Keywords are the glue that bind most online services together. Finding the right keywords is directly tied to the core of your success online, and, if it is done incorrectly, your whole marketing campaign could go flop! Here, we discuss three parts of your marketing campaign that need extra focus on keywords and how to keep your efforts from backfiring.
PPC: You obviously need keywords for your adverts, but it goes further than that: You need to optimize your product feed around product keywords. Think detail. Every aspect of every segment needs to focus on the correct keywords, without over-optimizing your copy. Over-optimization penalties are part of Google AdWords, as well as the search engine’s organic results!
SEO: It’s essential to target the correct keywords to reap the benefits of SEO. Some of them may or may not be in your PPC campaign, but overall they should all pull together.
Content Marketing: Content marketing must be focused on your keywords to enable your target audience to even find your content. While you want to include keywords in your blogs, ebooks, videos and other content, quality is crucial. So focus on your titles and other important elements of your content and avoid the temptation to keyword stuff.
Social media works just like the above areas. You need decide which audience you are targeting, and you need to know what they are looking for. From that you can tailor your accounts accordingly, through your profiles and URLs, along with relevant posts and links. Again don’t overdo it —use your keywords sparingly with plenty of variations in a format people will actually want to read.
When people hear keywords, they often ask how many times they have to mention their keywords on each page. But it’s not about mentions; it’s about having great content with a focus around a key term your users will connect with. If buyers are searching for a term, they expect to see it on the webpage they find and click on through search engine results. This way, they can immediately see if the information is relevant. Focus your keyword placement on the title and the first paragraph; you don’t need to work keywords into every paragraph.
The same advice also applies to graphics – like this infographic, which is focused on the keyword “ecommerce SEO.” Use your keywords in tags, titles and metatags for best results.
Parts of marketing, including PPC, SEO and content marketing, cannot be segmented into their own niches—they have to talk to each other. When looking at an online marketing strategy, you cannot separate one from the other. Ensure they are all pulling their weight and working together.
The bottom line? Keep the quality high, the planning going and have one central place for it all to pull from. This should ensure your efforts are maximized. Let me know your thoughts in the comment section.
Jonathan Harrison is a search engine optimization specialist and managing director with years of experience in helping people improve their online presence.
