Differentiate Your Online Presence

In Day 6 of the SEO in 30 Days series we discussed how competitor research can help you uncover good keyword phrases for your own site. We’ll take that a step further today by explaining how to do a “deeper dive” into competitor’s keyword and website research, and how to use this information to differentiate your business and services online.

Tip 1:
First take into consideration any competitor websites that may have similar or higher authority than yours (“authority” means that the search engines find the website highly relevant to the topic or service being offered). Websites that have more authority than yours will naturally rank higher for targeted keywords. For example, the local burger joint cannot compete with McDonald’s – at least not on a global scale – and if your firm’s site is new, it cannot compete with well-established sites that have a large number of inbound links pointing to their site. So where does one begin?

Your first step is to pull up the list of competitors you made when doing the earlier keyword research steps and analyze their relevance through the eyes of Google. This is where SEO tools come in handy. The following SEO tools can help you determine how much authority Google accords them.

Page rank, in an overly simplified definition, is a numerical value assigned to a website that ranks it against other sites within that same category. A 10 is a perfect score. The higher the page rank the greater the authority.
PageRank Checkers: PRChecker, Smart PageRank, Dig PageRank

The age of your website is how long it has been live. More authority is given to websites that have stood the test of time.
Age checkers: Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine, WhoIs

The amount of traffic your competitors are getting will indicate how popular and relevant their websites are. More traffic generally translates as more authority.
Traffic checkers: Quantcast, Compete, Alexa

Tip 2:
Once you have determined who your competition really is, the next step is “spying” on them. To do this you will use one of the many keyword discovery tools available. SpyFu, KeywordSpy and SEO X-Ray are some of the most reputable. These will give you an idea of the keywords that your competitors are focused on, and (if they are running pay-per-click ad campaigns) how much they are paying per click for those keywords within a narrow price range. Take note of the top keywords generated by these tools and you’re almost done.

Once you have a list of keywords, find out the search volume (how many times the terms are searched on) for each term. This can be done through the Google Keyword Traffic Tool. Keep track of what you find out in a spreadsheet so you can sort by volume, with the keywords most searched on toward the top. Note which of the most searched on terms are currently being targeted by your competition and which aren’t. Make sure you target any keyword phrases that your competitors have missed so that your website will have a better chance of showing up above theirs in the search results.

We’ll talk more about assigning keyword to your website’s pages in Day 9 of the SEO in 30 Days series, and provide a more in-depth tutorial on the Google Keyword Traffic Tool in Day 8.

With the volume determined and competitors’ keyword targets noted, simply map each targeted keyword that has search volume to an appropriate page on your website. For example, the keyword phrase “DUI lawyer in Manassas” should be mapped to your page discussing DUI, not to a general law firm overview page.

Keep in mind the importance of having one primary keyword phrase per page, unique to that page on your website. Make those primary keyword phrases ones that are most appropriate for your business or services, and that differentiate you from your competitors.

Tip 3:
For further your marketing research, you should do some reconnaissance on your competitors’ websites. Take note of what they are doing on their website, and what you can do better. Figure out how to differentiate your services further – this will also help you draw in more customers to your site.

In Day 8 of SEO in 30 Days we will discuss how to use the Google keyword traffic tool.

So far in the SEO in 30 Days Series we’ve presented keyword research in four parts: Why Keyword Research is Necessary (Day 3), Common Mistakes Made When Conducting Keyword Research (Day 4), and the Benefits of Targeting Long-Tailed Keywords (Day 5). Today we’ll continue this section with a discussion of how competitor research can help you uncover good keyword phrases for your own site.

A good tactic for expanding your target keyword list, and for monitoring the search marketing tactics of your competitors, is to compile a list of your competitor’s keywords. This can be done by scraping valuable information for key pages on your competitor’s websites. Specific information regarding the keywords they are targeting for each page can be found in the html code for each page.

There are several ways to check the keywords that your competitors are targeting on specific pages. The first way to do this is by right clicking on a page and selecting “View Source” (Command+U on a Mac). This will open the html code for the page in a new window. Once this is open, check the Title tag which should appear at the very beginning of the code. If the site has been optimized properly the title tag should contain the primary keyword phrase or phrases for that page. Also check the Meta Keywords tag, usually placed after the Title and Description tags. This should include any keywords being targeted on the page. While Meta Keywords do not affect search engine rankings, they could help you pinpoint targeted keywords.

Another way to find targeted keywords is to look at the keyword density on a page. This can be done through SEO X-Ray, an add-on that can be found on SEO Book’s Toolbar. This is available for free when you register online. The SEO Book site gives detailed instructions on the use of the tool.

You can also visit the websites of your competition and note which phrases they are using in the headlines and subheads of each page. Are these phrases being repeated within the body copy? If so, they are more than likely being targeted. Put the phrase into a search engine and see if the competitor’s site shows up on the first page for that phrase. These types of observances about your competition’s websites will tell you what keyword phrases they may be targeting, and which of them are being targeted successfully. We will take a more in-depth look at analyzing your competitor’s keywords and website in Day 7 of the SEO in 30 Days Series.

These three simple steps are a great way to get started on keyword research. Once keyword research is complete, you are one step closer to a successful online marketing campaign.

Up next is Day 7: Using competitor keyword analysis to differentiate your website

In the first two steps on Keyword Research covered Why It’s Necessary (Day 3) and Common Mistakes (Day 4). Now we’ll move on to the benefits of targeting longer keyword phrases (often called “long-tail keywords”) on your website.

The Benefits of Long-Tail Keyword Phrases

When compiling a list of target keywords for your online marketing campaigns, be sure to expand your list beyond one word search queries. The inclusion of long-tail keywords, those query strings include 2 -4 words, are important to ensure your campaign is well-rounded and profitable for your company.

While one word searches often carry large monthly search volumes, they often do not offer the best opportunities for optimization. This is due to the fact that these terms are often very competitive and lack clear focus from a searcher. This point is emphasized by recent research, which found that long-tail searches exhibit a higher conversion rate by up to 200% compared to short-tail (generic) keywords.

Long-tail terms often carry less overall search volume but, as the above statistic indicates, these searches are much more valuable because they are more targeted to your specific business. Also, as the query lengthens, gaining ranking for these terms becomes easier due to the specific instances of these strings around the web become less and less frequent.

As an attorney you can expand your list of long-tail keywords by including practice areas and the types of services that you offer, coupled with the city, county or state where your ideal client-base or business resides. Long-tail terms provide a greater chance to optimize pages around these topics and expand your business through online marketing. A law firm based in San Francisco, CA, wanting to attract more business for mediation services, for example, would be better served by the long-tail keyword phrase “San Francisco divorce mediation” than simply “mediation.”

Up next in the SEO in 30 Days series: we conclude our keyword research steps on Day 6 with competitor analysis.

In Day 3 of the SEO in 30 Days series we explained how to conduct basic keyword research to determine which phrases would benefit you most in terms of bringing the most qualified traffic to your website. In Day 4 we outline two common mistakes companies make and why they are detrimental.

Avoiding common mistakes when determining the keyword focus of your website

Being effective in your keyword research isn’t easy. This is one of the most important steps in any search engine campaign, and can help ensure that relevant visitors get to the best pages on your site for their specific queries. There are several common mistakes that often happen during the keyword research process. Here are a few effective keyword research techniques that will get you on the right track:

1. There is a tendency to focus too much on your company/firm’s name. Don’t do it! Search engines can easily understand your company/firm’s website; branding is essential, but shouldn’t be the priority. Typically you won’t have much trouble ranking for your own company name. Keep page elements and copy focused on your selected, researched legal keywords instead. For instance, the target keyword should be positioned at the front of the title tag while branding follows at the end.
2. Oftentimes, keyword research prompts the use of high-volume, “generic” keywords for your website and landing pages. It’s easy to get caught up in the numbers game, but that isn’t the most effect keyword research technique. Instead, we are looking for relatively high search volume terms with concentrated legal modifiers that can help draw in the right crowd. For instance, instead of optimizing an important landing page for merely “law firm,” use high-volume and highly relevant modifiers that describe your practice such as “truck accident law firm” or, even better, “Chicago truck accident law firm.”

In Day 5 of the SEO in 30 Days series we’ll continue our discussion of keyword research: organizing your keyword list.

Why is keyword research important?

In Day 1 and Day 2 of SEO in 30 Days we talked about the importance of developing an SEO plan along with how to go about creating one. Today we’ll be discussing the value of doing keyword research.

Conducting keyword research early in your campaign is crucial for creating a strong online business presence. It will set the foundation of your organic search engine marketing initiative, and can impact your business for many years.

Keyword research isn’t exclusively for discovering the most important keywords that should be mapped to prominent landing pages — it can actually help outline your entire online business. This outline includes domain name selection, the content on your site, and how that content is organized and written on other online marketing and social media channels.

Tools to Use
There are several comprehensive keyword tools that you can use for initial research. We recommend Google AdWords Keyword tool, Hitwise, and Comscore (the latter two require subscriptions).

Keyword Discovery & Use
Ideally, before you begin the process of building your website, and even before choosing your domain name, you will discover which keyword phrases to target.

Keyword phrases are the words that your potential clients will type into the search box. Predicting what those phrases might be is a major component of successfully drawing qualified business leads to your website. Why?

Let’s say you’re an estate planning attorney who handles a lot of trusts. If your site does not use the phrase “trusts attorney” the search engines will have a hard time figuring out you handle trusts. However, if you use the phrase “trusts attorney” in strategic places throughout your website, the search engines will determine (more than likely) that your website contains useful information for people searching for a trusts attorney. Your website will be seen as relevant for that keyword phrase, and the search engines will serve up your site as an option in the search results.

Your goal is to determine what phrases your ideal customers or clients are typing into that search box to find a law firm (or whatever service you provide). Some suggestions on how to do this:

Do some competitive research. Let’s continue with the trust attorney example. Go to your favorite search engine and type “San Francisco trusts attorney” into the search box. Which law firms are in the top three? Visit those firms’ websites. What phrases do they seem to be targeting? Look at the headers with the copy. Look at the page title (this appears at the top of the browser window). Write down the phrases that they are using to draw in business around trusts in the San Francisco area. We cover competitive research in more detail in Day 6 of the SEO in 30 Days series.

Ask your friends and family. Ask them to imagine they were concerned about some aspect of trusts. What phrases would they use to find information or a lawyer? Best to ask people who are not in the law field so that you get phrases that would most likely be searched on by someone unfamiliar with legal terminology. Chances are the vast majority of your clients will not have a legal background. Add their suggestions to your list.

Use a keyword research tool. Enter a few general search terms into Google’s Adwords tool, making sure you ask for synonyms. Adwords will return a list of suggestions, along with how many times that phrase has been searched on in the past month. This data will be useful in figuring out which of the search terms on your list should be targeted most (the ones with the highest search volume probably will bring in the most leads and should therefore be used more often on your website). Complete your keyword list with these terms.

Once you have compiled a relevant list of keywords, you should begin thinking about your firm’s online identity, starting with your domain name.

Domain name
Your top, most relevant keyword phrases (the one’s that describe your business most succinctly and/or have the highest search volume according to a tool like Google Adwords) should be considered for your domain name. Search domain name providers for availability. While not necessary, we recommend using hyphens to separate multiple keywords in a domain name to better communicate separate keyword structure to search engines. You’ll benefit with these words being boldfaced on the search engine results page if they are queried (searched on).

Content, Organization, and Writing
After domain selection has been completed, you must next determine the layout of your website. What topics and areas of law will you be covering? Each of these topics and areas will be a category on the website. Ensure that you have picked keywords that are relevant to the categories. These are intended for high-traffic visits from search engines, and will further guide your visitors toward contacting your firm.

Copywriting is another important use of keyword research. Optimizing the content of your pages to include instances of the selected keyword phrase and using it throughout the copy will strengthen the pages’ relevance for that keyword. The more often a keyword is used, the more relevant a page becomes to that query — search engines will decide that a highly relevant page is the best page to rank for a particular keyword phrase.

It is important to note that pages should not use spammy text that stuff keywords onto a page. This will hurt search engine rankings, and reduce the readability of the page.

Social Media
Be sure to include your keywords on other social media platforms, like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, to help with the reputation management of your business.

In Day 4 we’ll continue our SEO in 30 Days series, covering common mistakes to avoid while conducting your keyword research.

Ever since the Overture keyword tool went offline, everyone I know in the SEO industry has the same question, “What are you doing about keyword research?” It’s a good question. For all the faults of the Overture tool, it was a quick and easy way to get actual, monthly search occurrence numbers. Now that it’s gone, what’s the average lawyer to do to find good legal keyword research? This isn’t about suggestions for keywords – we’re looking for quantified, actionable search numbers.

The bad news: no matter what tool you use, there are problems. I’ll mention those in my summaries below.

• Google Keyword Suggestion Tool – the best place to start your information collection. Enter a keyword and it will show you the competitiveness and search volume for that and related keywords. The “problem”? Keyword research returns non-quantified comparisons: the equivalent of a bar chart with no numbers.


Google’s keyword research results

• Trellian’s KeywordDiscovery Tool offers a free trial but, ultimately, you’ll need to pay around $50/month for full access to their service. Once you’re a member, there are a number of keyword databases they have available for researching your topic. The Global Premium and Historical datasets are the most useful, but there is often search “noise” (bad or spammy results, obviously outside a normal searcher’s use) and I seriously question the cited period for their results. Meaning: their Global Premium database will tell you there were 25 searches for “baltimore attorney” in 2007. To me, this nullifies the advantage of this service having quantified results. I do find the historical database has good comparative results.


KeywordDiscovery

• SEOBook.com’s Keyword Tool (based on WordTracker) – this site was formerly based upon Overture data. Now, they’ve developed a relationship with WordTracker to take their data, apply search engine user volume to it and deliver a daily count of searches for a given keyword and related terms. Overall, this is a very good FREE keyword research tool that lawyers and non-lawyers alike will find useful. The numbers appear to be (roughly) accurate. There is often search “noise” returned with relevant results, but a discriminating eye can easily spot and ignore these.
• DigitalPoint’s Keyword Research Tool has always been a good place to check but the data returned is not comprehensive. The site says it uses/used Overture and WordTracker data, but a search for “baltimore attorney” shows no results.
• Wordze.com is new on my radar. You must pay for membership but, once inside, they offer a comprehensive set of tools. The Keyword Research Tool doesn’t do much to offer related keywords, but the quantified search count numbers appear to be accurate, citing over 600 searches for “baltimore attorneys” in a 30 day period.


Wordze’s keyword research interface

Thank you to the article at SEO Round Table for the motivation to put together this comparison. Anyone with any other suggestions? I know I’ve GOT to be missing something…

[tags]keyword research[/tags]