A Guide to Keywords

holding a compass as a guide

In the 1960’s there was a Broadway play called Fiddler on The Roof. One of the songs from this play, (which later became a movie), was called Matchmaker. The lyrics went something like this…” Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match, find me a find, catch me a catch…”

You are probably thinking what does this have to do with keywords? Plenty. We want to build recognition on our website. We do this by trying to cash in on the word or words that will move us up in the rankings. In fact, we want, with the correct word or phrase, to move to the top. If we are unsure of what words to use, we may resort to throwing out technical terms, hoping one will stick. It’s kind of like reading tea leaves. If you don’t know how to do it, the result will be less than satisfactory.

Understanding the power of keywords when building your website is critical. The better the keyword, the better you will show up in a search. That is if you know which keyword is trending for what you are selling. As scary as this might sound, it’s pretty straightforward. The following will give you ideas on where to begin.

Blueprint for Keyword Successwriting a blueprint

Starting with the basics. What is a keyword? The best way to describe a keyword is specific word you type into a search box. That word may denote a person, place, or thing. There are multiple places to search this information, but oftentimes it is on Google.

Is it only one word or can it be more? Yes, and yes. One word keyword will get you where you are going. However, it can be multiple words. The crucial point is knowing how many words. It’s best to target six or fewer words to maximize effectiveness.

What if I Don’t Know What Keywords to Use?

searching for the right keywordThere are a couple of ways in dealing with this issue. The simplest way would be to check out what words the competition uses. Or you might want to see what your customers are searching for. Of course, there are services that will find you keywords. Oftentimes, the starting point for a keyword will be one of the main offerings your business has. Full Scope Creative offers a number of services, primarily website design – making that our main search term. 

Think of keywords as a focus point. For example, if you want to order pizza, the keyword might be “pizza.” If you are looking to buy a house, you might type in “realtor.” This is like a shortcut to where you want to go. While a shorter, broader term will likely have a higher monthly search volume, the keyword difficulty will also likely increase. For this reason, it pays to look at long-tail keywords. Long-tail keywords are more specific and focus on a smaller group of searchers. Because of this, the monthly search volume is usually much lower. The benefit to long-tail keywords, however, is that with the lower search volume, there is also a lower keyword difficulty for the keyword. To make a keyword long-tail, simply add in modifiers. The common modifiers would be city, state, location, and words like “The Best.” For example, “Green Bay Website Design.”

To Summarize

tiles that spell out keywordsKeywords have power. Knowing which words to focus on will enhance bringing visitors to your site. The “right” keywords will improve your influence in web searching. Remember using keywords can bring business and/or clients to your door.

Hopefully, this short read was helpful. If you still struggle with finding your keywords, then seek out a professional. At Full Scope Creative, we work with keywords all the time. Heck, we have a few extra tricks up our sleeve we didn’t room to mention. Ultimately, we are here to guide you and your business to the next level. At Full Scope Creative we create solutions for all your website needs.