Presented by Karen Porter UM School of Business Administration & ImpactOnlineMarketing.com Keywords: Research & Optimization ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

Welcome to This SELL Course! About the course About your instructor Course resources ImpactOnlineMarketing/sell-keywords Karen’s contact: (406) About you! ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

Keywords – Foundation of the Web Keywords are how everything online gets found Keywords are string of words entered by searchers into a search engine’s search bar Can be a single word, 2-3 words, or even more This entire string of words is referred to as a “keyword” Long keywords (4+ words) are referred to as “long tail” keywords The more detailed the keyword: The lower the search volume The more precise the targeting and ability to match needs ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

Getting Ranked (and Found) Online On-site (on-page) – how keywords are used on the web page itself (we will focus here) Linking – quantity and importance of links coming into a site (called inbound linking) Social signals – how important is the site to those who visit ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

Focus Today Primarily on Google Here’s Why: 2014 Search Volume Stats Google 68% Bing 19% Yahoo 10% 3% AOL, Ask, others ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

Google SEO Algorithms: Changes Over Time Originally weighted primarily on on-page SEO Very easy rank Very little competition Search engines very unsophisticated Move to emphasize linking too (50/50) See as impartial “voting” for a site’s / page’s importance Addition of social signals (30/30/40) More difficult to “cheat” – relies on end users to validate Movement more toward social ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

Keywords: The Foundation of SEO What makes a “excellent” keyword – one worth optimizing? Enough search activity to drive sufficient traffic to site -Or- small search from a lot of “long tail” keywords - and - Not too much competition (is there a chance to move onto the first page of Google?) Long tail keywords generally much easier to rank for ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

Keyword Research Step 1: Determine search volume for various keywords relevant to your business, topic, niche Step 2: Determine amount of competition you face for the keywords you would ideally like to rank for Then: Incorporate the most promising keywords into your site ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

Step 1: Determine Keyword Search Volume Use Google Keyword Planner Must open an Adwords account to use the Keyword Planner (no spending necessary) Only use EXACT match to explore Look at search volume column only (ignore competition and Adwords columns) Which words have most search volume? ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

Keyword Match Type Only use EXACT match to explore keywords Exact match = tennis shoes Phrase match = tennis shoes for women –or- blue tennis shoes size 9 Broad match = shoes for tennis –or- tennis rackets and shoes Keywords must be compared “apples to apples” Google Keyword Planner delivers Exact Match results Other tools may offer a Match Type option ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

Keyword Example: “visit montana” ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

Researching “Local” Keywords Usually not enough volume in smaller markets like Missoula to get accurate results Use a similar larger market and do your search in that market to determine search trends Observe search tendencies and apply volume trending data to Missoula (we’re assuming it will apply) Keep in mind this is not precise keyword research, but it can still provide you with very valuable direction ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

Determine Strength of Competition Install MozBar on Firefox or Chrome Monitor bars under each site listed on the first page of Google DA = Domain Authority PA = Page Authority Look for results that have both DA and PA = or < than 40 If two or more results meet this criteria, good chance of getting ranked on page one of Google (assuming you use best practices of SEO) ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

Using MozBar (Firefox & Chrome) Search Google for “install Mozbar” Will deliver PA and DA results for each result on the first page of Google (BOTH must be = or < 40) Need 2 or more qualifiers from 10 results on 1 st page ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

On-Page Elements of SEO -or- What to Do with Keywords ImpactOnlineMarketing.com Meta tags (fields in code specifically added for search engines) Title tag (meta title) MOST important – by far Description field important as verbiage in Google / search engine results Meta keywords field is NOT important at all Title tag and description used in Google results Example for keyword: Missoula Italian restaurant

On-Page Elements of SEO (cont.) ImpactOnlineMarketing.com Page title (headline on website page) – different than the Meta Title TAG H1, H2, H3 headers Page URL ( Use of keyword in page content (1-2% density) Photo titles and alt tags

Inbound Links ImpactOnlineMarketing.com Quality of inbound links more important than quantity Links from important sites provide credibility to yours Large, well-respected sites Government sites (.gov) Education sites (.edu) Links from link exchanges / low quality / brand new sites offer little value Links from plethora of article sites, directory sites, etc. not helpful

Social Signals ImpactOnlineMarketing.com Content shared socially from your website / blog Traffic from social sites into your website / blog Time on site / time on pages (Google Analytics) Page views (Google Analytics) Bounce rate (Google Analytics)

“Sleuthing” to Check Competitor SEO ImpactOnlineMarketing.com What are your main competitive sites? Which sites own the first page of Google for your KWs? Which keywords are they trying to optimize? What are they not doing well? You can capitalize on things they are missing After doing keyword research: Visit sites that are ranking well for your best keywords Visit those sites’ source code to “sleuth”

Sleuthing Source Code ImpactOnlineMarketing.com On any website: In white space on page, do a right click > drop-down Select “View Source” or “View Page Source” option If on Google, see clickable link (this is page’s Title Tag)

Keywords: for More Than Just Web Sites ImpactOnlineMarketing.com Examples of Using Keywords on Social Sites (Quick tips for getting found via keywords – and possibly ranked) Facebook – keywords vital in short and long page descriptions Linkedin – keyword use in summary and profile is how others will find you for your skills and expertise YouTube – keyword use in channel name, video name, video description is critical to coming up in YouTube search (and in Google search)