Keyword research and analysis can be a daunting task, when done correctly, and expert keyword research is the foundation to a successful SEO campaign. Many new website owners think the keyword research analysis process is easy. They think free tools, such as the Overture Search Term Suggestion Tool is the profit pill that will bring them instant results.

Unfortunately, the free tools will only give you a rough guide and a quick indication whether a hunch is worth further research. These free keyword research tools are limited to basic information. When performed correctly, expert keyword research exposes so much more – all the gems that are tucked away deep.

Real keyword research requires research AND analysis. There are so many aspects to the process that can not be left to chance. Attempting to do the keyword research on your own is like going to a veterinarian to fix your car. My advise to all clients I do SEO consulting services for is to simply leave this task to the experts who have the correct keyword research tools and expertise.

Following are 5 tips for effective keyword research analysis :

1. Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) – Use multi-word phrases

Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) is a vital element in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for better keyword rankings in search results. LSI is based on the relationship, the “clustering” or positioning, the variations of terms and the iterations of your keyword phrases.

Expertly knowing LSI and how it can be most useful and beneficial for your SEO and the importance it has with the algorithm updates to search engines like Google, MSN and Yahoo which will benefit your keyword research for best practice SEO.

LSI is NOT new. For those doing keyword research over the years always knew to use synonyms and “long tail” keyword terms which is a simpler “explanation” to LSI. More often than not, these long tail, less generic terms bring more traffic to your site than the main keyword phrases. The real bottom line is that Latent Semantic Indexing is currently a MUST in keyword research and SEO.

2. Page Specific Keyword Research – Target your niche keyword phrases for each site page

Probably the most common mistake in keyword research is using a plethora of keywords and pasting the same meta keyword tag on every web site page. This is SO not effective! Your keyword research needs to be page specific and only focusing on 2 to 5 keywords per page. It’s more work, but combined with best practice SEO, gives each site page a chance for higher ranking on their own.

3. Country Specific Keyword Research and Search Engine Reference

Keep in mind that keyword search terms can be country specific. Even though a country is English speaking, there are different keyword terms you must research – and then reference that country’s search engine when doing your initial keyword research. For instance, UK and Australia may have different expressions, terminology and spellings (i.e. colour, personalised). Referencing the terms in the corresponding search engine is an important element to keyword research that is often forgotten, so for example, be sure to check the search terms on google.co.uk or au.yahoo.com. And of couse, if you have 3 to 4 really comprehensive research tools in your arsenal, you will be able to search for historical, global and country specific search terms easily and effectively.

4. Keyword Analysis – Cross referencing in the search engines

Once the majority of the keyword research has been done for a site page, it’s time to plug those terms into the search engines to determine :

• If it is really the desired niche keyword for that page
• To assess the competitiveness of your keywords. Along with checking the competitiveness of your keywords you should look at the strength of the competition.
• Are the other sites listed for your keywords truly your competitors?
• Are the sites listed for your keyword even related to your industry, products or services?

These critical analyses of keyword phrases are often forgotten. Since the keyword research and analysis is the foundation of a successful SEO campaign, you certainly don’t want to build your on-page optimization on the wrong niche keywords!

5. Ongoing Keyword Research – Repeat your keyword research on a consistent basis

While you may think that you have completed your keyword research analysis and laid a solid foundation for your SEO, you need to keep monitoring your keywords and tweak as necessary. Keywords can change from month to month as keyword search terms change, genres change and/or if your niche is within social portal networking sites – to name just a few. Maintaining ongoing keyword research is essential for best practice SEO.

Most Successful Strategy to Streamline Your Keyword Research Efforts:

Yes, many website owners will opt to do the keyword research and analysis themselves with only a marginal effect on an SEO campaign. It’s not the most successful strategy to use to for the most effective results.

To be certain of your keyword data, accurate keyword analysis should be performed – and cross referenced – across multiple expert keyword tools.

Effective keyword research lays the ground work for effective SEO results and can help you kick-start the ranking process – perhaps even giving you a step up on your competitors.

The most successful strategy to streamline your keyword research efforts is to hire an expert. Focus your business efforts on your strengths and expertise and allow the SEO experts to effectively perform the keyword research analysis correctly.

There are two sides to everything, a good side and a bad side. The same rule applies to SEO keyword research. Well, doing keyword research is one of the most important aspects of optimization, but it breaks down into two parts. The first part is SEO keyword research before you build a site; this is the research on which you will base your site upon. The other part is keyword research once your website gets some momentum and some traffic; this is where you decide if you are going for the first price or the ever comforting silver medal.

SEO Keyword Research Before You Buy the Domain

Conducting keyword research before you buy your domain name is very important, as having your most important keyword in the domain URL is a great ranking factor. So what do we look for here, we are not looking for a low competitive keyword that is for sure, but we are not looking for a single word either. Out goal is to find a two to three word phrase which has a search volume that is satisfying to our needs. This is the easy part, the hard part is getting a base of keywords to build your site on, and for that you will use your main keyword.

The main keyword can have numerous variations, but don’t just use Google Keyword Tool or paid keyword tools to find synonyms and LSI keywords, use Thesaurus as well, this is the greatest keyword tool ever invented. What you need to do is create a list of keywords for your website that you will later narrow on your categories. My suggestion is to create a list of at least 100 keywords with at least 1,000 exact searches per month. If you can find that much it will be no trouble to create the main keyword on which you will base your website.

SEO Keyword Research 6 Months Later

After the first 6 months it is time to evaluate your SEO efforts and tweak your SEO campaign. In order to do that you need to reevaluate your keywords and maybe even discover some new ones. There is no need to use keyword tools here, the only tool you will need for this is Google Webmaster Tool.

All of the info about search queries and the amount of traffic that each of them gets will be available for you in your webmaster tools. What you need to do is find the keywords that are getting you the most traffic and build links using those keywords. Also identify potential rankers, keywords that are bringing you traffic without you optimizing for them. These keywords are the gold mine of your SEO effort. You didn’t waste time in optimizing your website for them but yet you manage to get some traffic of them. With some work and a bit of inbound links you may be able to get a good rank and increase traffic from those keywords.

You will be able to identify which keywords to work on and you will also be able to find new keywords, all of that by using your own search history as your keyword research tool. After that you can repeat the SEO plan measurement and tweaking every 3 to 6 months and you can achieve success.

Get more insights on SEO keyword research, read some more…

Success with a SEO campaign depends largely on the quality of the keyword research and analysis made. Keyword research is the groundwork to a successful SEO program. How well you carry out your keyword research will be reflected on your website’s rankings thus it is important to make it a priority in your SEO to-do list.

Keyword research is one of the most critical activities in your marketing efforts and it is also the one thing that gives your business high returns. When you start your internet marketing you have to take into great consideration your industry because by understanding the target market you will be able to establish the types of key phrases and words they regularly search in the internet.

Competition is very crucial in every industry and you would want to do your competitive analysis with your rivals and industry leaders as this will help you get into the real position of your business and gear your keyword research for those words with low competition but which drive more traffic. This analysis will also lead you to ingenious discoveries and a competitive advantage over rivals in terms of keyword analysis and usage.

Now you ask where you will get all the knowledge about keyword demand and referrals. There are a number of keyword research sources you can choose from – research tools offer different features and benefits, some are free, some expensive, just keep in mind that you are to use them for keyword research so you better use the one which is will perfectly serve its purpose.

A good keyword research tool exports data for the user and is capable of gathering a pretty long list for the user’s main keywords. There are also other less popular keyword resources with more advanced data and more often than not, more complicated processes.

Now that you have a list of relevant keywords ready, the next thing you need is to organize these words and phrases according to importance. Arrange these words into several categories according to your preference – this will aid you in the succeeding SEO activities you will do such as copywriting and link building.

The data you have gathered through the whole keyword analysis will then be the basis for your SEO strategies and your marketing campaigns so keep them handy for future use. You can use this data to construct overall statistics for presentations to upper management or for the assessment and evaluation of your SEO campaign.

Basically no other step is more significant in the SEO process than keyword research. Puzzling out the appropriate keyword demand for your market may be a lot of work but you are sure to learn not only the terms and phrases for SEO targeting but also about your customers as a whole.

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