SEO Tips: How to do your own keyword research

SEO Tips: How to do your own keyword research

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is essential if you want visitors to be able to locate your blog or website through search engines.

So in this SEO tip I will give you an introduction on how to do your own keyword research for free and how you should use your keywords to generate traffic for your blog or website.

To start off, let me show you the importance of keyword research.
I did a little study on an online shopping site, or in Singaporean terms, a blogshop as my case study is about an online shopping site based in Singapore, on how they use SEO to get massive traffic to their site.

No surprises; the name of the online shopping site that I am doing a case study on is "ShopLah!".



The above screenshot is valid at 6 Jan 2010. If you don't see it, please click on the link to see it, as there is some trouble with Bukisa on my images part.


As seen in the screenshot above, when you do a search for "fashion clothing", this online shopping site ranks in the first page of Google, in top 10 out of more than 48 million websites!

And the keywords that I typed in Google was not even an exact term, but a broad term search.

Do you wonder how many people search for "fashion clothing" just in Google per month?



The above screenshot is valid at 7 Jan 2010.

Globally, 3.35 million Google searches for just fashion clothing! Just imagine a fraction of these searches ended up in your blog or website!

That's why many online businesses and Internet marketers aim to get into the first page of Google through SEO.

Let's get started with your SEO tip; there are 3 very important aspects of SEO.
If you want to know what is the definition of SEO, and the myths and truths about SEO, check out this article, "SEO guide: What is SEO, and the myths and truths about it".

First, it is the type of keyword search words that Internet users frequently use.

Second, it is the amount of keyword competition.

Third, it is the strength of the websites or blogs that are competing for a specific keyword.

There are other aspects of SEO, but this is just the basics to help you get started.

1. Let me explain the type of keyword search words that Internet users frequently use.
What words do you expect an average user of Google will use when he or she is using Google's search engine?

Let's say, the user is looking for "fashion clothing", and he or she types in "fashion clothing".

Supposed in your fashion online shopping site or fashion blogshop, you have updated your posts and named the title of your posts such as "Best Deals!" or "Featured Products" or "Collection 8 - Holland Village launched!", (I found this title for a blog post in an online shopping site.)

Do you really think Google is going to put your website or blog on its first page?

No, and why? Simply because Google uses bots and crawlers, not humans, to verify the nature of your website or blog!

The bots and crawlers don't exactly know what you are talking about when you are using "Featured Products" as your blog post, because a website selling computers may be using "Featured Products" to sell laptops too!

I found so many online shopping sites don't really understand how much traffic they have lost by not understanding SEO.

Of course, many of these shopping sites thrive on their "word of mouth" marketing without using SEO.

However, if you compare "ShopLah!" with other online shopping sites, they can obviously out sell any of their competition especially if there are so many searches online looking for "fashion clothing".

So consider the keywords you should use when you are updating your blog post or websites.

2. Let me explain the amount of keyword competition.
Supposed you signed up for 2 lucky draws; one has 100 sign ups, and the other has 1000 sign ups.

So which of lucky draw do you stand for a higher chance? The one with 100 sign ups, or the other with 1000 sign ups?

Similarly, Google has only 10 places for websites or blogs to compete on for its first page, and for the keywords "fashion clothing", there are 48 million websites competing.

If you are beginning to apply SEO techniques, competing with a bigger crowd will lower your chances than competing with a smaller crowd.

So do take note of the amount of keyword competition.

3. Let me explain the strength of keyword competition.
Supposed you want to start a furniture shop.

Do you want to your furniture shop beside IKEA? (In case you do not know, IKEA is a power house for selling furniture.)

No, and why? Simply because many visitors will pass by your shop and visit IKEA instead, as IKEA has built a big brand, reputation and name for its furniture.

Similarly, when you are competing for a keyword, in Google's first page, check the strength of your competition for the top ten websites or blogs.

If they are too strong, I suggest that you should pick up other keywords to compete in.

Let me give you a summary on how to choose good keywords.
Good keywords should be:

1.Search words that an average person usually use.
2.That has the smallest amount of competition.
3.That has weak websites or blogs that compete for it.
How should I be using the keywords in my blogs or websites to my advantage?
There are many ways to use good keywords for your benefit, however I am not able to explain everything in detail.

I will just highlight a few that you might miss out.

1. When you find good keywords to use, you should always register your domain name that contains good keywords as much as possible.

An example, if you register a domain name such as "http://starlight.com/" versus "http://fashionclothing.com/", which will Google favor more when a user searches for fashion clothing?

The latter, and that's straightforward, because even for humans, how would I exactly know that "starlight.com" is a fashion clothing website?

So it is really better to register a domain name with good keywords.

However, I must say that it is very difficult to register a domain name with good keywords, because there are many people out there who would think the same way as you, and register these domains first.

If you can't do that, don't worry about it.

2. You should always use good keywords in the title and sub-headings of your blog posts, and talk about it as naturally as possible in the text of your post.

This will help search engines to identify the nature and popularity of your blog or website, and thus helping Google to favor your pages for the top ten slots.

Why should you be using keywords as naturally as possible? That's because there are some who are overly enthusiastic with keywords.

Putting in keywords after every few words or sentences will not help Google to rank you better, because Google recognize that blog posts should be read by humans, not by their Google bots.

Also, it will annoy your readers as well, if they don't understand what you are trying to say to them.


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