Search Engine Ranking: RYK before SEO!

Ranking high on search engines relies on your knowledge of your search engine position -- how your web site is related to all of the other sites out there cataloged on a particular search engine.

Because users are trying to find you based on keyword terms, any page that responds to the keyword terms that you select can be considered competition. Not all keyword terms that describe your business or your offering will necessarily be useful for you to optimize your site on.

This is why you must research your keywords (RYK) before you search engine optimize (SEO)!

On first instinct, many people think that researching keyword terms means typing the keyword terms into a search engine to see which sites are ranking high already on those terms. This is not the case.

To effectively research keyword terms, you must find out

• How many times a keyword term is actually being typed in by search engine users,
  
• How often the keyword term is being typed in, and
• How many web pages are responding to the search engine query on that keyword term.

This can only be accomplished using special software. This software calculates how useful a keyword term is to you.

Let's bring this idea into a brick-and-mortar scenario. Suppose you own a bookstore and are looking for retail space to sell your books. You're considering the Acme Mall and the XYZ Center. Acme Mall already has 2 bookstores. XYZ Center is approximately 40 miles from any other bookstore. Your location is like the competition for a particular keyword term.

XYZ Center looks like a better fit -- but is it?

What if there aren't very many readers in that vicinity? If this is the case, then XYZ Center is not the better choice for your business. If there are lots of readers, the XYZ Center would be a great fit. The demand for books is like the number of requests for a particular keyword term.

But what if there are a lot of readers, but they don't buy books very often? The value of moving into the XYZ Center goes down. The frequency of book purchases is like the frequency a keyword term is typed into a search engine.

So how do you measure all of this to make the best choice?

You don't have to. The Keyword Effectiveness Index (KEI) is the basis for determining the best fit of a particular keyword term. The higher the KEI number, the better fit there will be.

If you are interested in finding out what the KEI is for the keyword terms you are using, contact me to run a Keyword Analysis Report!