I was assisting a client today with selecting keyword phrases for her Search Engine Optimization campaign. The client had a very good question about keyword selection. The question was, “should I select my keywords based solely on search volume?”
The answer depends on your goal, if your goal is to drive as much traffic as humanly possible to your web site, then yes, go for the keywords with the most search volume. If your goal is to convert more traffic to sales, then you need to hone in on not only traffic, but traffic that will result in sales. Your keywords need to be specific.
For example, the keyword phrase “web design” turns up 2,740,000 in search volume on Google for the month of October, 2009. Of those 2,740,000 how many of those people do you think are looking to learn how to develop a web site? If I could rank #1 for web design, I would have all of those people clicking on my web site and possibly calling me for information? What happens if I get more specific? I only want people who are interested in coming to my web design seminar, so instead, I choose the keyword phrase “Web Design Seminar”. The search volume is now 390 on Google, but these people are much more likely to actually want or need my service.
People tend to focus on the thousands of visitors that come to the site for the most popular terms. Conventional thinking applies the 80-20 rule, assuming that 80% of the business comes from the top 10 keywords with the most search volume. But through evaluation of multiple sites, the opposite has been found to be true. 80% of the business is coming from the keywords with the lowest search volume. The principal of the Long Tail is the focus on the keywords with the lower search volume. When studying referrals from the search engines and the traffic they generate, those that focus on the top 10-20 terms may be missing the majority of their market.
Tags: marketing, SEO, Web Development