When positioning a website for search rankings, it’s important to understand that SEO Management is not a guessing game. Many times, business owners in any given think they know what terms people use to search for their products and services. And, well, they don’t always. The fact is Google Search is sometimes temperamental. And while Google’s infamous search algorithm has come a long way in terms of recognizing synonyms and like terms, it’s far from perfect in its ability to interpret the English language.
User-intent is key in search, but sometimes Google’s algorithms aren’t exactly experts in discerning it. So the problem with targeting keywords for your business is that search terms are what lead visitors to your website. If you choose the wrong keyword, one that is not being searched as regularly as, say for instance, another similar term, you lose valuable traffic.
Take, for instance, the personal injury law. A firm might very well target locals online searching for accident lawyers. The assumption is that Google will always understand that accident is synonymous with injury (in this particular case) and that the word lawyers is synonymous with attorneys.
But if you check search volumes for “accident lawyers” and compare it to “injury attorneys,” you’ll quickly see that, in Chicago at least, the difference in search volume is more than 1,200 searches per month. If you choose the wrong search term to base your page’s content on, you’ll be losing out on a ton of potential targeted site visits each month.
That’s why it’s incredibly important to check keyword search volumes before creating your landing page URLs and content to ensure your work is not for naught.
And never assume you know the best search term for your business. Keyword strategy is not based on an insider’s knowledge of their own industry, but on the customer’s intent online.
If, perhaps, a visitor to Chicago wants to check out what is commonly known as “the Bean,” they are actually interested in visiting the iconic “Cloudgate” sculpture in Millennium Park. But does that mean a landing page looking to target those visitors and track them back to their page on, let’s say, must-see Chicago attractions, should use the formal name of the sculpture, the search volume should decide. The fact is there are thousands more searches online for “Chicago Bean” every month than “Chicago Cloudgate.” And ranking for the former will cause you to miss out on all of the traffic searching for the latter.
Don’t assume that Google’s algorithm will understand that the two are one and the same.
Google has some great keyword research tools that will help you identify the best (and most searched) keywords in your space. Once you have those with the highest volumes identified, go for it. But don’t do all of the work it takes to get a page ranked only to discover that the traffic that search receives each month is negligible.
If you would like to work with Proctor Digital strategists to help develop a powerful SEO strategy to build targeted website traffic for your site and grow your brand, call us at 773.664.5819. We’d love to help!