“So what do you want to be found for?”
“Oh…nothing much. ‘Clothes’, ‘Shoes’, ‘Fashion’. Maybe ‘Celebrities’. And ‘Style’.”
Most of my conversations with new clients start out like this. It’s a good place to begin. But almost immediately, it puts me in the position of having to dash more than a few of their search engine dreams.
Myth #4: All keywords are created equal.
When I search for the word ‘Shoes’, there are 287 million results. That means that you are competing with (at least) 287 million other websites for a high rank on that particular keyword. That’s some heavy competition.
Even if I could get you on page 30 (which would place you above 99.9999991% of your competitors), how many people are going to scroll that far to find you? Not many.
Think small
There are other keywords that you will be able to compete for effectively. Maybe a particular brand or type of shoe. Maybe “how to pick the right shoes for a job interview”. Not only will you be able to rank highly for them, but you can probably do so in a short amount of time. (Days or weeks…not years.)
Why this is a good thing
If you were number 1 for the word ’shoes’, yes it would be completely awesome. The sheer number of people looking for that keyword would ensure you some level of success.
Still, unless you offer every type of shoe and shoe resource under the sun, then a lot (if not most) of your visitors are going to be looking for something other than what you have to offer. Your keyword would be so general, that a lot of the people coming to your site would not actually convert into customers, subscribers, or clients.
However, if you are able to be competitive for something more specific, like ‘the hottest shoes in 2009′, you’re going to be attracting a pretty specific type of person. A trendy, fashion-conscious one. And if those are the kinds of people you’re writing/creating/selling for, then bingo — you’ve done something great for your business.
Don’t be your competitors (most of them have terrible aim)
So maybe you get this. Maybe you’ve been springing for some of those more specific keywords and you’re hoping to eventually rank highly for them. But you’re pretty sure it’s not working.
The truth is, it might BE working
You may very well be #1 for ‘the hottest shoes in 2009′. You could just not know it yet…because nobody is searching for it. If nobody is searching for your keywords, then you’ve missed the boat entirely.
Tools to help you aim well
- Google Keyword Tool
The Google Keyword Tool allows you to look up any keyword and get an overview of how it compares to similar keywords. I’m not going to go into detail about how to use it (we’ll leave that for another day), but if you enter in a broad term like ’shoes’, you’ll see a list of related keywords, how competitive they are (as far as paid advertising goes…not necessarily search results), and a general idea of how many people are searching for the word. It’s good for giving you a general concept of your keyword competition, but its general-ness leaves a lot of room for error. - KeywordSpy
KeywordSpy has a free and paid service that allows you to see what keywords your competitors are using, as well as do research on those keywords. I personally don’t like it because of the sneaky angle…I’m just not cut-throat enough, I guess. But I can see how it would be useful for keyword research. - WordTracker
WordTracker is the service that most SEO professionals (including me) use for their clients. It’s got advanced-level features that allow you to actually see the effectiveness of a particular keyword…in other words, how likely it is that you can compete for that coveted #1 spot. You’ll also be able to see in numeric terms how painfully unrealistic it is to put all of your eggs into a general keyword (like ’shoes’). If you know how to use it (or hire someone who does), you’ll be able to find keywords that you can completely corner so that you’re bringing all kinds of free traffic to your site.
All of this is not to say that you’ll never be found for the word ’shoes’. In fact, I’ve got more than a few specific hard-core strategies up my sleeve that can help with that. We’ll leave those for later. For now, think small. And most especially, research until your fingers start to rally in protest.
