In the competitive online world, having a website isn’t enough. You need to leverage your content to appeal to search engine algorithms. Fortunately, local SEO services can help. However, it’s essential that you understand the basics to work closely with professionals. Otherwise, you may not be able to communicate your goals effectively.
If you’ve never implemented search engine optimization before, the field can seem overwhelming. However, SEO is relatively straightforward, and since it’s been around for three decades, there are some tried-and-true approaches you can learn.
How Local SEO Services Find Keyword Ideas
A common question from SEO novices is: Which keywords will benefit my company, and how can I find them? The best way to start is a list.
To make your list of potential keywords, write down terms related to your industry, existing website content and blog posts. For example, if you sell sewing machines, “sewing machine” is a great phrase to list.
Expand each one into a potential topic once you have about 20 items. To continue our example, you can expand “sewing machine” into the following topics:
- Top 10 sewing machine models
- Best sewing machine features
- Signs you need a new sewing machine
- Sewing machine repair
- Buy sewing machine
- Sewing machine shops near me
Which topics you create depends on what you offer as a business. For instance, if you don’t provide repair services, you shouldn’t use topics including that word.
It’s also a good idea to see what keywords other businesses in your industry are using. While you shouldn’t copy competitors keyword-for-keyword, learning from their successes (and mistakes) is valuable. You can take an approach that generates high search engine results rankings and tweak it to fit your needs.
SEO tools such as Ahrefs are another great way to generate topics. These tools are software designed to make SEO simple for small business owners. They can create lists of potential keywords, identify the best terms and even analyze their effectiveness.
What You Should Know About Keyword Basics
How do SEO tools determine which keywords work best for your company? They utilize principles to increase the likelihood your links end up at the top of the first SERP. As a business owner, it’s a good idea to review these principles so you can optimize your marketing strategies.
One principle is considering monthly search volume. Keyword searches fluctuate, but the MSV tells you how many individual searches were done for a particular keyword in the past month. While you may be tempted to choose keywords that have the highest MSV, this can backfire, as your content may get lost in the crowd.
At the same time, you don’t want to choose rarely searched keywords, as you won’t reach a large audience. Instead, you should aim for a happy medium with tens of thousands of searches, but not millions.
How To Analyze Keywords
While an SEO analysis tool can determine the best options for your purpose, you need to clearly state that purpose. Do you want to bring more visitors to your website? Do you want to sell more products? Do you want to develop your brand? Each of these purposes requires a different approach because internet searchers have varying intents.
The intent is the reason someone conducts an internet search. For example, individuals who want to buy a sewing machine may search “sewing machine for sale,” while people who are still researching their purchase may search “best sewing machines.” Once you know which consumers you want to bring to your website, your SEO tool can choose the appropriate keywords.
Do you want to improve your SERP rankings? If so, the experts at Unwired Web Solutions can help with our SEO services. To learn more, visit us online or give us a call.