What? Why? How? Huh?

Search engine optimization can be vital to a business because 90% of all online traffic is achieved through the various search engines. Therefore, knowing how to properly market your company through search engine conversion optimization is virtually the only way to be found on the expansive Internet. Keyword research is the foundation of SEO, or search engine optimization. Knowing which keywords you want to use in a search engine optimization/ Pay-per-click campaign will allow you to get the best results for your money. One available tool in keyword research is the Google™ AdWords Keyword Tool. The Keyword Tool allows you to put in a key phrase or search term, and provides you with a report on how many people are searching for that exact term and similar or related terms each day, each month, and so on. It also provides information on the number of websites in competition for search results on that term, which translates roughly to how difficult it would be for you to appear early on in the search results page.

The Task

With an understanding of the importance of keyword research, we can move into actually doing the research. The keyword research process can be broken down into the following phases:

1. Creating the list

2. Befriending Google Adwords

3. Finalizing the list

4. Watch and learn

Phase 1- Creating the list

The initial idea of keyword research can be daunting. Trying to come up with the perfect combination of words to drive customers to your site, rev up your conversion rate optimization and allow the engines to see you as an expert would easily give anyone a tension headache. But when broken up into smaller tasks of brainstorming, utilizing related searches, and the wonderful wonder wheel, this process can actually become fun! The idea is to generate a list of all the words you think a customer would type into their search box when trying to find you. This includes thinking of phrases that are broad and targeted, buying and research-oriented, and single and multi-word.

Phase 2- Befriending Google Adwords

Once you have your list, your next step is to determine the activity for each of your proposed keywords. You want to narrow your list to only include highly attainable, sought-after phrases that will bring the most qualified traffic to your site. This is where Google Adwords comes to the rescue. By inputting your proposed keywords into the keyword research tool, you can quickly learn how many users are conducting searches for that term every day, how many of those searches actually converted, and other important analytical information.

Phase 3- Finalizing the list

Now that you have your initial list of words and have tested their activity, it's time to narrow down the field and decide which terms will make it into your coveted final keyword list. Translating this information into meaningful decisions about which keywords to actually use requires some insight, which is where having a Google AdWords expert on hand helps a lot. We recommend creating a spreadsheet or some other visual that will allow you to easily see each word's conversion rate, search volume and competition rate. So you made your list of about 10-20 highly focused keywords, now what do you do with them? You launch! You've spent a lot of time molding your keywords; make sure you use them in all the appropriate fields to get the maximum benefit, including:

• Your on-page content

• Title Tag

• Meta Description Tags

• Headings

Phase 4- Watch and learn

Your work is not done here. As your customer's and your site's needs change over time, so will your keywords. It's important to keep monitoring your keywords and make tweaks as necessary.

Keyword research is a science and an art, if you are uncertain about conducting keyword research and Search Engine Optimization, try seeking help from a pay-per-click consulting company who can help you.