Keywords
What You'll Be Studying in This Unit
In this unit, we'll be studying keywords - what they are, what they do and how to choose them. It's probably an understatement to say that they are "key" to your SEO campaign.
Before you start a Web site, it's really important to step back and plan your strategy. In this unit, you'll be seeing how to first decide on your site's main topic. Then decide on categories and subcategories, if needed. Then, you'll move on to brainstorming keywords.
Choose a Real or Fictitious Web Site to Work On
Beginning now, you'll each choose a real or fictitious Web site to work on. You might have a business site, or a business that needs a site. If you don't already have a project picked out, you can decide on a site topic that you would like to work with for the class assignments. We won't be developing a large scale site. We will be using what we're learning to work with a limited number of pages. Therefore, your practice site will not need to be large or complex. Something small scale will work better for the class. Remember that it can be real or fictitious. If it's a large site, with many categories of information or products, etc., choose just a small part of the site to work with for the class. You can expand later.
I know that many of you have never done any Web pages. Web creation background is not a prerequisite for the class. Don't worry. You will learn a bit about creating Web pages here. Because we have other classes in Web page design and layout, that will not be our emphasis in this class. Simple pages will be fine for practicing our SEO. However, if you do know about Web design already, you can feel free to embellish your pages and make them beautiful.
We won't be dealing with the pages at all for this unit, though. We'll be beginning the planning stages for our sites. We'll be planning our overall strategy and creating a list of keywords.
What Is a Keyword?
Please note an important aspect of "keywords." That term refers not just to single words, but to phrases, as well. A "keyword" can be a single word, or a group of words, that someone would type into a search engine when researching a topic.
By the End of this Unit, you will be able to:
- State the general topic and purpose for your site. State what it is that you want your visitors to do or to gain from their visit to your site.
- Brainstorm a list of appropriate keywords relevant to your site topic.
How to Proceed Through the Unit
- Read this Overview
- Read the Tutorials
- Do your assignment - see the instructions on the assignment page
Stating Your Site Goals
It's important that you are able to create a brief, clear statement that says exactly what your site is about. It needs to be very specific. It should include what you want your visitors to do or to gain from visiting your site. This clear statement will tell your goals for the site, and it will translate into the keywords that you will choose.
Different types of sites can have different goals. If you are selling products or services, your goal could be to have your visitors make a purchase or to contact you about your services. If you site in informational, you would want your visitors to gain understanding of the topic of your site. Perhaps you would like them to donate to a charitable cause. Please be clear in your mind about what you want them to do, and describe that in your statement about the goals your site.
This will allow you to pick good keywords that you will incorporate into your site. If done well, your site should come up in the search engine results when someone enters your keywords AND they will find what they are looking for when they go to your site. There are a lot of sites out there. You want people to be able to hone in on what they are looking for and have that be what you are offering. Your keywords must be specific. Having clear, concise goals for your site will help you choose the right keywords to accomplish your goals.
Some sites will be able to categorize their keywords into more specific topics. That will depend on the size of the site.
Sample
Site Topic: Touring Virginia
Goal for the Site: The visitor will learn about the attractions of the state, where they are located, and tips for visiting them.
Categories and Subcategories (aka Topics and Sub-Topics):
- Historical Sites
- Mount Vernon
- Monticello
- Williamsburg
- Jamestown
- Parks and Nature
- Shenandoah National Park
- Hikes
- Carverns
- Waterfalls
- Boating
- Cities
- Richmond
- Alexandria
Obviously, I could add a lot more here, but this will give you an idea of what I am looking for in terms of a topic and categories/subcategories.
The main topic and categories will go a long way in helping to create our list of keywords. You'll see what kinds of information you want to present. Later, that will give you a good idea of the organization and pages you'll need to have in your site. That will, in turn, help provide the list of Keywords that you want to be "found" on.
Selecting Keywords Based on Your Site Content
Once the ideas for the website topic and the organization of the topics has been created, it can be difficult to translate that organization into keywords. Many students erroneously think that their keywords should be a single word. This is not so. You can - and often should - use a group of words together in a keyword phrase. Here is an example for a site that is offering handmade crafts of wool, wood and ceramics. "Wood," "wool" and "ceramics" are good organizational topics for the site. However, when it comes to creating keywords, they definitely need some embellishment. Think what would happen if someone typed "wood" into a search box on the search engine page. They would get photos of wood, links to Home Depot to buy wood, a scientific description of what wood is ..... Now, what would happen if they typed in "handmade wood crafts?" OK. Now they get a good list of places where they could purchase various types of wooden objects. So - that keyword phrase is a better keyword for our craft site. They might also get links to pages that give them directions on how to make wooden crafts. Perhaps you would want to be sure that your keywords are relevant to purchasing wooden crafts, so you might want to include phrases like "for sale." in your keyword list.
Do you see how making the keywords more specific can make all the difference in bringing in visitors who are interested in what your site is offering? It's extremely important that keyword phrases are specific to your site's contents. In selecting keywords, always ask yourself what someone would type into the search box to bring up your page. I think that type of thinking will really help.
Use Natural Language
What is the type or interests of the people who you want to attract? What words would they type into a search engine when looking for a site such as yours. Unless they are already an expert in your topic, would they know the professional terms? Would their search terms be more in laymen's terms.
Keyword Lists are Meant to Evolve.
Modifying and refining your keyword list will be a natural part of your journey. This is part of the process. Expect that this will happen.
Be Prepared to Make Revisions
I understand that this is a different way of thinking about planning a Web site than you are probably used to, and that this will be an evolutionary process. If you were with a group of planners, you would more than likely be going through the same process. You would have more than one person presenting ideas. You would throw out ideas, refine, change, refine again until you feel that your topics and categories are what you want to present. You would more than likely be revising them many times. This hashing out process is very important.
Get Ideas from Other People
I am hoping that our class will function as a work group to give ideas to our classmates about keywords they might consider. It's wonderful to have different perspectives and people who have different ideas contributing. In the forum for this unit, it would be great to see you read about your fellow student projects and offer ideas for keywords that people might use to get to their sites.