Do Keywords Really Matter?

It seems a bit odd to sit down at the keyboard and write an article on the Keyword Cracker blog which questions whether keywords matter at all, but it's important to look at SEO techniques from every angle.


And that's what keyword research is - an SEO technique.


Generally, keyword research reveals:

• what people are looking for in conjunction with certain key words;
• what specific keywords have brought traffic to a site;
• trends within the browsing community.

Specifically, as a SEO technique, web masters use keyword research to try and find out how to drive traffic to a site that concentrates on a specific niche.


So, it's a traffic acquisition technique, and as such it's not the thing web masters can do to get visitors to their site.


Traffic Acquisition Techniques


Assuming we know that the site is of use, and interest, to the web browsing community as a whole, we don't need keyword research to tell us what to build.


Traffic can come from search engines, and I'd be foolish not to (a) acknowledge and (b) point out that in many cases, Google provides the lion's share of traffic to many web sites that I write for.


But it's neither the only source, nor necessarily the most profitable.


In fact, looking over my Google Analytics statistics, I note several things:

• search engine visitors tend to result in more bounced visits;
• search engine visitors tend to result in lower pages viewed, per visit;
• search engine visitors tend to spend less average time on the site.

So, it's not just about the traffic, but what the visitors that make up that flow of traffic do when they get there.


My most engaged visitors come from other traffic acquisition techniques, such as:

• Twitter, via SocialOomph;
• Twitter, via su.pr (a StumbleUpon service);
• Directly, via word of mouth;
• Directly, via Yahoo! Answers;
• Directly, via Forum posts.

I've yet to test which the most engaged are, but rest assured my findings will make their way onto the Traffic Acquisition blog, and the method on the Test, Track, Traffic blog.


Where does this leave keywords, and keyword research?


Use it to research trends. Use it to estimate interest in a topic, and use it to generate some traffic by way of a test.


Keep an eye on the statistics, see where visitors come from, and what they spend their time doing, and then work what continues to work.


But don't rely on search engines to deliver the lion's share of your customers, even if they do deliver the lion's share of your visitors!

Using AdSense CPC with Search Volume

How to properly leverage the AdWords Keyword Tool Keyword Research Results

This article highlights techniques for using the AdSense Keyword Tool as a keyword research resource, using both CPC and Search Volumes effectively - and why you need to use both!

Regulars here at the KeywordCracker blog will know that I often preach that the CPC column in the Google AdWords Keyword Research Tool is the best way to gauge the profitability of a keyword or keyword phrase. Of course, this works well for beginners, but some of us want to master AdSense, as well as drill down onto keywords that will enrich us via other revenue streams.

If you only look at AdSense revenue, of course, CPC remains a good indicator; after all the higher the CPC, the more the keyword will make when a visitor clicks on it. And since you are using the Keyword Cracker methodology, you know where the tipover point is, as well as the anticipated conversion rate for both the keyword phrase, and other products on the page. From a purely revenue point of view, this is enough for a throwaway site.

However, if you are building for long term visibility and wealth generation, the equation shifts slightly.

Now, not only do you want to know how much a keyword will pay (relative to other keywords, of course), you also want to know what the traffic will be on that keyword. In addition, it would be nice to know where the tipover for the whole keyword set is. In other words - which keyword has to take priority, based on current and historical search volumes?

Luckily, Google have made this really easy for us. The first thing to do is export the keywords to a spreadsheet. That could be a Google Document, OpenOffice Calc spreadsheet, or an Excel sheet; it's not important. What is important is to make sure that you have exported the CPC, Search Volume, and Average Search Volume, along with the Advertiser Competition.

These are the four metrics that you will use to create a 'score' for each keyword phrase.

I have been fooling around with this for a while, and I think I have found a good combination which yields the most profitable keywords, and at the same time, identifies those that will offer long term wealth. But it's a moving target, and has to be recalculated every month as seasonal demands change.

And don't be fooled - every single keyword phrase can be subject to seasonal shifts, not just the traditional ones like weight loss, diets, sunglasses and vacation destinations.

My current formula multiplies the CPC by the Advertiser Competition, and multiples that by the average search volume over three months in the same period of the previous year. The result of this multiplication is then weighted by last months search volumes, where available.

I'll keep you posted as to how that gets on!

Learn more about this topic in 'The Adsense and Keyword Research Guide'.

Until next time,
Guy

The KeywordCracker
'The Adsense and Keyword Research Guide'

Making Money with Keyword Research

Web Marketing and Money Making Tips from SEO, PPC and Business Strategy Guru.

Marketing tips and ways to increase income using keyword research, SEO, PPC and everything else you are already doing.

Nothing you do online should ever be a one-shot activity.

If you write a blog entry (like this one), then it should be done with re-use in mind. If you write articles, they should be easy to rewrite as blogs. Any Yahoo! Answers question that you answer can itself become an article or blog entry, and vice-versa. The same goes for forums posts, emails, phone calls, etc.

Over time, this will all bring great search engine marketing dividends; but how does keyword research fit in to this 'monetize everything' strategy?

Here are a few key ideas:

• Single keyword lists - multiple uses;
• AdSense / AdWords arbitrage;
• Content themeing;
• PLR resource creation;
• etc.

Do you see a pattern? It starts with the keyword research, expands with knowledge about the keywords being used to describe the niche, and spreads into wider knowledge about the subject. Before you know it - you're an expert, and another people will pay you for the niche knowledge that your research has thrown up.

Let's take these one point at a time.

A keyword list (such as you might download from Google AdSense) of around 100 - 150 words contains information that can be used for different things. For example, sorted by PPC value, it tells you how much you can make from clicks on adverts related to the keyword phrase. Sorted by average search traffic, it tells you how many visitors, comparatively, you might expect for a set of keyword phrases.

It's the same list, sorted two different ways. So, learn how to use a spreadsheet like OpenOffice.org, or Excel, and start making multiple uses of the same data. This is key to the Keyword Cracker mentality, spelled out in the acclaimed eBook 'AdSense and Keyword Research Guide'.

In that list, you might spot anomalies which indicate an arbitrage opportunity. For example, in my list 'adwords keyword research' has a PPC value of $0.05 which means that for every 1,000 visitors that click my link, I will pay $50. Now, if I have a product with a good sales page that converts at around 10-15%, and sells for $37, then I can make $3,700 from that $50. This is a good ratio, but there's more.

My research also tells me that 'adwords' appears in items with a PPC of around $16. So, even if my product fails to make a sale, some of the visitors are bound to click on related adverts displayed to them on the exit page, or a popup/under. I only need a few tens of those to click through to recoup my original $50 : it's a kind of safety net.

Now that I've started looking at AdSense and AdWords in my keyword list, it would be silly not to theme some content around the keywords. After all, sorting the same list by Advertiser Competition reveals what the industry thinks is important : 'AdWords', 'Pay Per Click Optimization', 'AdWords Advertising', 'AdWords Marketing', and 'Search Engine Marketing' are the top 5.

Now, I happen to know enough about all 5 to write 5 articles, and create a themed web of content around them; off the top of my head. And, I can even allow people to customize them and use them for their own site (the PLR angle). If I write 5 tightly focussed, 400-600 word articles (like this one), optimized for keyword phrases that Google reports as having a PPC of $5 to $10 per click, all with above average search engine traffic, how much would you pay for them? $10 the set? $15? $20?

If I make just two or three sales per 1,000 clicks, my time has been worthwhile.

Put all these streams together, and one little bit of research will pay dividends.

To your continued success with Keyword Research,
Guy

The Keyword Cracker
Get the acclaimed 'AdSense Keyword Research Guide'