Web-Antix Web Site Design

Are You Targeting The Wrong Keywords?

By Kalena Jordan

A colleague asked me recently to name the most critical element
of any search engine optimization campaign. I didn?t hesitate to
respond "keyword selection".

Like it or not, the keywords and phrases you select to describe
your site within your META tags and body text can make or break
your listings in the search engines. It's a sad fact that most
companies are targeting the wrong keywords and losing traffic as
a result.

Even sites that have excellent rankings will not benefit if those
rankings are for unsuitable keywords. Let me give you an example:

A few months ago, we had an Australian client who wanted us to
implement an optimization campaign to improve their search engine
rankings, but without jeopardising existing rankings they had
achieved for two particular search phrases: "Internet solutions
Australia" and "online banking solutions".

Can you guess what products and services this company sells? The
search phrases don't really give much away do they? In fact, this
company is a distributor of web site design software that is
specifically tailored for banks. Now ask yourself this: if you
were a bank looking for this company's products, would you have
typed in either of the phrases above to find their site? I doubt
it. You would type in something more logical like "web site
design software" or "web sites for banks" right?

This company was clearly targeting the wrong keywords and
phrases. Their top ten rankings for these phrases were
irrelevant, because nobody was searching for these phrases in
relation to the products this company was offering. The phrases
they had chosen are what I call "jargonized", that is, they are
filled with industry jargon and buzz words. Take "Internet
solutions" as an example. Such jargon has found its way into our
language with the onset of the digital age and is bandied around
boardrooms and marketing departments everywhere. However the
definition of this phrase is very broad and could be used to
describe anything from a dial-up connection to a web site itself.
It's not a logical choice for searchers and is therefore useless
as a key phrase to target.

To prove my point, I researched the client's chosen phrases using
Wordtracker keyword software and then did comparison research
using the more logical phrases above. The results were crystal
clear: the logical, simplified phrases were many times more
popular than the "jargonized" ones. Once I demonstrated this to
the client, they were more than happy for us to conduct more
thorough keyword research and start their search engine
optimization campaign with a clean slate.

When selecting the keywords and phrases for your site, remember
to select search terms that describe your products and services
in the most logical, simple and specific way. By doing so you?ll
not only increase the search engine traffic to your site, but you
'll ensure your visitors are highly qualified to buy your
products and services when they arrive.

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Copyright © Kalena Jordan 2001-2002

About the Author:

Article by Kalena Jordan, CEO of Web Rank.
Kalena was one of the first search engine optimization experts
in Australia & New Zealand and is well known and respected in her
field.
For more of her articles on search engine ranking and online
marketing, please visit http://www.high-search-engine-ranking.com