A client was asking questions today about ranking for various keywords and should they try and get their website on the search engines for specific words. I get asked this somethimes and so thought I would do a quick blog post about it, to explain my point of view.

First what are keywords and keyphrases?
Well a keyword when talked about in SEO terms means a word that you would like google or a search engine to pick up and show your website in the results for that word. For example a keyword might be website or design or web.

A keyphrase is the combination of a couple of keywords. So it may be website design or web developer. It can also be a few words long such as web designer worcester.

The main thing that any website owner should be primarily concerned with when it comes to search engines is what is your target audience going to type into the search box. It does not matter if you are number 1 in google for a never searched for phrase. Also I would say that it does not really matter to get loads of traffic to a page that visitors instantly leave or that you are not interested in.

Thinking about the search user

If for example I wanted to be found in google for any keyphrase or keyword it would not be very useful to rank highly for design, really. Someone who types that into a search engine is proberly not looking for my services, and it also puts me up against a load of other websites.

For me my ideal client would be a business searching for a web design company or web designer, and also maybe restricted by area as well. So my idea customer would be searching for web design +Worcester maybe.

We just got a client to number 1 in google search rankings, hurry. Isn’t it great when you can get someone to the top of the most used search engine and get a hole load of traffic for the client. I cannot say who or what the keywords were so not to let the competition know but it is a good thing to get another client to the top.

Further to my local search post, I am working with a website that has 2 practices, in different areas. The challenge is to get them both to rank for there own area.

At the moment they are both ranking ok, both the showing the homepage but picking out the area that the user has searched for. This shows how google picks the part of a site that is relevant to the search keyphrase that has been searched for.

The keywords are: Chiropodist Hednesford and Chiropodist Shrewsbury so far the Hedsnesford one is doing the best, showing both the homepage and the area specific page.

Using local search optimization can be a key to most small businesses, still a lot of people never think of it when we first discuss SEO. Using local search makes sure that the people who want to find a company local to them that provide services they need can find your company.

People like not only supporting local business but also like to have contact with businesses and most often do not want to travel far to talk to a business about a service.

Sometimes it can payoff to rank high on a search engine for a local search and not worry about competing for the top place using more generic keywords. The more specific your keyword the higher chance of ranking high for it and the less cost to get a good position. I often have people contact my company who have searched for ‘West Midlands web’ or ‘west midlands web designer’ and this means that if I can rank high for these keywords then I do not have to compete with big companies who are outside of this area, so it becomes easier to rank for this.

Another tactic can be to have a website which offers services in various areas, this means that you can try to rank high for searches in different areas. I am working on a website at the moment that has different physical sites and so want local search terms for each site to take the visitor to the one that they search for.

Other things to do to help your business on the local search is to make sure that you are tagged and have a listing in google maps. Then any local directories that offer a link to your website.

I am currently doing SEO work for a client work for bespoke luxury windows and doors. The aim is to make a squeeze page to drive traffic to a web page that gets potential clients to enquire.