Building a website for your business in Vancouver? SEO should be at the top of your mind when you think about the design, the content (text, images and videos) and the types of pages you’re going to build.
Doing keyword research will help you decide the best SEO keywords for your website. Here’s how to do it.
How to do keyword research for SEO in Vancouver
Researching the keywords to use in website is so easy, anyone can do it. It’s a great part of your marketing to DIY to save on costs, since for most small businesses, hiring a professional keyword researcher isn’t worth the time or money.
Think about how your customer uses Google search, to find businesses like yours
A customer is going to type certain words into Google to find your business. You need to figure out what those words are, and use them on your website, in order to help customers find you.
Customers will fall into one of the following stages of what we call a “sales funnel.”
Awareness
Keyword example: “shoes”
They’re searching for something very general, usually one-word terms typed into Google. For example, “shoes”. This person is just exploring. Maybe they want to know the definition of shoes. Maybe they want pictures of shoes.
Should you use “shoes” as a primary keyword for your website? Probably not.
Engagement
Keyword example: “leather shoes”
At this level, people are searching for something a little more specific, but may not really know what they want to buy yet. By typing “leather shoes” into Google, your customer might just be looking at different brands and styles to compare options.
Should you use “leather shoes” as a primary keyword for your website? Maybe, but understand that you won’t have a buyer on your hands.
Discovery
Keyword example: “leather shoes made in Vancouver”
This is someone who knows what he/she wants. The keyword is pretty specific, and it’s clear that the customer already has in mind what to buy, but just wants to know where to get it from. He’s not quite ready to make a purchase, though.
Should you use “leather shoes made in Vancouver” as a primary keyword for your website? Absolutely. You want to tell this customer that you’ve got the leather, Vancouver-made shoes they’re looking for.
Note: See how this is more like a search phrase, than a word? A keyword doesn’t necessarily mean a single word – “keyword” refers to a string of words people type into Google to look for something.
Purchase
Keyword example: “love jules leather smoking shoes”
Now you have a customer who’s ready to buy. After typing a very specific series of words into Google, it’s highly likely this person just wants these shoes in their closet, already. They’ve decided on the brand, and the model of shoes they want. Nailed it.
Should you use “love jules leather smoking shoes” as a primary keyword for your website? 100%. This should be the keyword you apply to the page in your online store, where your customer can easily add the shoes to her cart, add her credit card, and complete her purchase.
How to build keywords into your website
Using the formula above, we can see that keywords like:
- “love jules leather smoking shoes”
- “leather shoes made in Vancouver”
- “leather shoes”
should be part of this small business’ Vancouver SEO marketing strategy. The company should also find several similar keywords, and build their website using the whole list, to capture all of the customers they want.
How to build a bigger keyword list?
Google’s Keyword Planner is the easiest tool to help you build your SEO keyword list.
Enter your keywords into the list, set your location, and search. Google will build you a bigger list of relevant search terms you may want to consider. Don’t use all of them.
Take the “average monthly searches” number into consideration: You’re going to want more than a small handful of people to be searching for the terms you build into your website, in order to make this work worthwhile! Don’t worry too much about the competition column, or the bid amount.
The number of keywords to use on your website depends on your business, and your industry. But as a rule of thumb, each page on your website should target a different keyword. So, 10 pages = 10 keywords. If you sell products online, each product page should have its own specific keyword as well.
SEO or great content: What’s more important
OK, caveat here people.
It’s WAY more important to build your website around GREAT content, than an SEO keyword. In other words, having a website that’s easy to read, easy to use, and connects with your audience’s soul is worth WAY more than an SEO-heavy website.
But ideally, you can (and should!) have it all. Great content, ease of use, and SEO built in.
Why does SEO matter?
Great question. SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, refers to the work you do to make your website show up in Google search results.
When someone searches for the keywords that are important to your business’ website, you want that person to find you first.
The better your website is at SEO, the more money you’re likely to make off your website.
If SEO is on your mind, send us a message. We can walk you through how it works, why it matters, and how we can help.
