6 Keyword Research Mistakes You Might be Making

A GUIDE TO MAKING THEM COUNT -

“Keyword research is an all too often under-appreciated aspect of SEO.
I’ve written a few keyword research posts here on SEOmoz and that’s because I believe it to be the blueprint of any successful SEO campaign.

Here are some of the more common mistakes that I see people make with their keyword research.

#1 – You’re being Unrealistic

“It is better to have a bigger slice of a few smaller pies rather than not getting even a slither of a much bigger pie.”

Keyword research appears to be a very straightforward task. You fire up your keyword research tool of choice and find the keywords that relate to your industry with the highest search volumes. Sadly, that’s not the way to do it if you want to see real results.

To many businesses, high-competition keywords are simply out of reach – at least in the short and medium term. Part of good keyword research is about being realistic and selecting appropriate keywords for targeting that take into account the site’s age, current authority and any future optimization that will take place.

Targeting one word keywords is quite often unrealistic but it may also prove unprofitable – someone searching for ‘Toshiba l670 laptop’ is likely to be much further along in the purchasing process that someone who searches for ‘laptops’ – think about which searcher is likely to have their credit card out already.

There’s nothing wrong with targeting generic keywords, I’m simply saying that if your campaign has limited budget and you need results in the short to medium term then targeting less trafficked, less competitive keywords is a much better way to utilize resources.

Lower traffic but lower competition keywords might not seem as exciting to target but if your website can dominate these areas fairly quickly then you are going to see far more traffic from the search engines than failing to effectively target a much more competitive term.

#2 – You’re looking at broad match instead of exact match

A seemingly simple mistake but one which many people continue to make…
Search volume is of course a very important metric when it comes to keyword research but all too often people make the mistake of looking at broad search volumes rather than the exact match figure when using tools like Google’s Keyword Tool.

There can be a huge difference between broad match and exact match search traffic for example:

There are 135,000 broad match searches each month in the UK for ‘dog kennels’ but only 14,800 exact match searches for the same keyword. Still, this wouldn’t prove particularly problematic as this is obviously still a keyword worth targeting – it would knock traffic and ROI projections way off kilter if you do these kinds of things though.

The real problem comes when you choose to target a keyword like ‘ladies leather handbags’ which has a broad match search volume of 2,400 but an exact match search volume of only 260 – failing to base your research on exact match data might mean you think you are targeting a reasonably well-trafficked keyword when in actual fact, once you’ve factored in data inaccuracies, you could be looking at a very low search volume keyword indeed.

It is widely accepted that Google’s Keyword Tool isn’t entirely accurate when it comes to search volumes but using exact match gives you the best data available when assessing how viable a keyword is to target.

#3 – You’re targeting plural instead of singular

It is very common to see a website targeting the plural version of a keyword but in most cases, it is the singular version of a keyword that people are searching for.

I see this most often on eCommerce websites where the site owner optimizes category pages and because they sell more than one product, they naturally focus on the pluralized keywords for example “tablet PCs” which actually gets 91% less searches than “tablet PC”.

I will readily admit that Google is much better at determining that a singular and plural version of a keyword are one and the same, but in many cases there are still differences in the search results. Failing to target the singular keyword can be the difference between your search listing being highlighted in the SERPs (=higher click through) and it can also mean your website appears lower (even slightly) than marginally better targeted pages – that could be the difference between making a sale and not.

#4 – You’re ignoring conversion

This one could easily turn into a rant for me because so often I come up against clients who want to rank for [insert trophy keyword] when in actual fact they’d do better (financially) targeting a different keyword or set of keywords. I try to explain that a keyword that brings in traffic is wasted bandwidth if that traffic doesn’t convert. You don’t hire my company to get traffic for traffic’s sake…you presumably hire us to help you ultimately make more sales.

The online world is competitive and it’s only going to get more competitive, therefore making the most of every penny being invested is vital.

This makes conversion and language analysis a vital part of keyword research. The human mind is the only software capable of performing a good quality ‘conversion audit’ of a keyword list because whilst there are programs out there that can filter and sort keywords to make your life easier, there’s no real substitute for industry experience and SEO knowledge.

There are some very basic indicators for example prefixes such as ‘buy’ might be a clear indicator that the traffic from this keyword is going to convert.

A keyword conversion audit is more complex than that however since each situation and market is individual. I find existing data to be a very useful way to determine which keywords are likely to convert well. If you have goal tracking setup with Google Analytics, you can easily determine the highest converting keywords your site currently gets traffic from, try to identify patterns in your highest converting keywords and then translate and apply this knowledge to other areas of keyword research.

#5 – You’re selecting keywords that are out of context

This is yet more rationale to further humanise the keyword research process because most keyword tools struggle to compute words and their meaning in the way a human would.

For example, a searcher looking for ‘storage’ could be looking for a self-storage centre, boxes and other storage furniture for the home or even professional storage solutions for a warehouse or office.

Opportunities for confused targeting are abundant which is why it is essential the keywords you decide to target are highly-relevant and laser-focused towards what your business offers.

A good way to do this is to search manually for the keywords in Google and see the kinds of results that come up, you will likely be able to get a feel for whether the keyword is applicable to the product or service you intended to target.

#6 – You’re failing to conduct keyword reviews

It is accepted that SEO is an on-going process but rarely are target keywords reviewed and audited. If a marketplace is shifting over time then you would also expect customer search behaviour to develop and evolve over time too – this makes regular keyword reviews essential.

In most markets, I find an annual review is perfectly adequate. Any time period shorter than this and there is a risk that targeting becomes a bit chaotic with efforts focused on new keywords before results on old keywords have been achieved or evaluated.

That being said, in some competitive and very fast moving markets a more regular keyword review may be required.

The aim of a keyword review is to:

* Weed out poor performing keywords
* Identify opportunities and areas for growth
* Shape your SEO strategy for the future

To do a strategic and actionable keyword review you can use this adapted version of the Boston Matrix that I like to use.

Large brands use the Boston Matrix to assess the health of their product portfolio and to identify where to concentrate their resources.

You can do the same thing for your keyword portfolio.

Sort your keywords into four categories in order to better shape your search strategy for the future.

Question marks – these are keywords in areas where growth is likely but at present you’re not getting the performance you’d expect. These are very often untapped keyword opportunities and you should plan how you are going to improve performance on these kinds of keywords.

Stars – high-performance keywords and loads of room for growth – find ways to capitalise on growth. My advice is to focus your resources of gaining results in these areas for maximum ROI in a short period of time.

Dogs – the poor performing keywords with little or no chance of growth – bin these in favour of other keywords, reallocate any resources to other areas.

Cash cows – the high performing keywords that show little opportunity for growth – look for ways to enhance and maintain performance whilst identifying patterns and translating this learning to other areas or verticals.

What mistakes do you see happening in the keyword research process? Please share them in the comments section below…”

By James Agate, founder of Skyrocket SEO and a regular SEO contributor to leading blogs and publications across the web.

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DP creates accounts for guests? (Might be a bug?)

Hi,

I was searching for the keyword "Godaddy" using the search box in "Domain Names" section and it displayed the "matching" threads and members name.
This is an ad that I inserted!
But there were some users being displayed in "grey" as "Guest". Does this mean, DP is showing the guest as members?

And, when I clicked on the greyed out members (guest) names, then DP displays the below error.

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Your Conductor Might Be A Fraud If…

At one point or another, we’ve probably all crossed paths with a fraud of a conductor; you know, the type who spends more time dancing on the podium and wallowing in baton shtick thinking it “looks good” rather than inspiring a stage full of musicians and serving as the catalyst for a transcending live concert experience. Fortunately, for those who may not be 100 percent certain, there’s now a quick and easy test to figure it out.

In the voice of Jeff Foxworthy: your conductor might be a fraud if…

…his/her podium antics work when synced to Gangnam Style.

I’m confident someone could put an app together for this; just snap a video of your conductor using the phone’s video camera and the app attempts a Gangnam Style sync and you’ll have your results in under two minutes.

H/T to Norm Lebrecht for that chestnut and another h/t to Holly Mulcahy for posting a link to the original video and audio at her Facebook page (of Simonov’s performance, not Psy’s video):

"I hear that every time you show up to work with an orchestra, people get fired." Those were the first words out of an executive's mouth after her board chair introduced us. That executive is now a dear colleague and friend but the day that consulting contract began with her orchestra, she was convinced I was a hatchet-man brought in by the board to clean house. I understand where the trepidation comes from as a great deal of my consulting and technology provider work for arts organizations involves due diligence, separating fact from fiction, interpreting spin, as well as performance review and oversight. So yes, sometimes that work results in one or two individuals "aggressively embracing career change" but far more often than not, it reinforces and clarifies exactly what works and why. In short, it doesn't matter if you know where all the bodies are buried if you can't keep your own clients out of the ground, and I'm fortunate enough to say that for more than 15 years, I've done exactly that for groups of all budget size from Qatar to Kathmandu. For fun, I write a daily blog about the orchestra business, provide a platform for arts insiders to speak their mind, keep track of what people in this business get paid, help write a satirical cartoon about orchestra life, and love a good coffee drink.

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How Long Should A Cough Last? Longer Than You Might Think

By Erin Hicks

Once you develop a cough, how many days should you expect to have it? Researchers at the University of Georgia in Athens found that our expectations for how long a cough should last don't quite match up with reality, and that this gap may account for why so many people go to their doctors and ask for antibiotics when they have a cough.

The researchers looked at data in 19 studies that included 23 to 1,230 subjects each to find out how long an acute cough lasted in patients with acute bronchitis -- a condition people often refer to as a chest cold (as opposed to a head cold in which the symptoms are mostly nasal). They found the average duration of a cough among the people in the studies was 17.8 days.

Then they surveyed almost 500 adults to find out if their expectations for how long a cough should last matched up with clinical data.

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In the survey, they asked about 500 Georgia residents 18 years-old and older, "[S]uppose that you get sick and the main symptom is a cough. You are coughing up yellow mucus and have a slight fever. You are not taking any medicine for the cough. About how long do you expect that it will take from the time you first feel sick until the time where you feel well and the cough is gone?"

Study author Mark Ebell, MD, Associate Professor at the College of Public Health at the university, says that those polled generally thought a cough should last an average of seven to nine days.

Men and nonwhite respondents predicted a shorter cough duration, while those with self-reported asthma or chronic lung disease predicted a longer cough duration.

"I knew that bronchitis will often last a couple of weeks, but I wanted to see if this was my impression or if it is real," says Dr. Ebell. "[Now] we have pretty good evidence the mismatch [between patient expectations and clinical data] is real, so we need to do more to educate patients about what they can expect when they get a chest cold."

He says he often sees patients in his practice who, if they don't get better from bronchitis after four or five days, think they need antibiotics.

"As soon as people see a doctor" for a cough or cold, he says, "60 percent or more will get an antibiotic for it, while only a small percentage would need an antibiotic or benefit from it."

The Downsides of Antibiotics

Of course, some people with a chest cold or cough should seek treatment from a doctor: those who are chronically ill, elderly, or very young, or patients who are short of breath or cough up blood. But most people don't fit in those categories and could ride out the sickness and let the cough run its course -- without taking antibiotics, says Ebell.

There are many downsides to taking antibiotics. One of the main reasons physicians worry about over-prescription of antibiotics is that they are concerned bacteria will become resistant to the medicines available, which could be dangerous for those who develop pneumonia or another serious infection and desperately need antibiotics to work.

Another reason is nasty side effects. About 10 to 20 percent of those that take antibiotics experience diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting, and in some cases people develop severe diarrhea that can be life-threatening and lead to hospitalization, Ebell says.

There's also the cost of antibiotics. Going to the doctor and paying for antibiotics is a lot more costly and time-consuming than simply going to the nearest drug store for an over-the-counter cough medicine, Ebell says: "We spend so much more than any other country in the world on healthcare because we're spending money on things that don't make us healthier, and this is a good example of that."

The study was published in the January/February issue of the Annals of Family Medicine.

While many coughs can be treated with an over-the-counter cold medication and Mom's advice to rest up and drink lots of fluids, sometimes a cough is a sign of something more serious than a cold. Make sure you see a doctor if your cough is accompanied by chest pain, wheezing, or shortness of breath, if you cough up blood or yellow or green mucus, if you have a fever of 101 or higher, if you've lost weight, or if you're soaking the sheets with night sweats.

A cough that lingers past eight weeks is considered a chronic cough and could be related to gastroesophageal reflux disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, allergies, smoking, and in rare cases, even lung cancer.

"How Long Should a Cough Last? Maybe Longer Than You Think" originally appeared on Everyday Health.

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