SEO Keywords and Digital Marketing

Know Your Keywords and What Type of Business They Drive:

We get a lot of questions about keywords as it relates to Google and organic search and local search. These questions are typically broken down into two different categories.

1. Can you get my business to the top of Google for keyword X?
2. We also get a ton of questions like how do we “get on Google map” for keyword X?

First things first when picking keywords. If you are an orthopedic surgeon, being no. 1 for the keyword Dallas Doctor do you ZERO good and most surgeons understand this. However, some small businesses don’t understand this. They think being no. 1 for the keyword ‘restaurant in Dallas’ is just as good as being no.1 for ‘Steakhouse in Dallas’. If you are a steakhouse, you will get far better traffic, which is more likely to spend money at your establishment by focusing on the keyword ‘Steakhouse in Dallas’.

Pro tip: Read our blog on how to select a web developer.

Let’s take that example one step further. While we are focusing on Steak we should also focus deeper on related words that might be searched less frequently but drive a more qualified local customer. ‘Best Bone-In Ribeye in Dallas’ is a great secondary focus for our local seo steakhouse example. It has very little traffic, so it is not a primary focus but getting to no.1 for the term has cascading value.

• People looking for the best bone-in ribeye are going to find you and they are a very targeted and motivated prospect
• Writers writing for the many blogs, magazines, and food guides are normally lazy and write about places they have never been. Being no.1 for BEST anything will get you added to articles and blogs about the topic. This will further enhance your organic SEO for your primary keyword/phrase targets
• You may get called to be interviewed on Radio and TV about your ‘best bone-in ribeye which will help your SEO in ways too complicated to explain in this blog post.

So, back to my original point. Picking keywords should be based on a number of things but all of them should have a business objective in mind.

Ask yourself these questions when picking keywords and phrases.

• What type of customer will be being #1 for the phrase bring you?
• Will the phrase ‘convert’ for you?
  • Will people searching for the phrase want to use your business? One thing to keep in mind in our example above is that targeting BEST Steak in Dallas does not convert if you have 3 stars average in your Google reviews. As a matter of fact, having poor reviews hurts your web traffic and conversion across the board. Pro tip: GET MORE, BETTER REVIEWS.
• Are the keywords that you are targeting for clients and revenue streams that you want to grow?
  • Example: We have a lot of OB-GYN doctors as clients. They want to be ranked for words related to delivering babies but most dream of a practice that thrives without ever delivering another baby. (The 3 am deliveries get old quickly.) We have helped one OB-GYN flourish as a GYN and she no longer delivers babies. It came down to focusing on services not related to obstetrics.
• Do the primary keywords have enough traffic to be worth the time and effort?
  • We targeted ‘Digital Marketing for our company. We are no.1 in our target market for the phrase. We thought that the world would start to use the phrase in place of SEO and small business marketing. It never happened. We made a bad strategic decision to get ahead of the curve and it did not pay off. We get almost ZERO traffic from ‘Digital Marketing’ despite ranking #1 for it. Our clients want SEO. Focus on what your clients want and what they search for.
• What customer segments do I want to target? Hint: pick keywords to attract very specific segments.
  • For instance, if you are a roofing company, you may have different customer segments for your different types of roofing materials. A person in a 5,800 square foot home is not looking for an inexpensive roof replacement. When they are looking for a roof replacement, they are looking to enhance the look of their home, improve curb appeal, get better quality materials, and improve their home’s value. Keywords for this customer are different from the keywords used for a homeowner with a small, inexpensive home looking to put the cheapest roof on possible and pocket some of the insurance money. Know your customers, segment them, and keyword target the clients you want.

Digital Marketing, SEO, Keywords, and Improving Your Revenue

In summary, keyword selection is just part of your overall digital marketing strategy. We work really hard to teach our clients that SEO is just a tool in your marketing toolbox. The trick is to make sure you have all the right tools in the toolbox for the job at hand.

Instead of overly focusing on SEO (it is important), you should also focus on your overall marketing strategy and how that ties to your SEO, website, branding, print materials, and customer messaging.

If you are on a small marketing budget, then SEO is your long-term best area of focus. Once you have growing revenue and a growing business, you need to expand your marketing and marketing channels i.e. put more tools in the toolbox.

We love helping small businesses and small businesses with multiple locations is our specialty. Give us a call or drop us a line. We would love to help you.

Choose The Right SEO Company:

We can’t help every company and we turn away a lot of clients based on their business model or if we don’t think they are a right fit for our style of doing business.

That being said, if you want to pay us to evaluate an SEO proposal from another company, audit the SEO company you are using, or help you put a strategy together for your in-house team, then we are happy to help.

We also are happy to recommend one of our competitors if they are a better fit for your SEO needs.