Keyword Research Is Central to Improving Search Engine Rankings

Keyword Research Is Central to Improving Search Engine Rankings










By The Irish Observer © 2010







When I first began to use the internet in 2009, I was confronted with many new words and phrases, phrases such as “Search engine dominance”, meant absolutely nothing to me. Twelve months later and now a well established writer on the net I have come to realise the importance of phrases such as “Search engine dominance” particularly if I want to be a successful on line writer. Search engine optimisation is essential not only to individual writers but also to everyone involved in e.business/e.commerce enterprise. Achieving top search engine rankings is based mainly on the competitiveness of the keyword phrase you are trying to optimise for. In a simple example, if you are a writer of fiction on line and your main competitor is Jackie Collins who has a well entrenched web site then your chances of out ranking that particular competitor is limited.







It is essential that you not only focus on keyword phrase that does not have strong competition, but you also need to find terms and phrases that are frequently searched on. I recently tried a number of techniques to optimise my blogs and hub page sites, while I had top ranking for a particular keyword term that appeared at first glance to be desirable to my sites, the reality was that following keyword research I found that the term I had chosen was in fact only getting 110 searches per month. This example demonstrates that having top rankings for a particular keyword can be almost worthless.







Competition, it is essential that you check out your competition once you have found a keyword phrase that isn’t too competitive and receives an adequate number of monthly searches. Use a search engine such a Google, and enter the keyword phrases you want to optimise for a run a back link check on the top three ranked web sites. You will then have an indication of the strength of those web sites relative to their search engine ranking. The greater the number of links, the more difficult it will be to rank higher than they do without some type of sustained link building campaign being launched.







Meta tags, titles and web copy are central to building your ranking. When you have done your keyword research and confirming your particular choice of keywords and keyword phrases, it’s time to focus on improving your web pages around the keywords you have selected, I have found this to be very useful. Enhance your meta tags, titles and web copy to include your keyword phrases. These actions will ensure that search engines know what your site is about and your site can be ranked in a way that is beneficial to you and the goal that you have set for your work. It is also important to remember that in addition to on page factors, Google weighs off page factors to set web site ranking.







New content and additional links from third party websites need to be part of a sustained effort by the user for off page optimisation. It is not rocket science, the most effective for me so far are the most basic, and you need a link building plan. You need to focus on article directories, web site directories, blogs, social book marking sites, and other resources where you can become established in bound links.







Any link building plan must include daily, weekly and monthly tasks that can attract links from authority websites consistently over time. If your web site is about holidays in America, you don’t want links to soup making classes in China. Do not set out with the intention to generate thousands of inbound links quickly as Google will actually penalise your web site for that type of activity. It is much better to focus on steady link building, quality rather than quantity is the secret.







Keyword research is the starting point for improving your search engine ranking. It is important to select the right keywords and then you will be able to optimise your website faster than your main competitors. Having the correct keywords is just the start; you must then incorporate those keywords into your web site. When you have got these basics right you will be able to begin link building and other off page optimisation tactics that will most certainly improve your rankings.







Now, I am not an expert, I am simply trying to share my experience to date. I have learned through trial and error. I have a long way to go and I would welcome comments on this particular article. Any help or tips would be greatly welcomed, so that individual writers and even companies could learn from your knowledge and experience.