Keyword management - where do i start?

[Exp]

Hi all, i am a starting out SEO. I have recently been browsing our keyword rankings report and noticed that we are very low down on some quite key search terms. I therefor want to focus over the next few weeks, on bringing us up the rankings for these specific terms.

Apologies if this is a very basic one, but**,.... I dont know where to start!**

I would be very interested if anyone can give me some advice on a plan of action. What actions should be in my action plan?

For example, if i wanted to improve our rankings on the following:

• English school in malta

• Learning english in malta

• English classes in malta

[Exp]

Its about 4 or 5 years old. We have one site that i am focussing on at the moment.

[RyanKent]

Great to hear! On to next steps....

For each page that exists on your site, pick a couple keywords or phrases to focus. If you pick "English school in malta", then your page should be one that most people would be glad to find after typing that phrase into a search engine.

Your first focus is to provide great content. A well thought out, well written page is desired. Google the phrase and look at the top 10 sites. You will probably find some great pages, along with some not-so-great pages. Take the good, leave the bad, and try to make your page the best one.

Your page should be clean, clear and well designed. You have probably been on some sites where the information you seek is right in the center of your screen and cleanly laid out. Other sites might jam the info you want halfway down the page with ads and other distractions surrounding the content. Don't make the user search for the information. Display it prominently.

Your site should immediately let users know they found the right page to meet their needs. Use H1 tags to boldly display your page title such as "Top 10 Lists of English Schools in Malta".

Make sure to use a clean page title (the meta tag). Something such as "English school in Malta | ABC College" would be a nice title for your page. A bad title would be "Learn Spanish, French, English and many other language fast and cheap"

Make sure your keyword phrase is used several times on the page. The usage should be completely natural. I usually shoot for about 4 times on a page. More then 6 can be excessive, and two or less may not be enough to indicate to search engines that the phrase is the focus of your page.

If your page is truly great, then let the world know about it. Tell anyone and everyone who might be interested. Contact schools, government agencies and anyone you can think of who comes in contact with people who may have a need for your service. Ask them to review your site and link to it.

The above is a general start. As you progress you may have additional questions in which case just ask.

A final thought....start a Campaign using the SEOmoz tools. This will help you track your progress and move up in rankings.

[3Amigos]

Hi Becky,

As a matter of interest, how old is the domain ?

Do you just have the one or do you have many sites?

Regards,

Chris

[Exp]

Thanks Ryan! i have covered off the adwords base and also looked through the begininners guide but i would love some detail on where next....

Thanks!

[RyanKent]

Hi Becky.

Begin by taking a look at Google Adsense keyword tool: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

If we look at your first phrase "English school in malta, Google shows 2900 global monthly searches and high competition.

Your SEO strategy will vary depending on how much resources (time/effort/money) you are willing to put into your site, along with your goals. A great place to get started would be the Beginner's Guide to SEO. It is truly a great guide and will answer many of your questions.

Good luck.