Keyword Selection Process

Setting up a website can be one of the most daunting challenges you might face! You've been given the job but where do you start, what do you need to include in your web pages, and what should you do with your website so people actually find you?

This guide has been written to get you well on the way to understanding the steps involved in creating and maintaining your website. It highlights why each step is so important - miss one and the whole website may become worthless.

For those who don't have lots of free time for Search Engine Optimization (SEO), TermPoint offers a quicker and simpler solution to this process. Instead of having one document listing your important search terms, a spreadsheet of link exchanges, and another system showing search engine traffic to your site, TermPoint combines all this information into a single, easy-to-use system.

TermPoint helps you create and maintain a successful website, by consolidating and automating many of the tasks and reporting that is required. But don't take our word for it - visit the testimonials page to see what other people really think.

Initial Setup

1. Brainstorm 10 or so search terms
2. Get alternatives (including misspelled alternatives) for those search terms
   • Find alternatives in:
     • Google AdWords Keyword Tool
     • WordTracker
     • Thesaurus (e.g. http://thesaurus.reference.com)
     • Competitor websites
   • Add relevant alternative search terms to main list
3. Find search popularity of terms
   • Overture STST
   • Others?
4. Research competition in search engines
   • Google
   • Yahoo
   • MSN
   • Overture? 
5. Refine keyword list
   • Exclude irrelevant terms or not keywords frequently searched
6. Prioritise remaining search terms
   • Aim to rank highly for relevant terms, frequently searched, possibly not common in search engine results
7. Create web pages if required containing search terms
   • Most important search terms should have their own web pages
     • Search term in the title
     • Search term in meta tags
     • Search term a few times in web page content
   • Less important search terms should be included somewhere in web pages
   • Check keyword density
     • Aim for 5-8% (http://www.sitepronews.com/archives/2005/feb/21prt.html)

Ongoing Maintenance & Analysis

Keywords

1. Priority Keywords
   1. As website content changes, ensure priority terms remain in web pages
   2. Check success of your web pages containing high priority search terms
      1. Website hits due to each search term, with columns for Search Engine, Paid Advertising, Directory Links, Link Exchanges (more?)
   3. Check keyword density
      1. As website content changes, so does the keyword density - ensure it stays within 5-8%
2. Review suitability of search terms (out-of-date terms, other terms now more popular, other products/services being emphaised by your business now?)
3. Find new alternatives (TermPoint automatically ignores previously rejected alternatives)
   • Google AdWords Keyword Tool
   • WordTracker
   • Thesaurus (e.g. http://thesaurus.reference.com)
   • Competitor websites

Incoming Links

Links to your website:

1. One-way Incoming Links (preferred)
   1. Free
      1. Research directories for new sites (TermPoint could suggest them based on priority keywords?)
      2. Submit to suitable sites
      3. Check previously existing incoming links all still exist
         1. For links that have been removed, try to get them back again
   2. Paid
      1. Research directories for new sites (TermPoint could suggest them based on priority keywords?)
      2. Assess return on investment
      3. Submit to suitable sites
      4. Renew subscription to suitable sites
2. Reciprocal Links
   1. Ensure reciprocal links are being maintained by external websites
      1. Remove links if not reciprocated
   2. Submit link requests to other webmasters
      1. Assist members in writing requests - suggest content (examples), member should explain why a link exchange will benefit other website, phone if required, etc (see Word doc)
3. Analyse anchor text of incoming links
   1. Ensure most important terms have highest proportion of anchor text for incoming links

Incoming Traffic

Native Search Results

1. Track inward traffic from native search results grouped by search terms
2. Show number if inbound traffic from other websites (e.g. directories, link exchanges)
   1. Strive to keep incoming links from sites that bring lots of traffic

Paid Advertisements

1. Costs incurred
2. Return on investment for paid advertising
   1. (Need to overview and link to articles about ROI taking time for some business types)

Free vs. Paid

1. Compare success and costs of free vs. paid traffic
2. Make adjustments as required to each method

Sites that sell something:

1. Check inbound traffic from paid advertising programs, by search terms

My additions for advertising pages

1. Check max Overture CPC for each search term
   1. Overture Bid Tool

TermPoint should take periodic snapshots of data so can compare between months:

• Number of web pages containing priority terms in titles and content
• Keyword density of priority terms in each page
• Overture STST for each month (e.g. watch for seasonal variation)

Once-off dynamic Reports:

• Monthly inbound traffic from native search results, grouped by month (or week?)

Dr. TermPoint

Automatically email webmaster daily / weekly of trends and warnings, e.g.

• Priority search terms being excluded from title, meta tags or content of web pages
• Yesterdays website hits due to each search term, with columns for Search Engine, Paid Advertising, Directory Links, Link Exchanges (more?)
• Recommendations on changes to make for each page (e.g. /LockoutTagout - more incoming links, higher density in content)

Names

• TermPoint
• TermPoint Solutions
• TermPoint Systems