At this stage, the list of keywords is condensed by using objective measurements found during the analysis, in order to stay focused on the site and its defined target audience.
There are a number of factors to be taken into account when choosing the keywords to focus on:
- Is the keyword or expression too general? Even though the use of general search expressions in the search engines is more common, ranking for these types of keywords will often return mediocre results
- Is the keyword relevant to the site? Choose keywords that focus well on what the site offers.
- How many other websites or web pages will you be competing against? The smaller the number of competitors (i.e. the lower the number of links returned in the search for the keyword), the better your chance of attaining a high ranking in the search results.
- How often is the keyword or expression used by people searching the web? The more popular the expression, the higher the chance the more users will arrive at your site, when it appears in a good position in the search results.
- What is the KEI of the expression? Expressions with a high KEI are more worthwhile. Identify opportunities – sometimes a search expression that is used less is preferable, in particular if it has much fewer competitors
- Is a specific page on your site particularly appropriate for a specific keyword, and what is the PR of that page? The higher the PR of the page, the greater the chances that it will place higher in the search engine results.
- Do you offer an attractive price for the product or service related to the search expression?
- Will you earn enough from being placed at the top of the search results? What do you estimate your conversion rate to be? A high conversion rate means that a high percentage of people who arrive at your site actually purchase something, or do something that you wanted them to do (e.g. joining a newsletter, sending a contact request). Note that "high" conversion rates could be anywhere from just a few percentage points to the low double digits, depending on the market you are in. Estimating the conversion rate is just common sense, and experience of what visitors to your site do there.
- Is there a seasonal effect on the search expression?
- Are there trends in the relevant market that you need to be aware of?
Remember that it isn't necessary, and in fact it may be harmful, to use all the keywords and expressions that make up the final list on your home page. Choose the main two or three keywords that are related to each other, for your home page, and identify other pages in your site in with to use the other keywords (up to 2 expressions per page). Create groups of expressions with a common motive for each group, and focus each page only on a single group of expressions. This approach will raise the change of achieving a high position for these pages in the search results, and will also increase the conversion rate, by bringing the visitors to their most relevant pages.
After you have sorted the list according to the aforementioned factors, and maybe other factors that seem relevant for you, create two lists from the main list that you now have in hand.
The main list should include all the keywords that have a high search volume and a high KEI.
The secondary list should include all the keywords that have a high search volume and low KEI, or a high KEI but low search volume, or keywords with a high search volume and high KEI but they are not relevant for the current audience.
Optimization of an existing site should start by using the main list of keywords.
If you are building a new site, you can start by building pages focused on the keywords in the main list, and add pages focused on keywords from the secondary list, over time.
Translated by Debi Zylbermann
