Search of Linkedin Answers for questions about consulting.
How do I select the best keyword phrase for my web page, assuming I have researched potential keyword phrases and evaluated their competitive positions?
I asked local SEO consultant Miriam Ellis to help me choose the best keyword phrases for the Chicago management consulting page of my nonprofit’s Chicago-focused website, www.SCOREChicago.org.
(In the first post in this series, Miriam advised me on how to evaluate keyword phrases for the page. In the second, she showed me how to look at the relative strength of my website versus competitors for keyword phrases. In the fourth, she instructs me on how to use local terms, like city names, to tell the search engines this page relates to a local market.)
MIRIAM: Which Keyword Phrase Best Describes the Purpose of the Page in the Language your Customers and Prospects use, both In Person and Online?
A combination of keyword research plus your experience with ‘live’ human beings should dictate the main keyword phrase for any web page.
Not being a SCORE counselor, I am unclear whether people doing a search for something like, “small business consulting” are looking for the type of free/affordable counseling you offer, or whether they envision hiring a paid consultant to come to their office.
What does the phrase “small business consulting” mean to you and your potential clients? Is that the right term, the one they use when they are looking for what you folks offer, or is a variant such as “business management consultant” more on target? This is where you and your colleagues’ expertise has to come into play, Peg.
MIRIAM: To Inform the Final Keyword Selection, Consider Keywords Used in Online Forums, Blogs and Social Media in your Niche.
In addition to speaking directly to clients to gauge the language they use, business owners or researchers sometimes visit related forums, blogs and social media like Facebook and Twitter. (See Peg’s post on Twitter for market research.) In these conversations, they study the language of the participants to better understand the terminology of that niche.
This can be especially helpful in a corporate setting, where the business owner tends to think of his goods/services in official ‘corporate’ language, whereas his customers have their own words and phrases for the same things.
The bottom line for you is: “What does a Chicago business owner call your consulting services when he or she goes to a search engine or website to find it?”
MIRIAM: Choose Keyword Phrases that Your Customers Use, Not Those With Lots of Traffic That They Don’t.
Your experience is needed to make the best decision. I don’t want to tell you, “This keyword has lots of traffic, so optimize for this.” Traffic is great, but what if the phrase I recommend isn’t actually the term your clients really use?
The point of keyword research is to show you all of the ways in which people might be searching for what you offer. Once you’ve got that in hand, your task is to determine which of the variants is truly the most accurate description of your prospects’ and customers’ intent and the contents of your page.
PEG: After Keyword Evaluation, Checking Back with Real People.
Ok, Miriam, I’m going to go back and talk further to our consulting team. I will suggest that they circulate my preliminary list of potential keyword phrases to past clients and ask which they would most likely use. I also plan to search forums like Linkedin Answers (graphic above) to find language that prospects actually use as they post questions in that social networking website.
In the final post of this series, Miriam helps me integrate a local keyword, in my case “Chicago”, into my main keyword phrase.
RELATED POSTS IN THIS SERIES
Use Keyword Research to Evaluate Keyword Phrases for the Web Page of a Local Business: SEO Advice Part 1
Evaluate the Strength of My Website Competition for Keywords: SEO Advice Part 2
Select the Best Local Keywords for a Web Page of a Local Business: SEO Advice Part 4
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