KEYWORD RESEARCH

For all intents, keyword research IS market research when it comes to the web. You would not start a business without researching the market. You should not start a web page either! Keyword research is relatively easy and gives you a tremendous insight into both your market AND your competition. Big Brother notwithstanding, everything done on the web is recorded, compartmentalized, measured and archived. Researching that information before you write the content for your web page will help you get your web page noticed.

Here's what I mean. The topic of this page is "keyword research". According to my research, the term "keyword research" is typed into the search engines almost 2000 times per month! Generally speaking, people typing in the term "keyword research" represent a segment of my target market. If I want to attract them to my site, I have to provide information about keyword research.

Every time I use the term "keyword research" in this page, Google notices! And so do the other search engines. Even better, if I add "keyword research" to the keyword list for this page (known as meta keywords) and include the term "keyword list" in the description of what this page is about I will further enhance the probability that this page will rank in the search engine results pages when someone types into the search box: "keyword research". I could also put the phrase Keyword Research in the URL and the title (which I've done by the way).

You might be asking: "So why doesn't this page rank highly if you've done your keyword research?" (Notice by the way how often I'm using the term "keyword research" in context.)The answer lies in how Google determines whether your page is worthy or not. Search optimization involves not only what you put ON the page, but what happens OFF the page. Google long ago decided that pages and sites that have a lot of IN-bound links will rank higher than those pages or sites that don't have inbound links. A link coming to your site from another reputable site is like getting an online business referral. So all things being equal, the guy with the most links wins. In that regard, there is a right way to accomplish inbound links. See our discussion on inbound links to know more.

Optimizing a web page for a specific key word phrase or set of phrases involves writing and paying attention to all aspects of the page where Google might pick the terms up. Notice the header of this page. I chose to highlight the title of this page using the "Heading 1" format (in the editor). Pictures include "keyword research" in the alt text. The term is spread throughout the page in conversational tone.