags, and other important page elements include the important keywords you want to be found for. Make sure the information on your web pages is diverse and the topic is covered from as many angles as possible. Leave no stones unturned. Your webpages should have text, images, videos, gifs, lists, tables, etc.
4. Relevant backlinks
In 2018 do not opt-in for low cost or suspicious link building solutions. Google algorithms have become much smarter to find out what links do good for your website and which links make your website look spammy. These are the safe sources of backlinks I recommend to focus on.
links from your company social networking profiles (Facebook page, Instagram, Twitter account, your Youtube channel)
get a link from your city’s Chamber of Commerce website (business directory)
get links from your local reputable business directories
take part in your local community events and secure links from the events’ websites or local bloggers that cover these events
reach out to your business partners/clients/suppliers, and ask them to link back to you
constantly produce high-quality content that adds value for your target audience and amplify your content through your email list and social networks – this will help you get more natural links.
5. Voice Search
2018 will be the year of voice search. Here is how you can use that to get the edge.
Search queries have become looking more natural. Several years ago we would search Google for “dentist in Dallas”, and now it has turned into “Hey Siri, what is the best dentist in Plano near me?” or something similar. Think about the questions your customers might be asking when searching for your business and use these questions and answers to them in your website content. Here are some resources that will get you started:
Yahoo Answers (https://answers.yahoo.com)
http://answerthepublic.com
FAQ section under any product on Amazon
“wh* {your business}” and “how * {your business}” searches on Google
6. AI and Machine learning
It’s highly likely that your company already has lots of data accumulated about your customers. Tap into the data that you have and make data-driven decisions. You can use the information that you have for better targeting, improved customer satisfaction, and cost reduction. Machine learning solutions are here to stay and now it’s all about who will incorporate them into the business practices first. Here is a good article on LinkedIn about this topic:
https://www.linkedin.com/…/15-applications-artificial-inte…/
Here is the question: “Who is my typical customer?”
Instead of asking themselves this question, many business owners I work with are focused rather on tuning customer attribution channels, improving landing pages, trying to get more customers and they forget about the foundation.
2018 is the year of user experience in SEO. Google started to put more attention on user-centered metrics a few years ago. I strongly believe that things like Time on Site, Bounce Rate, Click through Rate and other user-specific metrics play an important role in how Google ranks the web pages nowadays. Everything is more related to the interaction with the website visitors.
Therefore, I recommend starting looking into the data you already have on your existing or former customers. Since these are the people who have already purchased from you, how can you find and engage more people like them? Also, what are the specific traits of this particular group?
To answer these questions, tap into your SQL database (or into your CRM) and identify the customer archetypes or clusters. Also look at the relationships between certain features and the desired output (“customer X moved down the conversion funnel”, “customer Y made a purchase”).
Once you identified one, three, or more clusters of typical customers, try to get deeper and understand what is the driving force that makes them buy from you. Also, find out what their search intent is. Now it’s time to add that to your research.
In order to do this, I’d suggest looking into your Google Search Console and see what keywords bring the clicks to your website. You could also check the searches of the internal search engine on your website if you have any. Check Yahoo Answers, Quora, and your niche forums, to find out what kinds of questions your ideal customers are asking. Also, just today Google added a new look to their related searches feature, allowing everyone to see what other people are searching for. To trigger it on Google desktop search, you want to go to a search result, click on a listing, and then click back to the search results page.
Ideally, it would be great to trace the complete way of a customer from the very top of the conversion funnel (what keyword brought them to your site/what they searched for on the site) down all the way to your “thank you” page. After that, go even deeper. Think about why they are searching that. And the last thing is, add seasonality to the mix. Check Google Trends for the keywords they search for. This whole process should give you a clear understanding and a pretty complete picture of their search intent.
Following this methodology and answering this one question will help you focus on the core of your marketing approach and transfer the insights into any marketing channel that you’d desire to use.
I’d like to hear from you: have you implemented this or a similar approach before? What obstacles did you face with? What results have you achieved?
P.S.: You are welcome to join Slava’s Online Marketing Club on Facebook. I share monthly curated tips and insights that will take your business to the new heights.
If you are an SEO specialist or a business owner, this article will be of special interest to you. If you know someone who is doing SEO or struggling with getting their SEO done right, discuss this article with them.
It’s not about SEO anymore, and if you still don’t get it, then it’s been negatively impacting your organization. Seriously, how can you optimize for Search Engines today, if Search Engines themselves don’t understand what they are doing to the full extent?
Silently, the world of marketing changed again, and many of us have not realized this fact yet.
You might have heard of RankBrain. RankBrain is an artificial intelligence (AI) program used to help process Google search queries (source). Google introduced RankBrain about 2 years ago. Since then, a certain part of Google Search results has been powered by neural networks. It was about 15% of all searches back then, but how many searches are processed by Google’s neural networks now?
The way neural networks operate is that you feed some input data into them, and they output the results that are highly accurate. Neural networks are just computer programs based on mathematical models, and they have been around for half a century. But the funny thing is, even their creators themselves don’t know exactly what’s going on “under the hood”.
I started my SEO journey about 9 years ago when the number of links pointing to your website mattered and their quality did not. For many of us, SEO was all about using the right tools to get our clients X amount of links to push their websites higher in search results. Then, in 2012, I learned from Bruce Clay that besides 200+ ranking factors there are certain weights assigned to each factor, and these weights change from time to time with the updates of Google’s algorithms. Last year I signed up for a Machine Learning class at Udacity, co-created with Google. I just wanted to figure out what’s going on.
I built a machine learning model and trained it on Google search results, only to discover that it is highly unlikely to predict the position of a web page in Google search results, based on its attributes (i.e. ranking factors).
I realized that the battle is lost and but not the war. So I made my next decision. I picked up a list of the best 30+ books on marketing and set a goal to read all of them by the end of this year.
So, if it’s not about SEO anymore, then what did SEO transform into?
Today, it’s all about the customer. As it has actually always been. In some sense, the cycle is over, and we are going back to the roots and the core principles of the traditional marketing.
What can you do today to embrace this change and ride with it?
How about your organization – what impact has this change made on your business?
Nowadays, you want to have the following members in your marketing team:
Here is what the responsibilities of each of these team members would involve:
PPC Manager
Manages your paid search campaigns on paid media. Collaborates with Web Designer and UX/QA to build landing pages. Manages retargeting.
SEO Manager
Makes sure Technical SEO is in place and the site is 100% optimized. Makes sure on-site SEO is in place. Manages link acquisition campaigns. Tracks recent changes and updates in SEO. Extensively collaborates with link builder and content manager. Also exchanges ideas with PPC Manager.
Link Builder
Uses the multitude of ways to acquire backlinks. Performs link submissions and link outreach. Extensively collaborates with a content manager as lots of link building methods are based on existing content. Exchanges ideas with Social Media Manager. Reports to SEO Manager. Contributes to “1000 fans” database.
Social Media Manager
Manages the following company social accounts:
In charge of building “1000 fans” database.
Collaborates with Content Manager and PPC Manager in creating and amplification of paid search campaigns.
Affiliate Manager
Manages your database of affiliates and relations with them. Collaborates with Social Media Manager. Responsible for traffic and lead generation through affiliate marketing channel.
Web Designer
Responsible for the look of the website and/or mobile app. Also, collaborates with the content manager, social media manager, PPC manager and link builder in the creation of content and link-worthy content (infographics, brochures, etc).
Content Manager
Responsible for content production and populating the website with content. Also, collaborates with your link builder and your web designer.
Full Stack Web Developer
Responsible for both frontend and backend. Closely collaborates with your web designer in creating the look of the website. Responsible for creation and administration of website backend, database, etc.
The following two roles are not necessary for a small company, and can be outsourced:
What does your ideal marketing department look like? Please, share it in the comments!
Search Engine Optimization might seem a complex subject to many business owners. It is not always clear what exactly SEO companies provide, and how SEO work corresponds to your company bottom line at the end of each month.
At the end of the day, your SEO should boil down to the following three fundamental parts/principles.
Technical SEO – Your site should be technically flawless, crawlable, indexable. Lightning fast. Mobile-friendly.
Content – The more you post – the better. The more unique, useful, entertaining your posts are – the better. Your content should be original and more engaging than your competitors’. Content is the food for Google.
Backlinks – Ideally, your content is so good, those other websites can’t resist linking to you naturally. In reality, SEO work is about link placement, i.e. finding other web pages on the Internet that can link back to you. Backlinks are votes from other sites on the web towards your website. The more votes you have and the better their authority is – the better it is for your website.
Each of these principles by themselves can be expanded into separate lengthy blog posts.
Whenever you hire an SEO agency, make sure they work on these three fundamental pillars. Your site should have 0 errors, an increasing number of good, high-quality content, and an increasing amount of good backlinks. Everything else is less important.
What’s even more important: when you hire an SEO consultant, make sure you have a way to connect and match their work and reports they provide to your company revenue.
P.S. I intentionally left out other things like RankBrain, user metrics, user engagement, social signals, keywords, etc. These three pillars that I focus on in this article are more important and are the core principles.
Yesterday I had an opportunity to speak with Eric Kinniburgh, who is the owner of Flats Organic Pizzeria, located in Boston, MA. Eric wants to learn more about SEO, so I faced a challenge to present the best techniques that actually work to a person who knows very little about SEO. We talked for about an hour and after the conversation I thought that it might be a good idea to sum up all those things been said into one post. So, here we go!
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can be on-site and off-site. SEO is done to make your website rise in search results and appear on the first page, increasing your revenue.
On-site SEO is everything, you do on your website and off-site SEO is everything that happens outside your website but what influences your website rankings in search engines.
On-site SEO consists of:
Off-site SEO consists of… (links! links! and links once again!) Links are like votes, or like money. The more sites on the Internet link back to your webstite, the richer your website is. A backlink is a link on another website, that leads to your website. My approach is to get as many incoming links from as many different sites (Class C IP addresses), as possible. The authority of the page that is linking back to you is more important than relevancy. Tweets/Facebook shares of the pages of your website are more important than links.
Links can be acquired in a number of ways:
Please pay attention to the following:
Software tools I recommend to use (please, keep in mind that any tool is like a knife: you can use it for bad goals of for good goals; always follow common sense):
Don’t waste your time trying to get cracked versions from torrents or from anywhere else, I strictly recommend buying these tools if you are serious enough about SEO. These tools themselves are great time-savers.
Here is also 2 posts I highly recommend you to read before you start doing any SEO. These posts are mostly about marketing, but I regard any website promotion as a system:
So these are the things I told Eric in our 1-hour conversation. I think most of these things are already familiar to people who already practice SEO, nevertheless, I hope that to those who are a new to this term this article has become a good “crash course”. I would appreciate your comments. =)