The techniques of (that is, optimizing your website so that it appears in Google results by typing a keyword) have something arcane, almost mystical about them. Basically the job of an SEO technician is divinatory (although they will say no, that it is statistical, that they have arcane sources of information, that they have WhatsApp…) but The truth is that Google has never revealed what exactly is the algorithm that it uses to classify the results of a search from a keyword given by the user.
Although it is true that Google usually gives clues as to which criteria it will give more weight to and which lessthe algorithm of the guys from Mountain View is like the Coca-Cola formula: although everyone knows what is in it, no one knows the exact recipe and proportions, although we do know that it takes into account more than 100 different criteria.
The Google algorithm or the game of cat and mouse to choose keyword
The Google algorithm is the mother of the SEO lamb. On the one hand, Google lives on advertising, so land it is interesting that SEO technicians do not know exactly what they should do to improve the positioning of a website, since that would subtract customers who pay to position themselves in a specific keyword through its Adwords system.
On the other hand, SEO technicians have a multitude of accumulated data, since there are more than 4,000 million websites indexed by Google, which gives a lot of scope to analyze and draw conclusions. The result: both are immersed in a continuous chase.
Google makes constant changes to the algorithm (one every 17 hours on average) and SEO technicians are hell-bent on deciphering the extent of those changes. Google makes major changes or removes new versions of the algorithmsomething that is made public and the new criteria are specified or the change in the weight that some of them have on the final search result from a keyword.
These or new versions of it have names (such as Colibri or Penguin) but smaller changes are not advertised, which produces the gnashing of teeth and convulsions in many SEO technicians.
In fact, it is known that several hundred of them, after Google announced that the search engine was going to evolve towards understanding the meaning of complete phrases and not just keywords, they abandoned their computers en masse to found a Buddhist monastery in a remote village in Tibet, where anyone who wears a device more technological than a espadrille is quickly executed.
Jokes aside (or not, just in case you don’t take mobiles if you go to Tibet) the truth is that while that new more ‘intelligent’ Google arrives, Choosing the correct keyword in which we want to position ourselves is a fundamental aspect.
Choosing a keyword: a question of strategy
Positioning in Google is the obsession of all companies, and it is the first thing they ask any long-suffering online marketing consultant as a server who writes. The problem, especially in eCommerce, is finding the right keyword or keywords. And for that you need to have a clear marketing strategy and know the market and the competition very well.
I think they still echo in the ether my hysterical laughter The last time a client, whose name I don’t want to remember, asked me to make his website appear in the top 10 when someone typed the word “tomatoes”.
Let’s start from a base: positioning yourself in the same keyword in which your entire sector is fighting is practically impossible. Even marketing on certain high-demand keywords is outrageously expensive, and doing so through SEO alone It’s like climbing Everest with a Seat Panda.
Therefore, if you are an insurance agent in Cuenca, forget about appearing among the top 10 in the word “insurance”, for which dozens of companies with millions of euros in budgets are fighting. But beware, This does not mean that you cannot have a positioning strategy. In addition to other major SEO criteria, such as the fact that the website is updated and that it has original and useful content for the user, we have to think of several keywords, not just one.
Since the same website has dozens or hundreds of different URLs, we have a lot of room to try with different types of keywords. If you are small and have few resources, use a strategy ”: many few can add up to as much or more than few many. This allows us to design a different keyword for each product or service we offer (on different pages of our website) or for each post on our blog.
It’s about choosing more descriptive keywords, which also help to better target and segment who we are targeting. That is, instead of wanting to position ourselves in “insurance”, seek to position ourselves in “life insurance in Cuenca”, “insurance for rental cars” or “car insurance without excess”. And always keeping in mind three factors: the market we are targeting, frequency of searches and competition for the keyword.
3 SEO keys to choose keyword
1. Market we are targeting
If I sell tomatoes, I will sell many kinds of tomato. Positioning myself in “buy tomatoes online” as a keyword will be difficult for me. But positioning myself in «Tomates RAF de Almería» closes the range and allows me to be more competitive, because There are not so many companies that I am fighting with for the first page of Google.
If I add another keyword to that (on a different page within my website) such as “buy tomatoes from Almería” and others such as “RAF tomato online store”, “buy gourmet tomatoes” and another, and another… I already have a long tail. A list with more than one keyword in which all of them have fewer searches than the main one, but which together can give me a good position and achieve the level of visits that interests me.
All these keywords have to start from a basic principle: knowledge of the tastes of the client I am addressing, since we are going to try to position ourselves in more “natural” key phrases, that is, those that a person would write in the search engine to search for a specific product, and even to search for it in a certain area.
2. Frequency of searches
There are many tools available to know the level of monthly searches for a given keyword. Google Keyword Plannerintegrated in Adwords, is the most used and allows you to know how many people have carried out that search in a specific language and geographical area.
From there, massively discard the searched words: chances are that a lot of people are fighting over them. Unless you have time and budget for it, or it is absolutely vital for your business to position yourself in a specific keyword, find the words with average search levels, where it will be easier for you to get positions in the top 10 for each of them.
3. Competition for the keyword
How do I know if a keyword is very competitive? Well, first of all by doing a search on Google. Be careful, browsing incognito or without cookies, or the search results may not be the real ones (Google adapts to each user).
Generally the keywords that using the tool mentioned above are highly searched, will have many companies of your competition in the first search results. Another formula is to see in Keyword Planner what Google calculates for each keyword. The higher the cost per click, the more competition, since Adwords works with an auction system. And the more competition, the more volume of searches on the main keyword (for example, «insurance») and greater possibilities of diversifying into different «secondary» keywords to have a true long tail strategy.
Targeting, using a more descriptive keyword, means increasing the conversion rate (that is, how many visitors to my store end up buying). If I’m selling a pair of Nike running shoes, trying to rank for “Nike” or even “Nike running” will be expensive, complicated, and will give me very low conversion rates, since most of those who click on my link in Google are not looking for any sneakers, but specific ones.
If I try to position myself in several keywords such as “red nike running shoes”+”blue nike running shoes”+”Nike for running”+”Nike (model) for running”+… I will have higher conversion rates.
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