Designing Your Site to Be Search Engine Friendly 91

Designing Your Site to Be Search Engine Friendly 91
www.wordspot.com/) and Wordtracker (http://www.wordtracker.com/)
are two such examples.
Keyword research tools can help meet your current needs, whether
you’re looking for a place to start, are plum out of ideas, or simply feel
like you’re missing something. Here are the most common tools my
team uses on a daily basis:
WordTracker (http://www.wordtracker.com/)—WordTracker is the
most popular keyword research tool and is an absolute must for
doing your research. WordTracker does have a fee associated with
it. You can expect to pay approximately US$250 per year or $8
for a day.
WordTracker maintains a database of over 350 million keywords
gathered from several meta-search engines. The tool is easy
to use and provides a valuable source of information. When you
run a search for a term it shows you related keywords, including
misspellings, the plural and singular versions of the word or phrase,
and references from its thesaurus if desired.
WordTracker allows you to build your list of keyword phrases
through a process similar to adding items to a shopping cart. The tool
enables you to drill down a bit further by selecting keyword phrases
of particular interest that are related to the specific phrase with which
you are concerned. Figure 6.1 shows WordTracker’s interface.
A nice feature of this tool is that it provides you with an indication
of the popularity for your keywords as well as the predicted
volume of competition for said keywords. This is a handy feature
when trying to determine which keywords are worth going after
and which are a waste of time.
Overture’s Search Term Suggestion Tool (http://inventory.overture.com/
d/searchinventory/suggestion)—Overture’s Search Term Suggestion
Tool is free. The tool enables you to enter keyword phrases and search
for related keywords based on the previous month’s search data. Up
to 100 results per query are displayed. The results are displayed in
order of popularity and only search terms with a minimum of 25
queries during the previous month are displayed. An example of the
tool in action can be seen in Figure 6.2.
The Overture tool does have some notable ways of doing things
that you need to keep in mind. For one, it always converts the word
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Figure 6.1. WordTracker in action.
Figure 6.2. Overture’s Search Term Suggestion tool.
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Designing Your Site to Be Search Engine Friendly 93
you are questioning from the plural to the singular so it is not possible
to tell if someone is really searching for the plural or singular
version of a word (e.g., stores versus store). Second, the Overture
tool always displays the correct spelling of a word, but in some
cases you may want to know what a common misspelling is along
with how often it is searched for (e.g., accommodation versus
accomodation). A final note is that the tool just shows results that
include the exact phrase you searched for. If you search for the keyword
cheap flights as done in Figure 6.2, all of the results will include
cheap flight; it does not suggest discount flights, discount
airlines, cheap airfare, and so on as alternatives. You have to enter
more specific phrases to drill down.
Google AdWords: Keyword Suggestions (https://adwords.
google.com/select/main?cmd=KeywordSandbox)—Another useful
free tool. You can use the Google AdWords: Keyword Suggestions
tool to generate new keyword ideas and compare the results from
the other tools. The Google tool also makes suggestions on related
terms you should consider. An example can be seen in Figure 6.3.
Figure 6.3. Google Adwords: Keyword Suggestions tool.
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WordTracker and Overture are essential keyword suggestion
tools; however, the Google tool can offer some support and it can
help generate new ideas. The Google tool’s primary purpose is for
researching keywords for its AdWords program.
Related searches on search engines and directories—A lesser known
technique is to run a query on a search engine and watch for the
related search options it suggests. Some search engines such as
AltaVista, Teoma, and Lycos make suggestions on related keyword
phrases that you can use to refine your search. You can use these
suggestions as a means of generating additional keywords or opening
a new theme of search phrases you hadn’t previously considered.
Figure 6.4 shows an example of search suggestions made by
Teoma for a query on cheap flights.
Fine-Tuning Your Keyword Phrases
Now that you have your master keyword list, probably with a few hundred
keyword phrases, you have to drill down and figure out which keywords
you are going to target for each page of your Web site that you
Figure 6.4. Teoma search suggestions.
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want to optimize. Realistically, you can emphasize two to five keyword
phrases on a single page, and maybe a few others as spillover. Keep in
mind that each page you optimize should lean toward a different set of
keywords. Why? What good is buying 100 lottery tickets for the next
drawing if they all have the same number? It is the same idea here.
Your efforts should focus around those keyword phrases that bring
in a fair volume of traffic and that are highly targeted. The ROI for such
keywords will be much higher. When reviewing your keyword list you
need to consider:
• Which keywords are vital to your objectives
• Which keywords are popular enough to generate reasonable,
sustainable traffic
• Which keywords do not have so much competition that it would
be counterproductive considering the time and effort necessary
to target them.
For a hotel to have the keyword travel stand alone on the hotel’s
Web site would prove a waste of effort. Travel is a vastly popular keyword,
which is good, but it is too generic and too competitive to be
worthwhile. You have to make judgment calls from time to time. In
some cases a word is relevant and popular, but also competitive to the
point of being intimidating. If this word is essential to your business,
then go for it.
Organize your keywords according to their level of importance.
When completed, you will have a refined master keyword list that you
can refer to when optimizing your Web site. Also, different directories
allow different numbers of keywords to be submitted. Because you have
organized the list with the most important words first, you can simply
include as many of your keywords as the directory allows.
You can begin editing the list by deleting words that either are too
generic (for example, business) or are not appropriate for keyword purposes.
Review each word and ask yourself, “Would people search using
this word if they were looking for the products and services available
through my Web site?”
For each page that you are optimizing take a copy of the comprehensive
master list and delete words that are not appropriate for that
particular page. Reprioritize the remaining keywords based on the con-
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tent of the page you are indexing. This is the keyword list for that particular
page. Repeat this procedure for every page you are optimizing.
This is also a great procedure when you are developing the keyword
meta-tag for each page of your site.
What I covered above is a very basic approach to organizing keywords.
If you are up to the challenge you can take it further by adding
weights and multipliers to your keyword list to further refine it. Review
some of the resource Web sites provided at the end of this chapter to
learn advanced techniques.
You can choose to keep it basic while you are learning the ropes,
but as you become more familiar you might want to be more critical in
selecting your keywords to boost your performance in the search engines.
The more knowledge with which you are armed, the better prepared
you are to optimize your Web site. Here are some additional tips
to keep in mind when refining your keywords master list:
Plural and singular keywords—There is some debate about whether
it is better to use only the plural version of a keyword or whether it
is best to use both the plural and singular form of the keyword. Is
your target market looking for both? As an example, some people
might search for game, and others might search for games. Google
matches exactly what the user searches for, so it is important to use
both where possible.
Using the names of your competitors—There is often the question
as to whether to include your competitor’s name in your keywords.
The idea here is that if someone looks for your competitor they are
going to find you as well. Never include a competitor’s name in
your keywords. Because several search engines read only a small
amount of content for keywords you lose valuable page real estate
to irrelevant keywords when you use your competitor’s name. In
addition, there have been recent legal battles regarding the use of
competitors’ names within one’s keywords.
Common misspellings of words—There are many words that people
misspell on a frequent basis. The question here is do you include
those misspelled keywords in your site or not? My stance is “No.”
Although people use them in their searches it hurts your credibility
in that you come off as a company incapable of spellings its own
products and services.
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Designing Your Site to Be Search Engine Friendly 97
Case sensitivity—Some search engines are not case sensitive and
others are. Regardless, most people search in lower case, and to
keep the process simple, for now you should record your original
keyword master list using lowercase. Once you begin finalizing your
keyword list you might notice that people are actually searching for
the proper spelling of a word, in which case you would reflect the
changes in your keyword list.
Stop and filter words—Filter words are words search engines simply
ignore during searches. Stop words are extremely common words
that search engines use as triggers to stop grabbing content on a
given page, such as “and,” “a,” and “the.” Some search engines
view stop words and filter words as the same thing, but you need
only remember one thing: search engines bypass these words to save
time as these words are not considered to add any value to the search.
It is best to try and avoid using stop words where possible in your
keyword phrases. Here is a sample list of some of the more common
stop words on record from a list compiled by Search Engine World
(http://www.searchengineworld.com/spy/stopwords.htm):
a ii about above according
across 39 actually ad adj
ae af after afterwards ag
again against ai al all
almost alone along already also
although always am among amongst
an and another any anyhow
anyone anything anywhere ao aq
ar are aren aren’t around
arpa as at au aw
az b ba bb bd
be became because become becomes
becoming been before beforehand begin
beginning behind being below beside
besides between beyond bf bg
bh bi billion bj bm
bn bo both br bs
bt but buy bv bw
by bz c ca can
can’t cannot caption cc cd
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cf cg ch ci ck
cl click cm cn co
co. com copy could couldn
couldn’t cr cs cu cv
cx cy cz d de
did didn didn’t dj dk
dm do does doesn doesn’t
don don’t down during dz
e each ec edu ee
eg eh eight eighty either
else elsewhere end ending enough
er es et etc even
ever every everyone everything everywhere
except f few fi fifty
find first five fj fk
fm fo for former formerly
forty found four fr free
from further fx g ga
gb gd ge get gf
gg gh gi gl gm
gmt gn go gov gp
gq gr gs gt gu
gw gy h had has
hasn hasn’t have haven haven’t
he he’d he’ll he’s help
hence her here here’s hereafter
hereby herein hereupon hers herself
him himself his hk hm
hn home homepage how however
hr ht htm html http
hu hundred i i’d i’ll
i’m i’ve i.e. id ie
if il im in inc
inc. indeed information instead int
into io iq ir is
isn isn’t it it’s its
itself j je jm jo
join jp k ke kg
kh ki km kn kp
kr kw ky kz l
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la last later latter lb
lc least less let let’s
li like likely lk ll
lr ls lt ltd lu
lv ly m ma made
make makes many maybe mc
md me meantime meanwhile mg
mh microsoft might mil million
miss mk ml mm mn
mo more moreover most mostly
mp mq mr mrs ms
msie mt mu much must
mv mw mx my myself
mz n na namely nc
ne neither net netscape never
nevertheless new next nf ng
ni nine ninety nl no
nobody none nonetheless noone nor
not nothing now nowhere np
nr nu nz o of
off often om on once
one one’s only onto or
org other others otherwise our
ours ourselves out over overall
own p pa page pe
per perhaps pf pg ph
pk pl pm pn pr
pt pw py q qa
r rather re recent recently
reserved ring ro ru rw
s sa same sb sc
sd se seem seemed seeming
seems seven seventy several sg
sh she she’d she’ll she’s
should shouldn shouldn’t si since
site six sixty sj sk
sl sm sn so some
somehow someone something sometime sometimes
somewhere sr st still stop
su such sv sy sz
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t taking tc td ten
text tf tg test th
than that that’ll that’s the
their them themselves then thence
there there’ll there’s thereafter thereby
therefore therein thereupon these they
they’d they’ll they’re they’ve thirty
this those though thousand three
through throughout thru thus tj
tk tm tn to together
too toward towards tp tr
trillion tt tv tw twenty
two tz u ua ug
uk um under unless unlike
unlikely until up upon us
use used using uy uz
v va vc ve very
vg vi via vn vu
w was wasn wasn’t we
we’d we’ll we’re we’ve web
webpage website welcome well were
weren weren’t wf what what’ll
what’s whatever when whence whenever
where whereafter whereas whereby wherein
whereupon wherever whether which while
whither who who’d who’ll who’s
whoever NULL whole whom whomever
whose why will with within
without won won’t would wouldn
wouldn’t ws ww wx y
ye yes yet you you’d
you’ll you’re you’ve your yours
yourself yourselves yt yu z
za zm zr 10 z
Modifiers—A modifier is a keyword you add to your primary keyword
phrase to give it a boost. Who simply searches for a hotel at
random? It doesn’t make sense. You look for a hotel in combination
with a destination. In this case, the destination is the modifier. As a
side note, local search is becoming increasingly popular, so if the local market plays a significant role in the success of your business,
be sure to use geographic modifiers accordingly.
Multiple-word keyword phrases—Two- or three-keyword phrases
perform better than single keywords. According to OneStat.com
(http://www.onestat.com/) people tend to use 2- and 3-word phrases
when performing a search online. Here is a list of the most popular
number of words used in a search phrase:
• 2 words—32.58%
• 3 words—25.61%
• 1 word—19.02%
• 4 words—12.83%
• 5 words—5.64%
• 6 words—2.32%
• 7 words—0.98%
Not only are multiple keyword phrases used more often by searchers,
but it also enables you to be more descriptive in your keyword
phrases such as the modifiers.