Remove pre-conceived notions that consumers use proper sentence structure or other grammar rules to find results. More often than not, search terms (keywords) are simply a list of words that they would like included in the results that show up, such as “blue bike women’s. "

Longer combinations of keywords are called “long tail keywords. " They are used by consumers for more accurate results; however, they are searched less often than shorter “head” keywords. [5] X Expert Source Anna ColibriDigital Marketing Specialist Expert Interview. 29 June 2021. Using Excel or another spreadsheet program to keep your keywords can help you keep long-term results on their value to your search engine optimization process.

Take your Excel list. Begin typing each term into Google, 1 at a time. Do not press “Search” right away. Wait until the auto-complete function kicks in. Wait until other suggested words pop up next to the terms you typed in. These are long tail keywords that people have actually typed into Google. Write down these long tail keywords on your keyword brainstorm list. [6] X Expert Source Ryan ConwayMarketing Expert Expert Interview. 17 March 2021.

Create another sheet in your Excel document. List the keywords that pass your research tests for value and efficacy.

If you do not know how to find them, ask your web programmer to email a list of terms, how many clicks they provided and their conversion rates. If you do not have a built-in analytics program, you should sign up for a free Google Analytics account. By installing a tracking link on your website, you will start to gather data about the origins of your web traffic. [8] X Research source Google has huge databases that can offer information about keyword volume, difficulty, cost per click, and more. [9] X Expert Source Anna ColibriDigital Marketing Specialist Expert Interview. 29 June 2021.

This research will also tell you which search engines your customers are using. You should take out PPC ads with the sites that give you the most traffic with the highest conversion rates.

For example, if you run a political campaign, “politics,” “senator” and “election” are probably not worth buying in a pay per click environment. In addition, unless you have a marketing department with a lot of money, it will be difficult to bid high enough to have your search results ranked highly against large corporations. You will get better value targeting your keywords. For example, choose “New Jersey Senator” over “Senator. "

Choosing keywords requires a lot of nuance. You need to use your own experience and judgment and work toward finding those perfect keywords over time. [10] X Expert Source Anna ColibriDigital Marketing Specialist Expert Interview. 29 June 2021.

Start with keywords that are easy to rank for. It’s like a snowball effect—the more keywords you rank for, the more Google can take you seriously. [13] X Expert Source Anna ColibriDigital Marketing Specialist Expert Interview. 29 June 2021.

Bid on the top 5 keywords on your list. Keep in mind that the shorter and more generic these keywords are, the more expensive your bid per click will need to be.

Stop pay per click ads that give you little traffic and few sales. Mark this down on your keyword list as a keyword that is either too expensive to bid on or 1 that gives poor results. Keep PPC ads that achieve high conversion rates. Even if you are getting fewer clicks than with general terms, you only pay per click. If you have a high number of sales per click, you are likely to get value from the ad. Take out new PPC ads with new keywords to test them. Do this until you find the right keywords that are working for your site.

Use the most valuable keywords, from research and PPC testing, to your meta tags and meta descriptions. Do this individually for each post and product. Hire an SEO writer to create high-quality content for your website. Ask the writer to include your most valuable keywords and keyword combinations in the title, subtitle, subheadings and article. Make sure there is a higher concentration of keywords near the beginning. Simplify URL addresses and image names to include addresses. Easy URLs will appear more readily on search results. Optimized image names will appear on special searches, like Google Images. Create backlinks. [16] X Expert Source Anna ColibriDigital Marketing Specialist Expert Interview. 29 June 2021. Post your website content, with descriptions that contain keywords on social media accounts, blogs, blog comments and in article directories.