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I cannot find the right keywords for my site. The web site has words that are so generic that it appears everywhere, pushing me to page 4,000 on any SE. Or so esotheric that no one in their right mind would look for it that way...
Even using my domain name I am on the LAST page, LAST position on AltaVista. Either I am just reading and not understanding all this great advice, am too thick for this and should become a plumber, or there is a conspiracy!
What do you do when the web site's topic is narrow, and the words most descriptive are taken up by a different topic, almost completely?
Then, when I'm really settled into the character -- what kind of words would I choose to type when I search for the very thing the site has to offer.
It's a brainstorming session at first -- no censoring any idea that comes up, no matter what. Just build the list. Then, next, check out each idea to see if real people actually search on those words. See what other sites come up for those words. Check on "related searches". Only after finding the kws people actually search on do I find ways to wrap those words into the pages, and optimize key site pages for the exact words that draw the most searches.
>role-playing
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I do the same, which should definitely scare you, tedster.
Someone here just coined the term 'laterals' which -to me- are keywords which are valued at or near the same weight as the principal kw by the one sitting at the keyboard. I try to assess the probable NEXT search because the target person is also going to be equally frustrated in what he perceives to be clutter on his SERP.
This was one of the problems I had in mind here: sort of an SEO brainteaser [webmasterworld.com]
What if the topic is so narrow that there is maybe four permutation of available words? Nothing like the blanket or peanut examples you mentioned.
There might be a problem with me being to close to the project and unable to think "out of the box" (I hate that term but this time it actually fits).
I think I understand laterals. These are keywords that are synonymous or provide further clarification to the primary keyword to differentiate it from same keyword things but with different intent. As in the peanuts comic and peanuts legume. Am I correct?
Is there a good resource to provide these laterals? Did anyone do a research on antonyms? That is, would antonyms of certain nouns which are key words, attract the right group of people? This might extend my possible key word pool.
It probably goes without saying that you've checked out what your competition is doing about this problem, correct? Remember to check out their source code as part of your research. Then I look to the directories. What are the directories calling your topic? How are they naming the categories? That’s often eye-opening and I used it often with obscure keywords.
Like Brett mentioned in the discussion Mike suggested, three word phrases. If folks are searching and the SERP’s are a mess with unrelated sites to what your particular visitor is looking for, imagine how they are going to fine tune their search.
I have a site that I’ve done such extensive keyword research and work on and didn’t even think of revisiting that part of the work. Then, yesterday the client throws a new word at me with a “Why aren’t we working on this one?” I hadn’t even noticed the term to that point so I revisited my list and spent some more time in research and came up with another 20 really good search terms I’d been missing out on. Besides the new term I found that one of the phrases I was using with keyword1, keyword 2 was actually being searched for more reversed as keyword 2, keyword 1.
I don’t know if this helps at all but it’s a good reminder for us to return to our keyword lists, upgrade and update them to stay competitive and like you said, look outside the box.
Yes, but it may not be as cut-and-dried as a straight synonym... maybe more like word association. For example, a lateral for Wright Brothers would be first flight. These might be used as search qualifiers, and therefore become part of a multi-word phrase, but I suspect a significant number of searchers discard the "bad" term/SERP entirely and try to reapproach the search from an entirely new angle.
Like Kelley Blue Book and used cars.
