Keyword Research For Beginners

This is page 2 of a 5 page keyword research tutorial.

You found some keywords, now what?

On the last page we learned what keywords are, and where to find them. We did a little practise keyword research, and built a couple of keyword lists.

Now that we've done some keyword research, we have a better idea what our readers want, and thus we can create pages that address their interests.

Now all we need is a way to tell these readers that we have what they're looking for.

Talking To Search Engines

Search engines are kind of like telephone operators, connecting a call between two people.

A caller dials a number, the operator finds the person with that number, and rings their phone.

The web version of this is that a user goes to a search engine, and types a request for information in to a form.

Then the search engine has to find some pages that have that information, and give them to the user.

Here's our job in this process.

We need to make sure the search engine knows our number.

That is, we need to help the search engine understand what our page is about.

What's Our Page About?

The first thing we'll do to help the search engine, and the reader, is write our article about something specific.

The user typed a specific phrase in to the search engine, we'll try to create a page that responds directly to that request.

When we did our keyword research we learned that some people want to know more about flying squirrels.

So we'll write an article that is clearly focused on the subject of flying squirrels.

What are flying squirrels, where do flying squirrels live, what do flying squirrels eat, what color are flying squirrels, etc.

The search engine is going to read every word on our page in an attempt to figure out what our page is about. The more useful information we have specifically about flying squirrels, and the less info we offer on unrelated subjects, the more likely it is that the search engine will conclude "this page is about flying squirrels."

So, the first thing we can do to help the search engine is make a clear decision on what our page is about, and then stick to the subject.

The first person who needs to understand what our article is about, is us.

Picking A Main Keyword

Now that we have a clear focus for our article, we'll pick out a keyword (a single word, or a two or three word phrase) that best represents what we're going to write about.

It's nothing tricky, it's just like deciding on a title for the article.

To keep on with our example, we'll pick the keyword "flying squirrels" as the main keyword for our article.

Now That I've Picked A Main Keyword, What Do I Do With It?

We'll place this keyword in specific places in our web page.

Putting our keyword in certain places throughout our page gives the search engine extra help in determining what our page is about.

Search engines are computers that follow rules, so we'll play along and follow some rules too.

These rules aren't a precise formula. Rather, you should look upon the following as common sense guidelines generally agreed to by the majority of webmasters.

Where Does My Main Keyword Go?

Here's where we'll place our main keyword within our web page.

1) You can put the keyword in the name of the computer file that contains our web page.

2) You can put the main keyword in the title bar of the browser window.

3) You can put the main keyword in to the title of the article.

4) You can put the main keyword in the first and last paragraph of the article.

5) We'll also use the keyword in a natural way throughout the rest of the article, every other paragraph or so. This would probably happen anyway in the normal course of writing an article focused on a specific subject.

6) Make the keyword bold somewhere in the article. Just do it once, not every instance of the keyword, more is not better.

7) When you link to this article from other pages on your site, use your keyword as the link text.

8) If other webmasters are linking to your article, try to get them to use your keyword in their link text also.

9) Do you have any images on your page? If yes, let's put your keyword in the alt section of one image tag too.

10) When you did your keyword research you probably found some keywords that would fit nicely within an article on flying squirrels. Let's sprinkle these related keywords throughout the article in a natural way. If we're lucky, we may get a nice search engine listing for some of these keywords too.

Again, the 10 steps you've read above are not a precise formula. You'll see this process described a bit differently by different authors.

The bottom line is that nobody except the people who make the search engines know exactly what the rules of search engines are.

But if you follow guidelines similar to what's been described above, you'll be doing a better job of describing your page to search engines than most webmasters.

Homework Assignment

Ok, it's that "just do it" time again.

Before you go to the next page you should:

Pick a topic.

Find some keywords.

Choose a main keyword.

Write a 500-1000 word article specifically about the main keyword.

Place the main keyword throughout the article as described above.

Throw in some related keywords, and mix to taste.

Please recall, reading without doing is the path to escalating confusion.

When you're done, I'll see you on the next page.

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