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Keyword research is an essential aspect of optimizing a website for search engines. There is no denying the fact that if you are looking forward to earn profit from your website, you cannot steer clear of keyword research and selection. You have to know somehow what the potential customers are typing when they are searching for the kind of product you are offering.

These days, there are plenty of tools available in the market that will help you analyze the keyword data for your site.  But you have to remember that these tools might not be very accurate and it is best to depend on a time tested process of keyword research in combination with the tools. Let us now discuss the process of keyword research and selection in detail.

The keyword research process can be broken down into following steps:

1. Eliminating misconceptions
2. Creating a list of keywords
3. Understanding the keyword research tool
4. Finalizing the list of keywords
5. Planning your action
6. Monitoring and repeating the process

Step 1: Eliminating misconceptions

One of the common misconceptions among website owners is that they know what keywords the potential customers would type and hence there is no need to further dwell on the subject. However, this can’t be further away from truth. Actually what they have in mind are generic terms and technical industry jargon which are never searched by the customers. Most of your customers are not from your own industry and would not know the common words you use. Therefore, you have to consciously think about your target audience and make sure you understand their perspective.
Also remember that the keywords you shortlist should be related to your domain and not just some terms which can be used for high search engine rankings. The point is that such unrelated words may provide you with lots of traffic, but no one will stick around.

Step 2: Creating a list of keywords

This task can be intimidating to begin with. But you have to keep calm and start slowly. You have to think of ways to increase your conversion rate through important keywords and phrases. For this, the best way is to brainstorm for words. You can ask your friends, colleagues, and past customers to contribute as getting a different perspective to the whole thing is extremely important. Think on the lines of what is your site promoting? Have you covered all the words related to the products and services you are offering? Think of phrases that are targeted, simple, buying and research oriented. When people are looking for something specific to buy they usually narrow their research by adding a list of words to their keyword. This ‘long tail’ can be anything from three to nine words long. You have to make sure that your site comes up in such searches as well as it might be very critical for your business.

Also, while preparing your list, don’t be afraid to check on your competitors. Their Meta keyword tag will give to an idea to enhance your own list.

Step 3: Understanding the keyword research tool

Once you have a comprehensive list, you might want to narrow it down to the most sought after phrases. This can be easily done by using a keyword research tool. In initial days of SEO, people used to find out the effectiveness of their keywords by typing it in various search engines. But now there are tools in the market that will help you determine how many people are searching a particular term and how many searches were actually converted to sales. The master in this niche is Wordtracker with many years of experience, their services are premium but you can try the Free Keyword Tool, there is also another keyword research  and overture tools that can be used absolutely free like Keyword Discovery, Google Adword Keyword Tool, Google Trends and the new Google Search Based Keyword Tool. You might have to use either one of these or a combination of these tools for optimal results.

It is also important at this stage to test the activity of the keywords you have chosen. This will give you the accurate data regarding which ones are for keeps and which ones should be discarded.

Step 4: Finalizing the list of keywords

Once you have tested the activity of keywords, you arrive at a final list of most important keywords related to your domain. It is advised that at this stage, you should create a spreadsheet and track each word’s conversion rate, search volume, and competition rate. These three figures will help you determine the viability of a term for your website.

You should narrow down your focus to those terms that are closely related to the subject of your website. These will be the terms you want to hold on to and make sure you have relevant content around them.

Create a mix of both keywords and phrases. Phrases will help you tell your customer what your website does and keywords will generate traffic.

Step 5: Planning your action

Now that you have the final list of most appropriate keywords with you, you are now ready for launch. Create your pages with maximum of 3-4 keywords on one page. The content should not look artificial and forced. If you don’t have content for some of your keywords, this is high time that you create it.

Keyword research process is not limited just to find the best niche for your website, but it is also required for all  its pages and content, apart from inserting your keywords in on-page content, you can also place them in the following elements of your site:

• Title Tag
• Meta Description Tags
• Meta Keywords Tag
• Headings
• Alt text
• Anchor Text/ Navigational Links

As you have spent so much time in finalizing your keywords, you have to make sure that you get maximum benefits out of them by placing them on all relevant spots.

Step 6: Monitoring and repeating the process

If you are thinking that the keyword research and selection process is behind you, you might be wrong. For it has been found that it is an ongoing process. You have to keep on monitoring your site’s performance and change the keywords if required. This may be necessary because over a period of time, the needs of your customer might change and you have to take this important aspect into account too!