Keyword Cause and Effect
by Randall McCarley
September 22nd, 2006
“Think about the words users would type to find your pages, and make sure that your site actually includes those words within it.”
Source: Google Webmaster Guidelines
Because your customers are likely to use certain keywords you should be sure to include them in your content. More important keywords should be in your headlines, title and even meta tags. Really important keywords should be in the anchor text of links pointing to your site.
But getting people to show up doesn’t mean a thing unless they convert.
Have you ever thought about why your customers use those keywords?
This is where SEO gets advanced and starts becoming “marketing”.
Take a look at your own logs and see what keywords have driven traffic to your site. Which keywords constantly perform as far as delivering traffic, but fail when it comes to conversions?
Most SEOs don’t think past getting the viewers to the site. Once the traffic is there they think their job is done. But if the viewers leave without doing anything the time and money used to claim the keyword is wasted. The same concept applies with pay-per-click advertising.
Going after keywords because they pull traffic isn’t a great strategy unless you have something waiting for the viewer’s arrival. Determining what should be waiting depends on what the viewer expects. Converting them depends on what they are after.
What is your customer’s motivation for searching for [your traffic building keyword]?
Figuring this out may be more art than science.
First, let’s look at the difference between short tail and long tail searches. Short tail search terms are usually one to three words long. Long tail searches are four words or more.
Short tail terms are generally pretty broad in application like [compact cars]. This usually means the viewer is looking for information on their path to making a decision. Short tail terms are the biggest traffic-builders but the worst conversion makers. The exception is when the viewer has made a decision and is searching for an actual product by name.
Long-tail terms indicate the viewer is educated. They know the concepts and are narrowing their search to their final decision. These people are ready to convert.
Next let’s look at the different users in the search engines. Google users tend to be more specific and are generally better educated especially for technology interests. MSN and Yahoo! cater to a younger crowd and more middle-class people. They also tend to be trendy where Google is steady.
Depending on where you get your traffic from your customer expectations can shift. Applying the differences in search engine audiences to PPC means your money is more likely better spent on long tail phrases and technical applications with Adsense. But in Yahoo! and MSN you are better off targeting short tail phrases. This should bring an improved ROI.
So now you know what the keywords are your viewers use and how they get to you and where they are at in the buying cycle. But you still need to define what they are trying to accomplish. Every viewer has a goal and each goal is usually part of a bigger project and each project is usually connected to some type of emotional situation.
People often say one thing and mean another. What’s the difference between the keywords used to find your site and the words needed to let them know they found what they are really looking for?
Let’s say the emotional situation is making a spouse happy with a present. You would never walk into a gift shop and ask the clerk for “gift ideas”. She would look at you like your brain fell out.
You would tell them something like, “My wife is upset and I don’t want to sleep on the couch. I need something that will calm her down so she will forgive me. She likes chocolate, flowers and small stuffed animals but I am looking for something unique.”
The emotional situation is an upset spouse. The goal here is not sleeping on the couch. The project is gaining forgiveness. The solution is a gift that may have chocolate, flowers or a small stuffed animal. It sounds like a gift basket may be just the thing. But how does your site get from [gift ideas] (short tail) to [gift basket with chocolate, flowers and a small stuffed animal] (long tail)?
Your site has to guide the viewer along and empathize with them! The words you use have to show that you understand their situation and that you can help. You need to guide the viewer from the short tail to the long so that they get the information they need to make an informed decision and can click “purchase” confident they made the right decision.
This isn’t easy. It often takes a lot of research. And most web sites (and keywords) appeal to more than one type of customer.
Your content has to be broad enough to apply to several types of customers without being so broad as to be useless and not so specific as to exclude part of your audience. Here are some tips:
- Start broad with a landing page that has the short tail term in the headline with links to more specific information.
- Ask the questions your viewer would ask. Then answer them. A good FAQ can help with this.
- Make sure the keywords you target are the keywords your customers would actually use. Our own article, How to choose keywords can help!
- Watch your logs for pages with high abandonment rates and adjust them until they work.
- Be complete but brief. Your customers have a limited attention span.
- Write with your customers in mind - nobody knows them better than you!
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