How to Choose Keywords that Improve Search Engine Results

 

 This photo is in the public domain.

 

By Jim Hingst

 

When the internet was in its infancy, all you needed to do was compile a list of one and two-word frequently used keyword phrases that pertained to your shop and incorporate them as metatags and in your content. Today, search engines use nearly 200 other factors in ranking webpages.  

 

Currently, content is king in generating outstanding search engine results. Links, both internal links and back links, are also critical in achieving high rankings. Nevertheless, your SEO endeavors should commence with and revolve around the nucleus of keyword selection.

 

The keywords that you use determine what the type of traffic that you will drive to your website. The keywords for one webpage on your site should differ from those used on any of your other webpages. Keywords must accurately describe the content on that particular webpage. By doing so, the keyword phrases that you use help your website visitor locate the content that they are searching. They also help the search engines index the webpage.

 

If your site uses the right keywords, coupled with meaningful content and links to find that content, you will:

 

● Increase the dwell time or time that visitors stay on your site;

● Aid website visitors navigate from one webpage to another, which reduces your bounce rate; and

● Improve User Experience and build a loyal following, which encourages them to bookmark your webpages and return to your site.

 

By increasing website traffic and dwell time, reducing bounce rate and developing a following that returns to your site, you will improve your search engine ranking.

 

What Are “Short-Tail Keywords” and “Long-Tail Keywords”?

 

Short-tailkeywords are phrases, which consist of 3 or fewer words, that users submit for their searches. These keyword phrases are very general in nature, such as signs, banners or window lettering.  By comparison, long-tail keywords consist of 3 or more words submitted in searches. These longer keyword phrases narrow the user’s search to a specific target. “Sign companies in Northwest Indiana” is an example of a more specific search.

 

Short-tail keywords are typically searched for with more frequency. Using these highly competitive keywords will not help you rank at the top of a Search Engine Results Page (SERP). Conversely, long-tail keywords are searched for with much less frequency and are much less competitive.

 

The Search Engine Results Page (SERP) will display suggestions for other keyword phrases closely related to the keyword which was searched. You should research these alternative keyword phrases, which may be less competitive than your original phrase. 

 

The advantage of using long-tail keywords is that these phrases are much more likely to rank near the top of search results. Obviously, you do not want to choose long-tail keyword phases, which are searched for with extreme rarity, even though their use ensures a #1 ranking.

 

Should You Use “Short-Tail Keywords” or “Long-Tail Keywords”?

 

Because Short-tail keywords are commonly used, they generate a huge volume of results. That’s not necessarily a good thing. The competition for these phrases is very high. In all likelihood, if your targeted keyword is short-tail keyword phrase, you will be lost in a crowd of other companies using the same phrase.

 

Even if short-tail keywords could drive a tremendous volume of visitors to your site, you should be looking to attract  those prospects willing to spend their dollars on your products and services.

 

Long-tail keywords, on the other hand, are not so frequently used in searches. The volume, which these very specific phases produce, is generally very low. Because these phrases are very specific, you are more likely to rank higher in search engine results and attract curious prospects, who will become paying customers.

 

Keyword Research

 

Selecting the most effective keywords should begin with compiling those one or two-word “short tail keywords” that describe the content of your webpages. They direct your target audience to the information that inspired their search.

 

In the sign building market, those short tail keywords might include terms such as signs, vehicle graphics, vehicle wraps and banners. While these common words are certainly relevant and pull huge results, most of your competitors will use these same terms. For this reason, short-tail keywords are just your starting point.

 

After you compile your lists of keyword phrases, you should use a keyword tool to uncover words that people use in searches that you never thought to add. Many tools are available to you to help keyword research. Keyword research is a procedure used to discover the terms that people input into a search engine, when looking for answers to their questions.

 

To help you detect the right keywords aligned with your business, several keyword research tools are available. Google AdsKeyword Planner is one of the most popular of these tools. Best of all, it’s FREE! Many other keyword research programs, although they may be more effective, require payment of a hefty annual fee.

 

Next, search for each of these basic keywords to see which webpage generate the highest rankings. Based on these results, you need to ascertain which longer three or four-word phrases, called “long-tail keywords”, are used which may produce higher rankings. The reason for their effectiveness is that these longer keyword phrases narrow the user’s search from the general to the specific.

 

As a rule of thumb, these more descriptive phrases generate a lower search volume, but website visitors using these phrases are more focused, and more likely to read your content, stay on your site longer and more likely to respond to your calls to action.

 

One way to identify long-tail keywords is to inspect the sites of competitors that always rank highly in search engine results pages. Their target keyword phrase for a webpage may appear in the webpage headlines, subheadings and internal links. In the body copy that phrase may also appear three or four times. Once you identify their target phrase, adopt it for your own use, if it applies to a topic of one of your webpages.

 

After identifying these long-tail keywords, your next step is to conduct a search for them to see what type of results they pull. Long-tail keywords represent a search for a very specific topic. As a result, the number of people searching for that specific product or service will be much less than those searching for something very generic. That specificity is exactly what you want!

 

Prospects looking for a specific product or service are likely closer to making a purchasing decision. What’s more, chances are that fewer of your competitors will using the exact long-tail keywords that you use. Because there is less competition, using these long-tail keywords will improve your chances of appearing in an organic search. 

 

The keyword phrases that you should use depend on your target audience. If your audience includes sign shop owners and large format digital printers, the terms that you use are different from an audience that incorporates private fleet owners and trucking companies. 

 

To identify those keyword phrases, which will be most relevant to your target audience, put yourself in their shoes. Try to think the way your customers and prospects think. Use the phrases that they use, even if their terminology is not technically correct.

 

For example, a high percentage of sign makers use the term “transfer tape” interchangeably with “application tape”. Technically, “transfer tape” is “transfer adhesive”, which is an adhesive that comes on a roll and can be applied or “transferred” to a substrate.

 

Purists would vehemently object to using transfer tape as a synonym for application tape or application paper. Nevertheless, the best practice is to use the terms that people in your target audience use in their searches.

 

Where to Use Keywords on a Webpage

 

Each webpage on your site should have as its nucleus a particular topic and a unique keyword phrase. Once you settle on this keyword phrase, you should use it in the title and  H1 tag for that page, in the subheadings, in the metatag and the captions and ALT tags for all of the photos and images. Using your primary keyword phrase in these ways will convey to the search engine bots the theme of the webpage content. While following these practices will not produce immediate success in ranking highly, failing to follow them guarantees not to improve search engine results at all.

 

If you want your business to appear more frequently in search results, use the keyword phrases that your target audience uses when it searches for companies that provide the products and services that you make and sell. Don’t use industry jargon that only means something to someone in the industry.

 

A prospect looking for vehicle graphics is not likely to use terms such as “pressure-sensitive corporate identification materials”. You might use this phrase. Your competitors will know what you mean. The problem is that no one else will type this phrase when searching for decals for their fleet of cars or trucks.

 

So how will you know what keyword phrases to use as metatags or when writing content for your webpages? You could pay attention to the terms that your current customers use. You could use the jargon that successful competitors use on their websites. Or you could conduct keyword research.

 

Conclusion

 

Choosing the right keywords can improve your search engine results, drive more viewers to your website and generate more sales leads. In this respect, keywords can determine to a large extent whether your website is a success or failure.

 

Long-tail keywords will attract visitors further along in the buying cycle. While incorporating long-tail keywords throughout your content focuses on buyers versus tire-kickers, you should also include short-tail keywords to build the volume of your traffic, which is an important factor in search engine ranking.

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About Jim Hingst: Sign business authority on vehicle wraps, vinyl graphics, screen printing, marketing, sales, gold leaf, woodcarving and painting. 

After fourteen years as Business Development Manager at RTape, Jim Hingst retired. He was involved in many facets of the company’s business, including marketing, sales, product development and technical service.

Hingst began his career 42 years ago in the graphic arts field creating and producing advertising and promotional materials for a large test equipment manufacturer.  Working for offset printers, large format screen printers, vinyl film manufacturers, and application tape companies, his experience included estimating, production planning, purchasing and production art, as well as sales and marketing. In his capacity as a salesman, Hingst was recognized with numerous sales achievement awards.

Drawing on his experience in production and as graphics installation subcontractor, Hingst provided the industry with practical advice, publishing more than 190 articles for  publications, such as  Signs Canada, SignCraft,  Signs of the Times, Screen Printing, Sign and Digital Graphics and  Sign Builder Illustrated. He also posted more than 500 stories on his blog (hingstssignpost.blogspot.com). In 2007 Hingst’s book, Vinyl Sign Techniques, was published.  Vinyl Sign Techniques is available at sign supply distributors and at Amazon. 

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