"SEO Keywords Demystified"

• • If your site isn't on the 1st Page…
  …You're wasting your time/money
• • If your customers can't find you...
  …what's the point?
• • If you want more market-share…
  …SEO is the quickest, least expensive way

NewVista is the only Las Vegas SEO firm that will absolutely get your site on the first page of the leading search engines…

Keyword Targeting

There is one key thing that NewVista does to help a website be successful,-- choosing the right keywords and the right amount of keywords to target. (Keep in mind there IS a limit to the amount of keywords to use.) Targeting the correct keywords and the correct AMOUNT of keywords, is done very carefully.

How large is the website?

The size of a website as a whole plays a large factor in the decision on which keywords to target and how many to target. A correct ratio of keywords to pages is key to effective SEO placement.

How broad is the client's Market?

The broadness of a market can play a role in how many keywords to target. For instance, if the target audience is "Plumbing Services", then we will "key" this word, which will in turn, make the website stronger for that particular search-phrase.

How competitive is the market?

When the main target keyword is super-competitive it can have a direct effect on the number of keywords that you target. For a small to medium size website, attempting to target a super-competitive keyword, -- the main focus of the website should be directed toward this main keyword. This will direct the efforts of the sub-pages to be strength builders of the main page; which will in turn, build the SEO strength of a website for that particular keyword.

How do you decide which ones to drop?

SEO allows for a higher "natural" or "organic" listing, as opposed to a pay per click campaign that focuses on the paid inclusion/ listings. It is important to track the "ROI" (return on investment) of SEO vs. PPC differently to effectively manage the overall cost effectiveness of your Internet marketing efforts.

Why is this so important?

This process of choosing the right keyword combinations is vital to a website from multiple aspects. If you target the wrong keyword combinations, you risk being penalized by the search engines, -- AND reaching the wrong audience.

Keep in mind

The search engines have picked up on the trend that some practice; - including keywords in the Meta keyword section that are not in the content. They have begun to either penalize or discard that particular keyword.

Some key terms in "SEM" (Search Engine Marketing)

Adapted Marketing Mix

An international marketing strategy for adjusting the marketing mix elements to each international market; bearing more costs but hoping for a larger market share in return.

Alternative Evaluation

The stage in the buyer decision process in which the consumer uses information to evaluate alternative native brands in the choice set.

CPA – Cost-Per-Acquisition

Based on the PPC campaign, the CPA is a metric used to define how much it costs to achieve one conversion. A conversion can be an actual sale or a lead depending on the primary focus of the web site.

CPC – Cost-Per-Click

Based on the PPC, this is the average cost for each click. Your campaign will have a variety of costs, this is the average.

KEI- Keyword-Effectiveness-Index

This is a metric to track how effective a keyword is in converting traffic to customers, based on cost, search frequency and competition.

PPC – Pay-Per-Click

The Search Engine method devised by Google and now imitated by Yahoo and MSN. You pay for qualified traffic, your listings show up under the "sponsored" links within the search page. Each time your ad-listing is clicked, you are charged a pre-determined fee for the traffic.

SEO - Search Engine Optimization

SEO allows for a higher "natural" or "organic" listing, as opposed to a pay per click campaign that focuses on the paid inclusion/ listings. It is important to track the "ROI" (return on investment) of SEO vs. PPC differently to effectively manage the overall cost effectiveness of your Internet marketing efforts.

Viral Marketing

The Internet version of "word-of-mouth" marketing, email messages or other marketing events that are so infectious that customers will want to pass them along to friends and family.

Pay-per-Click

Pay Per Click (PPC) campaigns are typically launched on Google, Yahoo, and MSN. Each PPC campaign contains keywords and phrases that are bid on. The cost of each "click" depends on how competitive the term is, and how often it is searched on.

A big part of PPC is performing an in-depth analysis on each and every keyword and key phrase to determine the KEI, or Keyword Effectiveness Index. This ensures that you pay for clicks that convert into customers instead of paying for useless traffic.

For instance, suppose the number of searches for a keyword is 486 per month and Google displays 214,234 results for that keyword. Then the ratio between the popularity and competitiveness for that keyword is 486 divided by 214,234. In this case, the KEI is 0.002.

It can be quite easy to rank in the top 10 results for some search terms, but it can be very difficult for others. For this reason, the most popular search terms may not be the best terms to target.

Consider using a portfolio-style of bid management that focuses strictly on ROI. Every PPC campaign will have a few "dogs" as well as "winners" - it is essential to find the "dogs" as they are the underperforming keywords. Portfolio-style bid management ensures that every keyword is held accountable to a ROI standard. Some site mangers use 'averages' as the key metric for deciding whether or not a keyword is performing. Averages aren't as functionally accurate.