Keyword Basics Part 2: Discovering The Keyword Matrix by Ken McGaffin, 28 December 2006
A simple method for expanding your lists of profitable keywords. The secret of writing great online copy is simple: use keywords - the words people use when they search - in your copy.
Key points
- If you use the words people use when they search in your copy, page titles, descriptions and links, then you’ll score well in search engine results and more people will find your site.
- The language you use will be appropriate to your audience. And as any seasoned direct marketer will tell you, speak to people in their own language and they will be more likely to buy from you.
The reasons for this are twofold:
1.If you use the words people use when they search in your copy, page titles, descriptions and links, then you’ll score well in search engine results and more people will find your site.
2.The language you use will be appropriate to your audience. And as any seasoned direct marketer will tell you, speak to people in their own language and they will be more likely to buy from you.
That of course begs the question, "How do you find your best keywords"?
Most people either just guess or do perfunctory research using one of the many free keyword tools that you'll find online.
But if you want to succeed online, you've got to spend enough time and energy finding out the words your customers really use when they search. You'll need not just 20-30 keywords, you'll need hundreds - and many of the most successful online companies will have thousands of keywords.
The keyword matrix is a simple methodology that allows you to build a comprehensive keyword list using the Wordtracker database. Here are the 3 steps involved: you can also download the Excel spreadsheets we generated for this example - this gives you almost 5,000 relevant keywords using the full version of Wordtracker and 85 relevant keywords using the free trial version.
Step 1. Start with a common word or phrase that is appropriate to your business
Start simple. Your starting point does not need to be clever or creative. All you need is a common word or phrase relevant to your business - Wordtracker will help you find clever keywords later.
So in the example above, a good starting point would be the word 'chocolate'.
Using the keyword researcher at Wordtracker, you can find 1000 keywords that all contain the word, 'chocolate'.
Excellent. So far, so good. Now all you have to do is rush off and optimize your web pages for those phrases, right?
Wrong! That is what most people will do and as a result they will miss out on some very powerful keywords that are not immediately obvious.
Time to move on to step 2 and get inside the keyword matrix.
Step 2. Find words that are related to your original keyword
Here the task is not to find relevant keywords that contain the word 'chocolate': in fact, it is just the opposite - to find relevant keywords that do not contain the word 'chocolate'.
Go to the related keywords feature on Wordtracker and enter the word chocolate. Wordtracker now searches 100 websites that score well on search engines for the search 'chocolate' and extracts the phrases that those sites use. From that you'll find relevant keywords such as truffles, cocoa, fudge, confectionery, gifts, gourmet and so on.
Scan the list of related keywords and pick the ones that YOU feel are relevant to your business. Your input is required: Wordtracker is not a machine that churns out a list of keywords that will automatically bring you a fortune. If that was so, everybody would get the same results. Rather, Wordtracker is a tool that allows you to find your best keywords.
So from the list of related terms you might pick truffles, cocoa, fudge and candy.
Step 3. Use the related words to generate many more relevant keywords
Essentially, this repeats step 1 for each of the related keywords that you have chosen. Take each of your chosen related words and enter them into the keyword researcher in turn.
By following this methodology, you can quickly generate hundreds of relevant keywords that reflect the subtleties – and niche markets – within your marketplace.
Here’s what your final matrix may look like:
Final words
The average person will do their keyword research once and then forget about it.
But that is the way to get average results. Effective keyword research is an ongoing process and to get outstanding results you must work at it regularly.
Successful keyword researchers will:
- Regularly check your keyword counts on Wordtracker - they can go up and down over time.
- Continue to add more keywords to your matrix. The more effective keywords you have, the more profitable your online business will be.
Monitor how well your keywords do. Performance will always be a mixture of:
- Keywords that bring good traffic and good conversions (these are the words people use when they are in buying mode)
- Keywords that bring you good traffic but poor conversions (these are the words people use when they are in research mode)
- Keywords that bring low traffic but great conversions( these are the words that represent buying behavior in niche markets).
Overall, there will be a mix of such keywords in any comprehensive keyword matrix.
In the next issue, we'll look at how you can pick the most competitive keywords from the sample matrix that we have developed for 'chocolate' and how you can use those keywords in your web site copy.
About Ken McGaffin
Ken McGaffin is an experienced internet marketing consultant. He has worked for major pharmaceutical companies, advertising agencies, government bodies and non-profit organizations.
73 comments
After optimizing our site's content, (including images using the alt tag), I felt the results were good. We were able to obtain #1 position for work at home marketing strategies our most important PHRASE.
However, we use Godaddy's "Traffic Blazer" services and the analysis report says "Keywords should not exceed 1000 chracters, (including spaces)."
I meticously counted them in a word document and determined I have 971.
Your article suggests one should use 100's of keyword/phrases.
Who's right? You or Godaddy?
James A. "Jim" Holish webmaster@mycashforever.com
This is the first time I have read this newsletter and it is excellent.
Very well written. The newsletter articles clearly articulate what effective, white-hat SEO is all about.
I am a "newbie" in trying to build an online stream of income, and unfortunately chose an overly competitive niche for my fist effort.
I ceased working on my site about about six months ago and to that point had only built about 17 pages. But I will be back at it shortly. A lot of it will have to be re-written to be more professional.
The service I have for building my site uses Wordtracker as part of a package price for a certain number of searches after which further searches must be paid for.
Is the option still available to buy Wordtracker by the day?
Your newsletter is encouyraging in that it makes clear that a site can be successful even within a popular general term area if the site istelf is highly targeted through good keyphrases chosen with Wordtracker.
Keep sending the newsletter. It's very helpful.
Dennis
WOW!
What a great article and what a superb matrix to work with!!
Thanks
Paul
Extraordinary! I'm just gonna use this for my websites
Excellent material.
I came across this in my junk mail and I'm so glad I've read it. I have a bit of a generic site with generic key words. This method will really help me get a large list of lower cost key words that I can use to optimise pages and write articles. I'll white-list this address for sure!
Just what I need info that is clear and simple. Look forward to the next instalment.
Thanks
Valerie Leatt
Good Information that answers questions and inspires. Looking forward to the next article.
Thanks for a very helpful article.
The more I read, the more I think I'm in over my head. Best to leave it to the professionals.
Where is the above mentioned excel sheet to download?
can't wait for the next issue, great info that I didn't know. what about existing sites and getting them in the search engines.
Cathy
That sounds like a great simple and easy set of steps, and I will start to incorporate that method.
You suggest to use the relevant keywords you decide upon in your "copy, page titles, descriptions and links".
In relation to search engines using 'keyword density' of 3-7% to determine keyword relevance on a page, I was wondering if keywords were counted not only from the body of the page but also from the keyword metatag, title metatag and description metatag?
I can see how Keywords could also help Teachers. Have you done any work on this angle. Please let me know, because I have a daughter and a dauther-in-law that are both teachers. Thanks, Ed Roberts.
This is a superb article which I think most people are not aware of.
Thank You! I'm a newbie in this game. I need all the help I can get.
FANTASTIC!
You have taken ALL the churn and hard work out of picking and testing - the matrix does it for me!!
Dave
A-Class content, can't wait for the next issue
What a great article - clear, concise and very informative. Thank you
Outstanding! Please don't stop there. When is the next issue?
Great newsletter guys! Really useful.
This process has four easy steps and takes about 5 minutes to complete:
You enter a term that describes your business or service. We'll find you as many related keywords as possible.
You'll find out whether people actually search for these keywords.
E-mail, print or refine your selection.
Find out how many other people are competing for your keywords in other engines
This are four steps I follow I just want to know if I am on the right track? The last step is no:4 which is competition
Please let me know if there is anything I am missing to find my niche.
Best Regard Phillip Choeu
This is excellent
I'll take any help I can get.
The Keyword Matrix Article is very informative and is a good way to expand your keyword list. Thanks
Thank you for a very useful article. I could actually use a tip. From experience I know that when I'm done collecting all the keywords in the matrix that's when the real work begins. I'm talking about having to sort through typically thousands of keywords and dividing them into logical groups to be used for "keyword-articles".
Example: Going from the chocolate exaple above you might decide to create a logical group based on the word 'recipes': chocolate recipes, fudge recipes, candy recipes, etc.
My question is this: are you aware of a piece of software that will automatically do the sorting of your initial list of thousands of keywords into logical groups? One that perhaps even breaks up the first groups into sub-groups if the group is too large or if a further break-down is logical.
A software like that would be a tremendous time-saver for me and any suggestions you can offer would be most appreciated.
Thanks again for a great article!
Thanks for the nice info.
I believe according to the new LSI concept, these things would be very useful and neccessary to rank well.
Regards, Adnan.
Interesting article, thank you. Once thing though:
"you can also download the Excel spreadsheets we generated for this example"
Download from where?
interesting info for learners
very good material on how to perform an analytical keyword research
good. Changed my view to looking at wordtracker. Thanks.
That is an excellent article. That really helps me to see how you can develop a site that has much more depth and width than the average sites out there.
Did anyone else notice in the list of keywords the entry that says "chocolate booty"? LOL!
Enjoyed this second dose….off to search for and read the third. Well written, simple to understand, using a good simple example. Thank you :)
Great article. Keywords are worthless unless you use them. So many people get caught up on keyword research, they forget the underlying concept of how they apply to their website content. It is one of the biggest mistake newbies make when they are trying to piece all of the info together.
Nice job!
Very good article .But i wonder how one can optimise for more than 1000 words.Are search engines not going to regard that as spamming .The search engine formulars are as closely guaded as th the COCA COLA recipe ,the idea of so many keywords is disregarded in many seo forums
I was directted to a free word checker here…where is it?
Great! article. Works for me.
Hello there
If you would like to use our free keyword tool you can find this at
http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com
Anne Curtis Customer Service Manager Wordtracker
Keywords are the key! http://www.freewebs.com/marshallhillfinance
THANK YOU,
Great article. I’m just starting my internet income stream , and now I feel alot more confident about SEO and the use of keywords. Thanks
Thank you so much for your important information. I appreciate how you stayed with the point and made the process look easy. Regards, S
Loved how you described the process-so easy to understand. Thanks so much!
Brilliantly conveyed!
I would prefer to use optimization correctly and this guide is quite relative.
Thank you!
It all sounds great to me. If only I could understand what people are talking about! Whatever is a “white hat SEO” ?!! Are we two nations two nations (UK/USA) divided by a common language? Here in the deepest darkest south west peninsula of UK we think “‘tis proper ‘ansum and we will surely catch on “drekly”, but please guys, tell me what all these acronyms mean!
thank you very much
nice tips.... Thanks.
Thanks for a brilliant article. My site has hundreds of ebooks covering a huge range of topics, and interestingly when I did some keyword research on what I THOUGHT would be popular categories, the keyword results were poor. So this has helped me to rethink my marketing strategies to find out which niche product I should focus my energies in based on strength of keywords.
Thanks again, looking forward to more information. http://www.getmore2life.com
Some good basics there. Very good advice for expanding your keyword horizons and using wordtracker to get into the mindset of a search engine user
Word tracker is ofcourse a great source of gathering and using keywords appropriate for traffic blast.
It is very important to have a effective key word for start up e-business.
This is an excellent post. I will have to begin a more thorough and ongoing process for my keyword research. But I like the fact that you laid out in visual for the columns of different variations.
Hello.
These are all great pointers...
I'm having real problems starting research for keywords for my first-ever blog within the "Personal Development" area.
Could someone give me a little advice to kick start my research, please?
Thank you.
It is very important to have a effective key word for start up e-business.
Fantastic article. Really helped me crack a problem I was struggling with!
thank you
Thank so much, Great for Articles
Great info! Very helpful!!
The relevant keywords is good ideas, It give me some new ideas to improve our URL http://www.kldguitar.com . We need do something to improve it.
I was really amazed to find out that one should not stop on 10-20 keywords, but instead look for hundreds of them! After I "digested" the article it became so evident that the more keywords you have the more chances you get to attract more targeted traffic.
Thanks for the great article.
Nice Article. Your style is similar to a very well known speaker I know but for ethical reasons, I would not like to discus it here.
Regards
The next Internet Billionaire
I didn't know that this great tool was available, surely we will use it now.
Cheers
Wordtracker is a great tool to find out the niche of you're target market. Its the best tool i ever used.
Regards,
Steven
Excellent article. It really helps me to see how I can develop my website. Thank you.
excellent,i should have known this a long time ago
Thank you for the article it sheds light on what I need to focus most of my time on. Also, I like your style of writing. It is in a technical format which I am familiar.
Thanks for this Great article!.
I am just getting started with online business and am very new at this and I just begun to get my feet wet. part 1 and 2 has been a very big help for me. I can't wait untill the day I will actually start my website. thank you for all the info. I am looking forward for more info.from your website Thank You Debbie
Very interest service! I like!
word tracker is a really nice tools and usually past we use free tools to determine the keywords upto here in step 1.But after reading this article - we decide to subscribe Wordtracker to analyze the keyword deeply.
Many Thanks,
Bidyut
Thanks for a good article. I think most people are not aware of.
This is an excellent, extremely helpful analysis of how to broaden the depth of your site's keywords. The info on how to uncover lateral/related keywords and tie them into your site theme is pure gold. I'll definitely be putting it to use on my existing and future web sites.