Step Wise SEO

The fundamental aspect of keyword research is to find terms that are relevant to the objective(s) that are being met.

It doesn’t make much sense to select specific keywords relating to a particular point of origin that drive very targeted traffic for a branding objective.

Similarly it doesn’t make sense to select only singular word keywords if the objective is to drive targeted traffic or targeted conversions.

The strongest approach to take with search marketing is to develop a portfolio approach to keyword list.

Within this portfolio keywords can be selected to achieve different objectives; some will perform multiple objectives while other will be specific to a particular task.

The following demonstrates the thought processes involved with determining different types of keyword that will go into a portfolio.

When operating within any search marketing campaigns it is essential to classify keywords into a portfolio and then assign a different performance metric to each.

A mistake made by many is to view a complete list of keywords against one goal and rate the performance of search against it.

• Selection by Type – keywords are often sorted into portfolio grouping based upon type.

 In the simplest sense a keyword that represents a certain type (i.e. brand) will be classified as such.

 Therefore a keyword that represents a brand name might be classified as ‘branded’, a keyword that represents products might be classed as ‘product’, and so forth.

• Selection by Performance – keywords can be sorted by performance. In many campaigns the most important words require more attention than those that have lower performance or risk of damaging the overall success of a campaign.

Therefore, if keywords are sorted by performance and those that require attention separated from the pack a focused approach can be simplified and resource better allocated.

• Selection by property (i.e. number of words in phrase) - keywords are easiest to break down by the number of words within the listing. This can then be related to type, i.e. generic through to specific.

 The following, cited in Marketing Sherpa’s Search Marketing Metrics Guide and originally contributed by One Stat, demonstrates the number of words within a query.

The classification of keywords is user-defined (i.e. based upon business model and industry); however, the idea of the classification is to give searchers with different search characteristics the ability to see different results.

Keywords: keywords, keyword research,