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What Developers Should Tell Clients About SEO Optimization

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“Why isn’t our website ranking higher on Google?”

This often means you – the designer or developer – might receive questions like the above. Clients want to know why their site isn’t performing as well as it should.

After all, that’s what they’re paying you for, right?

But what happens when the website is finished to the client’s specs, but it’s still not performing well?

Sometimes the fault for an underperforming website falls back on you, even if it’s not directly included in your scope. That’s why it’s important to be able to identify potential reasons why a website might underperform, and know how to respond in those situations.

Here are a few things that might be hurting your client’s website performance.

Free Downloadable Cheatsheet: Tips for Getting More Web Traffic
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“Your Domain Authority Is Too Low”

Appearing on the first page of Google’s Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) is a common concern for many clients, and it might be one of the reasons they came to you to build their site in the first place.

But according to RankBrain, the most search traffic goes to the first result, with click-through rates (CTR) decreasing significantly after the second position.

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Google also reports that 34% of search results – yes, even those on the first page – get no clicks at all, and that 12% of all clicks go to the top 100 search-traffic-receiving domains.

So not only is it important for sites to rank high, but they really need to be number one to see significant traffic from their SEO efforts.

But one of the reasons they most likely won’t see the first page SERPs is due to low page authority. As mentioned, unless you’re in the top 100 domains, you may not rank on Google.

Unless you’re in the top 100 domains, you may not rank on Google.

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It doesn’t matter if your site is the best designed, most beautifully crafted website in the world. If you don’t have high site (domain) authority – a predictive score dictated by Moz and used by Google to rank results – you won’t rank.

This is doubly true for new websites. New sites usually start with a score of 0-1. For reference, well-established sites, like Facebook and Wikipedia, are close to 100.

If you’re developing or designing a brand new site for a client, and they complain about not showing up in Google, tell them that they need to focus their energy on driving traffic in other ways.

Paid ads, more posted content (on a blog, typically), or social media traffic can all help to improve domain authority.

“You Need More High-Quality Backlinks”

Another reason why a site may not be showing up as high on Google’s SERPs is due to low or poor quality backlinks – links that point back to your website.

According to Andrey Lipattsev, Search Quality Senior Strategist at Google, high-quality content and link building are the two most important signals used by Google to rank your website for search.

In fact, the top ranked pages on Google have an average volume of 100,000+ high-quality backlinks.

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High-quality backlinks can be notoriously difficult to get, especially for new sites, because they require other more popular sites (think top 100 domains for best results) to link to your landing pages or content.

The good news is that quality does make up for the lack of volume. A link from a relevant website in your niche, for example, might be worth 100 links from a lower quality source.

So how do you earn high-quality backlinks?

Over time you may naturally gain some links from other websites, especially as your organic traffic grows from regular content production or social traffic. But in order to gain the quality and volume needed to rank, you need to make some effort.

The first step is to focus on providing valuable and high-quality content on your website. This should ideally come from a blog that can be frequently updated, and not just landing pages.

Google looks for fresh content when considering rankings. Former Google Fellow Amit Singhal once explained that, “Different searches have different freshness needs.”

In other words, fresh content is needed for all your desired keywords.

You then need to find ways of sharing your content on other sites in order to create those backlinks.

Try posting content as guest blogs on larger editorial sites, or by linking to it on sites like Quora. You can also syndicate traffic from sites like Facebook and LinkedIn, both of which have domain authority ranks close to 100.

If you’re curious about your current site backlinks, you can use a free tool like Backlink Watch. Other paid sites like Open Site Explorer, Majestic SEO and Ahrefs will give you a lot more information as well.

If clients don’t know why their site isn’t performing, you might recommend they try some link-building strategies, like guest blogging on popular editorial sites or asking customers to link to you on their landing pages.

“You Need to Optimize Your Content”

Because content plays a big role in how Google ranks sites – from the freshness of the content to the links it contains and more – it’s important that sites are creating content that can be shared.

In other words, a pretty website is not enough. It has to have more content.

And that content needs to be optimized so Google knows what to do with it. CTR for content on Google’s first page SERPs increases by 667% for posts that appear as Featured Snippets.

Featured Snippets are selected search results that appear on top of Google’s first page in a special box.

If you’re not sure how to get a Snippet, or you don’t yet have the domain authority to get a Snippet, there are other ways you can optimize your content to rank higher.

Posting content that is engaging – keeps people on the page and has a higher number of conversions into another action, like an email subscription (etc.) – can also improve your relationship with Google.

Their algorithm can track how long someone stays on a page, and what other actions they take and whether or not they click on other content from your site.

Creating content that keeps people enthralled will help improve search results.

You can also help your odds by focusing on long tail keywords in your content in order to gain more organic search traffic and improve your odds of appearing in either a Featured Snippet or on the first page SERPs.

If clients want methods for improving their Google search rankings, tell them to produce more high-quality, optimized content.

Don’t forget to give your clients this cheatsheet for getting more web traffic
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Final Thoughts

It’s important to explain to your clients that creating a beautiful website won’t guarantee them a high ranking on Google SERPs.

Even if it’s fully responsive and includes SEO optimization, if it’s a new website, it needs more to be truly successful.

The top strategies they can focus on include an improved domain, adding backlinks and creating optimized content.

You should also remind them that it takes time to build a reputable and high ranking site, and they shouldn’t give up if they don’t see results right away. With a little effort, it will happen for them.

Google’s New SEO Algorithm Looks for This When Ranking Sites

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The rules of SEO are constantly evolving.

Search engines like Google update their algorithms so frequently, and it can be dizzying to know how to get your site ranked the way you want. One thing is clear, however: keywords just aren’t enough to get you the traffic you want.

Keywords just aren’t enough to get you the traffic you want.

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So what will give you results when it comes to SEO? According to Google’s latest algorithm, Hummingbird, you need to build sitewide trust.

Trust is the core component of Google’s relevancy-oriented search, and without it, you won’t be relevant.

Building real trust with Google isn’t easy. The smarter the system gets, the harder it can be to rank. But don’t worry just yet. There are things you can do to ensure that your site still ranks the way you want it to.

Don’t miss these 5 Vital SEO Trends for Better Ranking
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Why Google’s SEO Algorithms Matter

Google’s algorithm rules aren’t arbitrary: they have a purpose. Before you can improve your SEO ranking, you have to understand the ultimate motivation.

Google’s main goal is to deliver the most relevant search results as fast as possible.

They use deep neural networks of data to create a system that can think like the human brain, or attempt to, anyway. This approach is called “deep learning” and it’s used all across the Internet to improve user experience.

It’s ultimately an effort to help computers process information the same way humans do.

So when you search for “best website design ideas,” you get results based not only on your query, but on your search history, what other people are searching for, and what sites have content that closely resembles what the engine thinks you mean.

The smarter that the algorithms get – the more humanlike – the harder it is to “game” the system. Plugging your site with random keywords doesn’t work anymore, because Google can see through your attempt to keyword stuff.

Instead, you have to get Google to trust you. How do you do this?

In a book entitled SEO 2017: Master Search Engine Optimization, R.L. Adams lays the groundwork: You build trust with age, authority and content.

Building Trust with Age

You may think that using age as a ranking factor puts newer sites at a disadvantage, but know that with Google, age is more than a number.

Google relies on its relationship with your site over time to judge whether or not you’re trustworthy enough to list on the first few pages. Time is still a factor – the longer it knows you exist, the more likely you will be to rank – but if it sees that you produce value for visitors over time (you have heavy traffic, your site gets linked to, you produce frequent content, etc.), your relationship will improve.

For sites that have been around longer, this gives you an automatic boost to your rankings, which may come as a relief. For newer sites, or those that post less frequently, you will still have to build up your reputation over time.

Keep in mind that age doesn’t necessarily mean when you launched your site, though. Age refers to the indexed age, meaning when Google actually discovered you first. So if you had a site for a while but haven’t done anything with it until now, you will still be a baby in Google’s eyes.

Building Trust with Authority

If you don’t have age in your favor, you can also boost your ranking with authority.

In the past, you would build authority through your Google PageRank. The higher on the scale of 1-10 your site sat, the more trusted it would be. If you could link to more established (higher ranking) sites, you could boost your own score.

While Google still uses PageRank as a factor in SEO, they no longer gives public access to PageRank ratings, making it impossible to know how you actually fare. Instead, Google uses Domain Authority to determine the trustworthiness of your site.

Domain Authority is a score (100 points) developed by Moz that predicts how well a website will rank on search engine result pages (SERP). While it’s not a direct replacement for PageRank, it does allow you to see where your site sits in the rankings.

What makes Domain Authority helpful is that it gives you a way to measure the strength of your links. You can see exactly which sites are giving you the best boosts and which links are altogether worthless for your ranking power.

A few ways to improve your Domain Authority include:

  • Optimizing your internal links – Making sure links go to relevant content, use natural anchors that make sense to users, are linked to the right keywords, etc.
  • Creating more link-worthy content – Avoiding keyword stuffing, but creating content that does link out to other sites
  • Pursuing higher quality links – Linking to trustworthy (older, more established) sources, putting your site in a directory like Google My Business, Yelp, TripAdvisor and the Better Business Bureau, etc.
  • Running link audits – Eliminating broken or bad links as often as possible

The better links you have (the better your link profile is), the better your Domain Authority will be.

 

Building Trust with Content

The other thing that Google looks for when building trust is fresh, quality content.

When you publish quality content on a regular basis, you give Google more opportunities to index your site for links as well as for targeted keywords (yes, keywords still matter).

Frequently adding content, like blogs or articles, allows you to optimize the article with pertinent keywords that can attract visitors to your site, and provides you additional ways to link to authoritative sources and higher ranking sites.

The trick is that your content has to deliver genuine value. In the past, Google’s algorithms would look at the number and frequency of keywords being used throughout the content on your site to determine relevancy.

But the trouble with this is that Google’s new algorithms actually punish keyword stuffing. Instead, the algorithm looks for specific keywords or keyphrases (even “natural language” search phrases and questions) that fall into the content naturally.

In other words, the keywords have to make sense in context – and yes, Google can tell.

This means that for content to help you build your credibility, it has to:

  • Be popular enough to attract traffic
  • Include relevant keywords naturally
  • Provide enough value that users share and save it
  • Include meta tags, title tags and descriptions
  • Be published frequently

The good news is that you can publish as much content as you want, as long as it’s high-quality. This can be one of the best strategies for newer sites looking to rank higher in SERPs, since Google will still build a relationship with your content even if you haven’t been around for long enough to have age or link authority.

Be sure to check out these 5 Vital SEO Trends if you want to rank
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Final Thoughts

If you want to create a site that ranks under Google’s new SEO algorithm, you have to focus on building a relationship with Google and steer clear of smarmy tactics like keyword stuffing or over-linking.

Thanks to Artificial Intelligence, Google thinks and acts more like a human when it processes your site, meaning that, in a way, it’s judging what you have out there.

In order to make sure it trusts your content, you want to produce content that offers value for searchers, build natural links and relationships with other high-ranking sites, and stick around long enough for Google to see you.

How to Use Search Engines for Better Keyword Research

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Google handles over 2 trillion searches each year, which means there’s a strong chance that someone somewhere is searching for your business online. The odds of them finding you, however, can vary depending on the strength of your SEO.

According to WordStream, 50% of all searches made consist of at least four or more unique keywords, and each keyword affects the search results listed on the first page. If you want your site to be seen, choosing the right keywords is essential.

Many businesses spend an enormous amount of time and money doing extensive keyword research. In fact, as of this year the SEO industry is worth $65 billion. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t get results for less effort.

The key to choosing successful keywords is understanding the words your audience are searching for. While this does require a little insight into the driving factors of your target market, generating keywords from this insight can be as easy as using Google’s search bar.

If you’re looking to improve your organic SEO through keywords but you don’t have the budget for extensive research, here’s what you should know.

Check Out These 6 Tips for Improving Keyword Rankings:
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SEO Research Without Fancy Tools

Search engines by themselves are excellent tools for generating keywords if you know where to look. Google’s autocomplete function, for example, allows you to type any keyword or keyphrase directly into the search bar and see:

  • Related terms to the one you’re typing
  • Relevant searches you’ve done in the past
  • What other people are searching for (including Trending stories)

This method of keyword research is particularly effective for generating long tail keywords, or those with three and four specific keywords.

Taking it a step further, Google has a variety of other free tools to aid you on your quest, including Google Analytics and Google Trends, which shows you the most popular topics and keywords trending around the world.

Other search engines like Bing or even Yahoo search have their own versions of these tools as well (in addition to autocomplete functions of their own), including Bing’s Webmaster tool and Yahoo’s keyword tool.

But search engines aren’t the only place you can research keywords with a few clicks.

You can also search Twitter trends the same way you would use Google Trends, as well as search for hashtags related to your long tail keywords. Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube all have search features built in to aid you as well.

Generating keywords based on social media topics can be a good idea, because ultimately the content on your site (or even your homepage) will probably be shared on social media, even if it’s by you and your team.

When you then tweet about your business with a corresponding hashtag, you’ll receive more targeted traffic, which can improve your organic SEO. And using search engine trends to generate keywords can be an effective way to get to know your audience.

How to Do a Search Engine Keyword Search

But where do you begin? Should you just type any keyword that pops into your head? If you’ve never done organic SEO research before, you’ll want to plan out your search strategically, following some basic steps:

Step 1: Search for Brand Terms

Start by creating a list of terms that are already associated with your business that people would already know. You could start with your company name and keywords associated with that name as well as your location.

If you owned a directory that listed businesses in the Chicago area, for example, you could start with “business directories Chicago.” The goal is to generate as many long and short tail keywords as possible, and don’t worry at this stage if they don’t seem like popular terms.

Step 2: Search for Competitors

If you know who your direct competitors are, start by searching for their name and look for any autocomplete keywords or phrases that appear and include them in your list. Also keep in mind that your audience may not know who your direct competitors are, so avoid keywords that are specific to their brand names, products, or website unless it’s something your audience would be searching for directly.

Step 3: Substitute Terms

Once you have a decent foundation of keywords to work from, re-enter keywords or keyphrases with substituted or complementary terms. For example, instead of “business directory in Chicago” you might swap it out for “lists of businesses that sell XYZ product in Chicago.” Some audiences might not search for the word “directory” but may want the outcome a directory provides (a list of businesses).

This should give you a solid starting point for your organic SEO. Keep in mind that not all keywords will have the impression rates you want, but having a robust list of potential keywords will help you clarify which are most likely to bring in traffic naturally.

Keyword Research Tips for Better Results

As you’re doing your research, there are a few other things you want to do to truly maximize your results.

Research Multiple Lengths

It’s important to include both long and short tail keywords in your search (e.g. “Chicago directories”), as well as words or phrases in natural language or question form (e.g. “where can I find businesses that sell XYZ in Chicago?”). As a general rule, a keyword’s length falls into one of three categories:

  • Short-tail keywords (1 to 2 words)
  • Medium-tail keywords (3 to 4 words)
  • Long-tail keywords (longer than 4)

Short tail keywords are the easiest to search for but may not always yield the best autocomplete results. You can search for short tail keywords to see which pages pop up on the first page of your chosen search engine, however.

Medium and long-tail keywords will give you an idea of what users are looking for and tend to have less search volume than short tail keywords, which is ultimately better for your ranking if you include them.

Search for Multiple Keywords at Once

Google search is flexible and there are several shortcuts to maximize your time.

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Google search is flexible and there are several shortcuts to maximize your time. When doing a search, consider typing in two keywords or phrases at once using the syntax “or” to combine them.

For example, you could type: “Businesses in Chicago that sell XYZ” OR “Where to find XYZ in Chicago.” If you use quotation marks, those exact phrases will be used, or if you omit the quotation marks Google will search for related terms and phrases for both.

Gradually Add Keywords

If you’re doing keyword research and autocomplete isn’t giving you the results you want, start with short tail keywords and then gradually add more. For example, you could start with “Chicago directories” and move to “Chicago business directories”, “Chicago businesses directories listing”, “Local Chicago business directories,” and so on.

This will gradually refine your search terms to give you more targeted results. You may also find that by adding keywords you generate different results than you would if you simply went for “Local Chicago business directories” the first time.

Here are 6 more tips for using your chosen keywords for SEO:
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Final Thoughts

Keyword research, while essential to your online traffic, doesn’t have to be a complicated or costly procedure if you know how to work with the tools you have.

Start simple by using Google (or Bing, etc.) to search for short tail keywords using autocomplete results, and then build into long tail keywords to create a foundational list of potential ranking terms.

From there, you can use Google Analytics (or Bing Webmaster, etc.) to look for search volume and determine which keywords or phrases will net you the best results.

Keep in mind that this won’t necessarily guarantee that you’ll rank for your chosen keywords, but it will give you a much, much better shot than doing nothing at all.

Why Google’s Two Biggest SEO Rules Are Perfect for Directories

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Optimizing your website for SEO may seem like a difficult task, and each year Google updates their algorithms between 500-600 times.

How can a small website keep up?

The good news for many smaller websites is that the biggest rules of SEO on Google haven’t changed much. According to Google’s Andrey Lippasey, the two most important ranking factors are content and links.

While both content and links can help multiple businesses rank in their niche, they’re especially good for directories. Here’s why…

Don’t miss these 7 SEO Content Tips for Directories:
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SEO Rule #1: Links

Links are certainly not the only factor involved in improving your SEO ranking, but high-ranking sites do have link building to thank for their authority.

By using links, search engines are able to analyze the popularity of a site as well as the ones linking to it. If it deems the links “trustworthy”, the site is more popular, and therefore ranks higher in search results.

There are essentially two types of link-building best practices that can help this along: external and internal.

Internal links – like linking one page of your site to another – help the architecture of your site and point Google’s crawlers to important pieces of information on your site that someone might be looking for.

External links, on the other hand, happen when other websites link to your pages. They offer more authority than internal links, especially if the site linking to you is considered trustworthy.

The reason external links improve ranking so much better than internal ones is due to the difficulty of receiving them. They’re like third-party votes: they’re simply harder to manipulate, so if you’ve got them, your rank will improve.

And unlike traffic, they’re easily measurable, so Google’s algorithms can quickly detect the popularity and relevancy of your site based on external links.

What This Means for Directories

So how does this affect your directory? Your site is built on the foundation of links.

Businesses can list on your site for many reasons, including visibility, but your directory also offers them SEO link building to boost their rankings. But this also works both ways. If other businesses or directories feature your site, you have a better chance of standing out on the results page.

But again, the power of SEO link building only works if both your site and the other site (business, directory, etc.) is trustworthy. If you’re featured somewhere else, you want to ask:

  • Is this site moderated?
  • Is my link just one in a thousand or does it stand out?
  • Is my link on a relevant page with relevant keywords?
  • Am I featured in the right category?
  • Does this page actually get traffic?

All of those things go into determining whether or not a site is trustworthy and whether or not Google counts those links toward an SEO ranking. If your links are deemed unnatural, they might not count.

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SEO Rule #2: Content

The second rule for high-ranking SEO is content, and yes, content applies to directories just as much as any other site.

Yes, content applies to directories just as much as any other site.

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Content is not necessarily limited to blogging or other forms of content marketing. Content simply means “any information that lives on the web and can be consumed.” Any type of content can be used to improve SEO rankings.

The best SEO content tends to be fresh and filled with relevant keywords. Google has something called “Query Deserved Freshness” (QDF) that ranks content based on trending activity. Search results for a certain keyword during popular or important event, for example, will have a higher QDF rating than it would during its normal activity.

Google will apply QDF to various terms to see if fresh content is available and re-rank websites based on what’s happening. That’s why successful SEO content tends to come in the form of blogs or social media posts, which are frequently updated.

But that doesn’t mean you need to have long-form content to improve your QDF. Any piece of content that includes relevant search words embedded within it (though it should be quality content and not just links and keywords) will improve SEO rankings.

Other types of content could include things like infographics, videos, reviews, headlines, categories, lists, ebooks, guides, case studies, podcasts, interviews, research and original data, and even link pages.

What This Means for Directories

Blog posts, articles, and other types of long-form content can certainly drive results, and if you have those on your directory site somewhere it will help you rank. However, directories themselves are actually a form of content that can boost your site’s position.

Directories are essentially taxonomies of links to sites or resources around any given topic, and whatever the topic may be, somebody is probably searching for it.

This works in your favor if you have a niche directory in particular, as competition around your given topics will be lower and you’re more likely to appear near the top of search results for that niche.

But as we stated, other forms of content on your site can contribute to a better ranking if you also optimize that content with relevant keywords as well as trustworthy internal and external links.

Even within your directory, including relevant keywords in your headlines and category titles will help Google’s crawlers find content faster. Keep in mind that as you update your directory’s listings and various related content, your site QDF will increase and your visibility will rise.

Here are 7 more tips to improve your directory’s SEO:
Click Here

Final Thoughts

While links and content aren’t the only determining factors of where you appear on a search results page, they’re certainly up there in terms of importance.

The good news is that most directories are SEO magnets by default due to the built-in linking and architecture of the sites themselves. Of course, that doesn’t mean you will be automatically ranked for the things your audience is searching for.

To improve your ranking, you will need to focus your link building on sites that are trustworthy, and make sure your site can be trusted as well.

It’s also important that your directory includes keywords that target niche markets, and that those keywords appear in other forms of quality content throughout your site, whether that means headlines, blogs, or anywhere in between.

A Beginner’s Guide to Doing SEO Keyword Research

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Millions of people use search engines on a daily basis to find what they want.

That’s why one of the benefits of having a website for your business is that at some point, someone will be searching for you. Or, more specifically, they’ll be searching for what you have to offer.

Even if a potential customer doesn’t know the name of your business, a search engine can still get them to your site if you have the right SEO keywords. But the key is knowing exactly which words or phrases people will search to get there.

If you have a business directory, for example, it’s not enough to simply have the keywords “business directory” tied to your site. There are a slew of other factors that will go into your keyword research to make it truly successful.

Let’s take a look at some of the basics to help you get started.

Here are 11 keyword research tools to get you the best results:
Click Here

 

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Why Keyword Research Matters

Every page published on your site that contains written content of any kind will automatically have keywords built in them. Search engines decide which words or phrases to pull from your pages automatically.

But that doesn’t mean you should leave the decision up to the search engines. In fact, it’s best to have a little control over which words and phrases sites like Google pull from your pages.

Even if Google could guess the best possible keyword from what you have written, it won’t do any good if no one is actually searching for that exact word or phrase. You could have the best content, but zero monthly searches still equals zero results.

You could have the best content, but zero monthly searches still equals zero results.

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That’s why it’s important to take some time to develop a list of potential words or phrases that your average customer might type into a search engine if they were trying to find a business like yours.

Here’s what that looks like…

How to Research Keywords

Keyword research doesn’t have to be overwhelming, you just have to know a few basic details about your target audience and industry.

1. Make a list of relevant topics about your business

To start, brainstorm some general topics that might be related to your business. If you sold watches, for instance, you would have something like “watches”, “gold watches”, “watches for men”, etc.

If you have a business directory, you might consider including topics related to location or categories in your directory, such as, “restaurants Los Angeles”, “local business Los Angeles”, “American restaurants Los Angeles”, etc.

Try to come up with 10 or so general topics (“watches”) and try to break those down further (“gold watches”, etc.) until you have a solid list.

2. Use those topics to develop keyphrases

Keywords can be single words, but more often than not your customers won’t simply type one word into a search engine; they’ll type a phrase of between 2-3 words at minimum, or type in full sentences (e.g. “Where can I find American restaurants in Los Angeles?”)

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Once you have a list of topics, create a list of sentences or 2-3 word phrases that you would type into a search engine if you were trying to find out more about those topics.

3. Research related searches

After you’ve come up with a list of keywords and phrases to include, you want to search for any related topics that might draw people to your business.

For instance, if you type “puppy pictures” into Google, at the bottom of the page you will find a list of related searches, including “cute puppy videos” and “cute puppies for sale”. Someone who wants to see cute puppies may not have the initial interest to buy a puppy, but might after spending enough time browsing.

related-searches

The same principles can work for your business. Even if a customer was just doing research using certain search terms with no interest to buy, they may be interested once your site pops up in their search results.

The last step is perhaps the most complicated, but thankfully there are plenty of SEO research tools out there that can help you with this part.

How to Use Keywords to Boost SEO

Having an established list of keyword phrases is the most important part of SEO, but it’s not the only part. Once you have your list ready to go, there are a few other factors you want to keep in mind to make sure those keywords bring in the most business.

The placement of your keywords matters more than frequency of use. It’s important to include your keywords in several pages of your site for maximum impact, but you also want to make sure you’re placing those keywords in the right spots. Having a keyphrase included in the title tag of your site or in the header of a page will have more impact than having it scattered throughout the body copy. Web designer Hirsch Fishman has 9 suggested places to insert keywords on your site.

Don’t forget to include natural language searches. Most keywords or phrases are disjointed by nature – “find American restaurant LA” – because search engines often omit prepositions like “of”, “at”, and “but”. Yet search engines are continuing to improve to include user intent, meaning that they will accept full searches – “Where can I find American restaurants in LA?” – written the way people ask questions in real life. (If you want to know more about creating natural language searches, check out this article by Search Engine Watch).

Remember to include each of the three types of queries in your SEO keyword list. According to Neil Patel, there are three basic types of queries:

  1. Informational – The user wants to get information on a certain topic. “How to…” searches would fall into this category.
  2. Transactional – The user wants to buy something or transact in some way. Searches like, “buy watches” or “order food LA” would fall into this category.
  3. Navigational – The user wants to get to a specific website but doesn’t remember the name or URL.

If possible, try to include keywords or phrases in each category. What would someone search if they forgot your business name? What would someone search if they were trying to buy something from your site? What would someone search if they wanted to know how to do something that you offer as a service? Be creative. The more phrases you can include, the better your SEO results will be.

Don’t miss our list of 11 Helpful Keyword Research Tools (Free and Paid):
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Final Thoughts

The last thing you want to do is leave the final SEO decisions up to search engines. Sure, their algorithms are improving, but they don’t understand your target market like you do. Google won’t know exactly what terms your customers are searching to find you. Only you do.

That’s why it’s important to take some time to come up with a list of your own keywords. Focus on phrases that your users are most likely to search (or that you would search if you were in the same position). Start with general topics and break them down into searchable phrases from there. Use SEO keyword tools if needed to aid in your quest.

Finally, don’t forget to pay attention to keyword placement on your site. Include the most searchable terms in your headers and titles. You can also include natural language searches in your body copy or scattered in other places throughout your site for the best possible advantage.

Why No One Can Find Your Site on Google (And How to Fix It)

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No matter what business you’re in, if you have an online presence you’re bound to be concerned about ranking on Google (or any applicable search engine). After all, what’s the point of having a website if nobody can find it?

You may have spent plenty of time on your site doing all the typical SEO improvements – you’ve optimized your images, you’ve checked and double-checked your site’s loading speeds, and you’ve developed an eye-catching design that’s mobile-friendly. But you’re still not on the first pages of Google. Why?

Well, it could be your SEO keywords.

SEO keywords are an essential part of getting found on search engines (though that may be changing in the near future, but we’ll get to that), but business owners and creative developers often spend little to no time coming up with effective keywords; they regularly take the most obvious choice and leave it at that. But missing out on the right keywords can make or break your SEO.

With that in mind, here are a few tips to uncovering effective SEO keywords that get you found on Google much, much faster.

Do your research

Choosing the right keywords is not just about picking random words out of a hat. Finding effective word choices is about understanding your business intimately, and using words that help your customers understand your business, too.

The important thing to remember when you’re choosing keywords is that you’re not really picking one word, you’re putting together a phrase – a string of 2-3 words – about your business that you think someone would type into Google’s search bar. The goal to creating effective keywords is to be specific.

The goal to creating effective keywords is to be specific.

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Be specific

The best keywords are ones that predict what your customers want. What are they thinking when they search for your site? Are they looking for local businesses? Or are they searching for something niche? If you were trying to find your competitors online, what would you type in to find them?

Think about it terms of having an actual, physical storefront. Imagine a customer approaching your sales team and asking for something. What are they after? If you owned a jewelry store, for example, your customers wouldn’t necessarily come in and ask about “jewelry” – they’re already in a jewelry store – they’d ask about “gold watches” or “women’s bracelets” or even specific brand names, like Rolex.

When it comes to searching for things online, the same rules apply. If you want people to find you, you have to break your services down into essential parts. What is your business all about?

If you run a site with a directory, for example, you could use the keyphrase “business directory”, but that’s a little vague. If your customers type “business directory” into any major search engine, they’ll be hit with thousands of results, and none of them will be your site.

Instead of using broad keywords or phrases that are fairly common, focus on something unique or specific about your business. If your directory features businesses from a certain area of the country or includes businesses from certain industries, go with that. Setting your keyphrase as “Chicago business directory” or “graphic design business directory” will improve your chances of being ranked.

Need help with your keyword research? Try our SEO Keyword Research Worksheet!
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Use natural language keyphrases (topics)

Another option to try when researching keywords is to use common language questions or search terms instead of standard keywords. What does that mean?

Well, for the most part, search engine algorithms use keyword-based terms (like “women’s jewelry”) to find relevant results. The problem is these keyword-based systems ignore common words – such as “a,” “an,” “the,” “is,” etc. – which can actually eliminate relative results.

To counteract this, search engines have been introducing natural language algorithms to help give meaning to search results. Unlike keyword algorithms, natural language algorithms focus on the meaning of the phrase – the natural way humans ask and answers questions – in order to generate results. For example, people might be more likely to type in questions like, “Where is the nearest Greek restaurant” instead of simply typing “Greek restaurants Chicago.”

Google has already begun incorporating the use of natural language into what it calls “topics” – groups of similar keywords and phrases that give context or meaning to the search, which many SEO experts consider to be more important than the individual keywords themselves.

Moz recently conducted an experiment to determine whether individual keywords or topics were more effective at getting rankings. They found that the results were mixed: In some categories, topics were more effective at getting sites found, while in others individual keywords played a stronger role. Basically, while traditional keywords are (and will continue to be) vital to SEO, topics and natural language phrases will probably play a major role in the years to come.

So what does this mean for you? It means that both individual keywords and topics will be important to SEO. Ultimately, you’ll probably have to come up with a list of keywords and natural language phrases to use in your site.

Save time with tools

Of course, this might mean double the work. And you’ll also need to be sure your keywords are meaningful (as in, it’s possible no one in the world is really searching for your chosen terms). The best way to save time in your keyword research and to ensure that your keywords are actually effective is to use keyword research tools.

For simple SEO suggestions or variations on keywords you’ve already chosen, or for helping come up with keywords from scratch, try using a free service like Ubersuggest. Simply type in a keyword (like “jewelry”) and it will show you related terms that people are already searching.

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If you want more detailed analysis about keyword popularity, or who is viewing your search terms, then, try using a paid SEO service (it’s often worth the investment). Here are a few of the top choices ranked by SEO experts:

  1. SEMrush
  2. Google Keyword Planner
  3. Keyword Tool.io
  4. Buzzsumo
  5. Longtail PRO
  6. Google Trends
  7. Google Analytics
  8. KWFinder
  9. Moz KW Difficulty Tool
  10. Market Samurai
  11. WordTracker
  12. SERPwoo

Keep in mind that just because your keyword is popular doesn’t automatically mean you should use it. Remember, if thousands of people are searching for the words “jewelry” and you own a jewelry business, you might not get the rankings you want. Attempt to blend commonly searched terms with something unique about your business for maximum results.

Repeat, repeat, repeat!

Once you’ve settled on a few effective search terms, you’ll need to put them in your site as many times as possible. As Elizabeth Arden says, “Repetition makes reputation and reputation makes customers.” Or in this case, repetition makes it easier for Google to crawl your site and list you higher in the rankings so customers can find you.

The best strategy is to list your selected keywords in a variety of places throughout your site. Here are a few places to use keywords (or natural language) for maximum results:

Website URL. This can be tricky, but if your URL is related to your business, you can use keywords that match for an instant SEO boost (e.g. your business URL is “johnsjewelry.com” and your search terms include “jewelry” as a root word).

Content and Copy. You should be choosing keywords that are related to your business as a whole so they won’t be out of place in your site’s general copy. Your content is the best place to list natural language phrases, too, which will help when customers are searching using questions (e.g. “Where can I find gold jewelry?”)

Titles and Headers. If you have forms (with titles), blog posts, or page headers on your site, try including your SEO phrases in these places, as Google tends to crawl headers and titles first. While it might not necessarily make the biggest difference in the world, something is better than nothing.

SEO Plugins and Code. One of the essential places to put your chosen keywords is into the backend of your website. If you don’t want to spend hours hand-coding your words into each landing page, you can always use SEO plugins to save time. Consider upgrading to plugins that allow you to input more than one keyword or phrase, too.

Have you had a chance to check out our SEO Keyword Research Worksheet yet?
Click Here

Final Thoughts

Developing a good SEO strategy can be tricky, but if your search engine rankings are abysmal, you might want to double check the quality of your keywords.

By choosing effective keywords and placing them strategically around your site (in as many places as feels natural), you will gain a positive boost to your SEO and significantly increase your chances of being found on Google.