Key words that will work best for you describe exactly what you offer and are the sorts of words that users will commonly think of when they are thinking about what to type into the search
engine.

If you select key words that nobody will consider using when conducting a search, your work will be useless; even if you are number one in the search engines for those words.

Don't count just on your own opinion when selecting your business key words. The users might have a completely different view from you about what to insert in the search engines to find you.

A wonderful implement for defining the appropriate key words is a specialized database called Wordtracker.

First, make a list with appropriate key words that you think are most representative of your products or services. You could make such a list by asking your clients how they would search your services or products on the Internet, or you could view your competitors' websites to see what key words they have used, but don't copy their information. Just look to see if they have used some key words that could be useful for you.

Then use the Wordtracker database, which will show you every key word's popularity, and how competitive it is (i.e. whether it is used a lot by users and how many websites are optimized for it). The greater the number of websites that use it, the more difficult it will be for your website to reach the top in the search engines ranking.

The best choices for key words are those that are not so competitive, yet are very popular.

In addition, Wordtracker gives you some additional possibilities for choosing key words that weren't mentioned before but are in reality very appropriate.

Be sure that you alternate and combine the words that you have already selected. Much more appropriate words could appear, too.

To understand the way Wordtracker functions, use its free version, although its paid version offers many more functions.

Never count on lone key words!

A combination of two or more words is a much better variant than an orphaned word. Orphaned words are more common, while a phrase specifies the search purpose much more precisely.

Let's suppose that you are a manufacturer of solid wood furnishings. Take these two examples of key words:

"furnishings"

"solid wood furnishings"

The first word is orphaned, so it is very common. When a user searches for information by using it, the search engine will retrieve all the sites that contain the word, without anything precise; and there might be lots of such sites, which makes it less likely that users will visit your.

More importantly people using this word during their search are unlikely to be from your target audience, and so are not interested in your products and services.

By using the next phrase, the user is aware of what exactly he is looking for and defines, limits, the search to some definite kind of furnishings (solid wood furnishings in this case) and the relevant search engine retrieves better, more precise results.

The probability that people will buy your products is higher in this case than in the previous one, maybe because the user needs these furnishings, since he/she did a search for them.

That's why you should always add to a key word that corresponds to a business like yours, some additional words, specific only to your business, in order to define and specify the process.
 

About The Author
Veselin Andreev is one of the founders of Svilaves, which offers website design and promotion services, the quality and effect of which are aimed at the successful development of their clients’ business. Read the exact details of their services at http://www.svilaves.com