4 Steps to SEO Success: Step 1 - Defining your Keywords
In the age of the internet, Search Engine Optimisation, or SEO for short, is a key component of any online marketing strategy. By now most people have heard of SEO and know that it is important. However, many are still unsure about what they can do to improve their rankings. We are here to help!
This article is the first piece in a 4-part series written by education marketing specialists Emma Fell of Attenger Digital and Korinne Algie of KAIE Marketing. Each article will guide you step-by step-through an aspect of SEO; teaching you practical skills and giving you the confidence to use them. You will also find downloadable worksheets at the end of each blog, to help get you started.
As the first piece in the series, it makes sense to start at the beginning. After touching on the nuts and bolts of what SEO is, we will turn our attention to keywords and teach you some tricks for identifying and testing your list without purchasing expensive software.
What is SEO?
If you were to look up “what is SEO?” you would likely be met with a definition along the lines of this: “Search Engine Optimisation is the practice of increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic search engine results” (paraphrased from MOZ). However, what does this actually tell us? In fact, for many of us, it simply adds to the confusion.
Simply put, SEO is working out how your target audience thinks. And most crucially, which terms might they use to search for your product or service online? Knowing your audience is crucial to SEO, and the better you know them, the better your results will be.
Why SEO is important?
Ask yourself this; what is the use of creating a beautiful website, interesting content, videos and so on, if no one finds you?
Your website allows you to teach and inform people about your products or services and ultimately, convert them into customers. But without SEO, being actually found by the right people is close to impossible. In a nutshell, SEO helps your target customers to find you, in amongst the sea of websites on the internet.
The London Example
In London there are over 100 British Council accredited English language schools. If a student was looking for a course in London, it is fair to guess that they might type in ‘English school in London’.
A Google results page usually lists 10 results and, depending on the criteria, up to 4 ads.
Research regularly shows that 90% of people do not search further than the first page of results (The remaining 10% never venture further than page 3).
This means that of those 100 schools, a maximum of 14 schools (or more accurately, listings) are taking the lion’s share of the traffic!
So, if your school isn’t ranking in those top 14, what can you do?
The only sure-fire way to improve your chances of being found and then clicked-on by potential students is to work towards appearing on that golden first page.
SEO can help you get there. But how?
Step 1: Defining your keywords
Keyword research may sound daunting, but it doesn’t have to be. Keyword research can take many forms. You do not need to invest in an expensive programme to improve the optimisation of your website. That is not to say keyword research programmes are bad – there are some very useful, user-friendly programmes out there. However, for those of us who are budget sensitive, here are some simple ways to select, test and integrate keywords into your website content strategy.
Brainstorm
When we say keyword, generally we are not talking about a single word. In fact, we are almost always talking about a short phrase - you might have heard these referred to as ‘long-tail keywords’. With this in mind, brainstorm all of the terms your target audience might type into Google if they were to look for your product or service. Aim for long-tail keywords (phrases made up of 3+ words). List anything and everything that comes to mind. Ask your colleagues for help. Trusted agents are also great people to ask. Or why not ask a few students? Let’s take the English language school example. Their list of long-tail keywords might include:
English language school in London
Learn English in London
British Council English school
You get the idea.
Now cross off anything that has your school or business name in the phrase. This list does not need to be exhaustive, but if you make it to 50 you have already made a great start.
Test
As we mentioned before, there are a number of really great keyword testing programmes out there. The challenge is that many come with quite a financial commitment – which may or may not be worth it for you.
What do you do if you don’t have a keyword research/testing programme?
Well, you could always use your brainstormed list as it is. This might not be ideal but, you do know your audience. Chances are you have hit on some high performing keywords in your list. This method is really very hit and miss and without a few more steps, we wouldn’t recommend relying on this list on its own.
That said, your list IS a great place to start.
There are a few things you can do to improve the quality of your list. First, if you have Google Analytics running on your website (and you really should have this set up) you can actually see which words are currently being used by your audience to find your page. You find this information via this pathway: Acquisition/All traffic/Channels/Primary Dimension = Keyword
Compare this list of keywords to your raw list. Are there any double ups? Are there any you consider totally random? How many are non-branded (do not include your school/business name)? Are there any you want to add to your raw list?
Next stop is Google. Have you noticed that when you start typing into Google’s search bar that a dropdown list appears with suggestions?
These suggestions are generated by Google’s algorithm and are based on a few different things such as:
Your search history
The frequency the suggested term is searched for
Trending topics
To avoid seeing suggestions based on your own search history, sign out of your Google account/s, Facebook, Youtube and anything else, and clear your cache. This way you minimise the impact your search history and online activities have on these suggestions.
Doing this for a list of 50 words sounds like a tonne of work. And it is. Take what you think are your top 5 and see if Google makes any suggestions worth adding to your list.
Once you have your expanded/refined list you are ready to start optimising!