Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
How do you limit the number of keywords that will be researched
-
I'm working with a client who has a website, but doesn't really have a clearly defined idea of who their key audience is nor do they know what keyword phrases they would like to rank for. I know that I can generate a starting list by reviewing their site, but I want to set some parameters on it so I can provide an accurate estimate.
I'm looking for suggestions on how to do this.
-
Great info! Thanks.
-
hahaha wLoudogg - don't even suggest that - I've been offered such nonsense plenty of times. Never makes it any more worth the insanity
-
You're getting a piece of this company, right?
-
I think Alan has made some really valid points. THE most important step in any marketing campaign is to know what you are selling, to who you are selling to and what your UVP is. If they don't know this then you are probably in for a really bumpy ride. I've experienced this and it's a pain in the butt for sure.
One thing I get them to do initially is to get them to sum up their business in one or two sentences. This will help them to be really specific and should give you a starting point.
Also get them to tell you who they believe to be their top 3 competitors or maybe which site they would like to emulate. This may provide further clarification as to what they are trying to achieve.
As Thomas mentioned, if they use analytics then taking a look at their current traffic and finding the best performing keywords in terms of avg time on site and low bounce rate could also provide you with a clearer picture.
Good luck!
-
Do they have a sells team? Someone who talks to the customers? I would interview that individual to find out who they esteem to be the perfect customer. Ask them about the verbiage the clients use and the questions they have. If they have had a website long enough then you can dig through their site's traffic and analytics to find keywords that produce quality visitors. Longer visits, volume, etc. The bonus to this is that if they are already generating some traffic for those keywords then you should be able to boost those rankings.
-
Im assuming your client has online competition? Show them their online competitors and what keywords they are ranking and optimizing for. Your client will love it if you outrank their competition! You also now know that you aren't going to be wasting your time and have an end goal.
-
Alan has given a good answer...
... but in addition.... why not give them the URL of the keyword tool and let them go at it?
-
Alan is right on. Be transparent about this! Make sure they understand where the basis of SEO is formed and that your at a disadvantage by not being able to focus! Communication is key.
-
Eric,
Unfortunately you're in a very difficult position. Personally, I would never proceed with a client who can't even define their own audience. They're quite likely going to change their mind often, and if you get involved this early on, will just as likely be overly demanding and play the "needy victim" role. It's a mess.
Having said that, if you insist that you absolutely must work with them, the best approach might be to choose four, five or six topics you think are appropriate, run them through the Google Keyword tool, export each result set and pass them an Excel spreadsheet with each result set being in a separate tab. Then, help them understand what the columns mean (competitive, search volume, etc) and let them chew on that data. Explain that you need them to decide which phrases to go with, but that you can help them refine it down a bit.
Be very careful though to not get sucked into an endless hours vortex!
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Paid vs Organic Keyword Optimisation
Hi Im wondering whether I should optimise my site with Organic search terms that drive traffic to the site or the paid terms i use in Google search ads?
Keyword Research | | aplnzmarch180 -
A Solution to Keywords Being Grouped in Google Keyword Planner
Hi guys, I am trying to get search traffic for a list of keywords which I put together a few years ago for one of my clients, this was before Google made changes to their Keyword Planner. When I am adding the list into Google Keyword Planner it is "grouping" a number of the keywords/phrases together, and therefore removing 13 of the keywords from the original list of 59 keywords. Is there a way around this so I can get search volume for the original list, and not the cut down one? I am specifically using Google Keyword Planner as I want to get search volume for a number of specific locations in the UK. Any comments/feedback is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance! Jack. I19Op
Keyword Research | | ChemistryMarketing1 -
If I insert a "stop" word into a long tail keyword, will it break it up?
I'm in the legal industry, and a lot of the long tail keywords I'm finding are search queries that are pinpointed for my location. As a result, I come up with [subject] + [location] as good keywords... for example: "subpoena duces tecum new york." (basically it's a subpoena, just the fancy name). However, I have no clue how to use something like this in a sentence....if I say "subpoena duces tecum IN new york" does the "in" break up the keyword, or is "in" just a stop word that doesn't affect the keyword? Countless examples of similar keywords "Car accident new york" etc. Thanks!
Keyword Research | | cgs2303 -
Keyword Themes - What's in a theme?
I recently read the Moz guide for "How To Rank - 25 Step SEO Master Blue Print" and had a question on keyword themes. What is considered a theme? Is there a recommended number of keywords in a theme? For example, if my site is for listing and selling cars, would the following terms fit within the same "car" theme or should the terms be broken out by "cars general" / "car locations" / "car types"? Cars Cars for sale in new york Ford Explorer for sale
Keyword Research | | Emily_A0 -
Keyword Conundrum...
I have 3 keywords that I am targeting. Assume for the time being that they are all equally competitive. Includes local exact match monthly searches: Managed IT Services - 3600 IT Managed Services - 720 Managed IT Support - 170 They are all exactly synonymous, not to mention other keywords such as IT Managed Support, Managed IT Service, IT Managed Service, Managed IT Service Provider, etc.. My current strategy is to target the top 3 all on one page. The problem then is the title tag: Managed IT Services | IT Managed Services | Managed IT Support Pretty spammy. I could build pages for all 3, but how would I incorporate them into the website since they are all synonyms. Can I get some recommendations on how to handle this? What would you use for a title tag? How would handle separate pages with synonymous content?
Keyword Research | | CsmBill0 -
Ignore keywords that have no data in the Google Keyword Tool?
Hello, There are some keywords that have no monthly search data in the Google Keyword Tool. In many cases, this is because there have been very few searches for the keyword. Would you recommend focusing on other keywords that do have search data in the Google Keyword Tool? Perhaps focusing too far out on the long tail of search results can be less productive than focusing on keywords that have proven that at least some people care about them. What do you think? Thanks!
Keyword Research | | nyc-seo0 -
Where to start with keyword research for a telecom company?
Hey, I'm a brand's person with no SEO experience, yet I'm in a position where I have to carry out an SEO audit of our telecom company's website. Though our website is up and running for some years now, nobody bothered to undertake keyword research. From the little I've read over months on SEOmoz, I've just done the following: took out keywords bringing organic traffic on to our website and checked our rankings for those keywords on major search engines. My observation is that most of these words are long-tail keywords. Since we only have product/service information related to our offerings, most of the head terms we've used for packages/offers/services pages are branded keywords. My understanding is that we need to rank top for our branded keywords (a must) and try to rank as high as possible for long tail. In addition, we can use those keywords in our copy so that the right page ranks top for the respective keyword. Am I missing anything here? What else do I need to do?
Keyword Research | | HasanPK0 -
Is "in" a keyword differentiator?
Does google view phrases with "in" in then as different keywords than the same phrase without an "in"? For example: is "great restaurants in chicago" the same keyword as "great restaurants chicago"? Whenever I do research on two phrases like this, they always come up with the same search volume.
Keyword Research | | TheSquareFoot0