So you’ve finally finished building your business’s website.
Your hard work has resulted in a beautiful and professional layout. You’ve written content powerful enough to convert interested customers into sales figures.
But there’s one problem: how do you make sure those potential customers find out about your site in the first place? That’s where keyword research comes in.
What is Keyword Research?
Keyword research is integral to the search engine optimization (SEO) process. If you want anyone to find your site through Google, you need to predict what queries they’ll search for to raise your ranking in the results.
But keyword research is about more than just getting the visitors. By optimizing your website’s keywords, you also:
Researching keywords, and by extension SEO in general, is becoming an incredibly strong tactic in the business world now.
If you run a digital agency in Toronto or work in digital marketing in a Toronto firm, improving your SEO and finding the right keywords should be your top priorities.
Understanding Your Target
Before you start throwing around keywords, you need to understand the target audience you want to appeal to. You’re interested in not only who they are but also what they might want. For instance, if you work in a computer repair service, your potential customers might be searching for queries like “how to diagnose blue screen crashes” or “how to know when to replace a hard drive.”
Ask yourself the following questions to capture the right audience.
Long and Short Keywords
There are two types of keywords to look out for: long and short ones. Tons of people will be searching for short phrases, so the competition for SEO will be tough. Plus, short phrases tend to be general in scope, and the traffic you receive will be unfocused.
Throw a few short keywords in, but mostly focus on long keywords, as they:
Building the List
Researching the List
Now that you have a list of possible keywords to include, it’s time to find the best ones. It’s common to do keyword research using Google itself. If you choose to do so, remember to use Incognito mode in Chrome, Private Browsing in Firefox, or your preferred browser’s equivalent. Search engines gear the results towards your interests and recent searches, so use a blank slate to see what your customers will be seeing.
Afterward
Consumer demand, and thus search engine statistics, change greatly over time. Plus, search engines change their algorithms every now and then. 40% of marketers, in fact, consider changing algorithms the biggest difficulty in search engine optimization.
Remember that keyword research is an evolving process. Keep track of your results, determine which keywords work out best, and make changes accordingly. Re-evaluating your list every few months is recommended. With massive competition, mastering SEO in Toronto especially is a difficult but heavily rewarding endeavor.
About Globalgraphics
Globalgraphics Web Design is a full-service digital marketing and SEO company located in Toronto. We help clients, big and small, make sense of digital marketing and develop strategies that work for their businesses.