Search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and MSN handle 16 Billion searches each month in North America. These three Internet giants control the most popular websites in Canada. Knowing the terms your customers use when searching for your product or service is critical to increase your Online Traffic.

The Best Keywords may not be Obvious

There are as many different ways to search as there are types of people. The specific keywords and phrases that bring in the most online traffic may not be the ones you first assume.

Keyword Research

Not all your website visitors become customers. Keyword Research helps you discover the most valuable keywords for your website. Not just the terms that bring in the most online traffic, but the ones that bring in the most business.

5 Ways to Find the Best Keywords

1) Listen to Your Customers

• Learn their vocabulary
• Understand how they think
• Find out what motivates them

It's about knowing which words will grab the attention of the visitors you're trying to attract.

2) Ask for Suggestions.

Your sales staff and CSR's speak with your customers every day. Ask your employees who have direct contact with your customers which terms your customers are using.

3) Google Analytics

Google Analytics can reveal the most common keywords visitors are currently using to find your website. An excellent starting point for further keyword research.

4) Keyword Research Tools

Tools such as Wordtracker and Keyword Discovery are indispensable to keyword research. I use a free keyword tool called Web CEO. Enter a keyword for your business and the tools will suggest a list of related keywords. They will then tell you the number of searches for that keyword in the past 24 hours, as well as the number of sites currently using that keyword. The less competition there is, the greater the chance of generating online traffic.

5) Google Trends

Enter your potential keyword into Google Trends and you'll see whether a keyword is rising or declining in popularity over time.

The search term SEO has been steadily rising in search volume since 2003. The term World Wide Web has been steadily declining.

Ready to SEO!

Incorporate your keywords that bring in the most online traffic into both the content and structure of your website. Title tags, headings, internal links, inbound links, Alt-tags, are just a few areas to include your keywords.