The New Media Planner

In my experience, one of the most important aspects of an SEO campaign is something that most people never even consider when engaging in search engine optimization. This aspect is the developing a keyword strategy.

Many clients are under the impression that they should be ranking for generic keywords, and this is usually born from an ignorance of how the system works. Anyone in a marketing capacity that has to help in some way with SEO should know that this is an ignorant standpoint. (Ignorance in this sense is not a negative, but a truly uninformed standpoint).

Keyword strategies are the solution. When a client asks you to help them rank #1 in Google for the keyword “diamond”, you need to help them understand why a) that’s not realistic and b) that’s not the most profitable strategy.

Clients may not want to hear it, but is their site really worthy of ranking for such a generic keyword? Would landing on your client’s page really satisfy the needs of all the people searching for that term? The answer (unless your client is DeBeers or some other firm that has spent millions of dollars making their name synonymous with the word “diamond”) is no.

So instead, you need to look at the fringe keywords, or the keywords that really may make a difference in their business.

First, make a list of the questions that their website will answer. Honestly, this list can be exhaustive, but there will be some themes that pop out. Is your client selling diamond engagement rings? Then one question would be, “Where is the best place to buy a diamond engagement ring?” Another question might be, “Who has the best price on diamond engagement rings?” Once you write down this list of questions, you’ll notice keywords start to emerge. Write these down.

Next, visit a free tool like Google’s keyword tool and figure out how much traffic these keywords get. A good rule of thumb is that the more traffic a keyword has, the more competitive it will be to rank on. So look for opportunity keywords that have a decent amount of traffic, but not so much that trying to optimize would be fruitless. Also, Google’s tool also shows you the proposed competition on the Google adwords platform.

Take note of this indicator, as if there is heavy competition

on the keyword on adwords, it will also more than likely be difficult to rank for organically.

Focus on the keywords that are on topic for your client’s individual web pages. If your client wants users to download a whitepaper on one URL, tailor the keywords to setting that expectation. If your client wants them to buy a product, tailor the keywords for that specific task. This is a crucial key in making your SEO monetizable.

After following these steps, you should have a reasonable keyword strategy to help your clients rank for the right keywords. Realizing that all keywords are not created equal will help you start to formulate an SEO plan that is both beneficial to your client’s business, but also realistic in achieving results.