Importance of Keywords and Competitor Analysis

These two topics go hand in hand. But first we will be exploring the purpose and value of using keywords. Keyword meta tags have varying weights of importance depending on which search engine you use. These certain engines determine using their chosen algorithm whether or not your website will show up in the search engine results pages (SERPS). Keywords actually have very little impact on where the site will actually appear in the results pages when it comes to using most search engines. Engines like Yahoo still weighs keywords heavily therefore making it seem like the sites that mention keywords more are more reliable than those that do not…

Keyword weight may pertain to age of the site. Because older sites will more than likely have more content the keywords will appear more common in these older sites. Reputation of the website. If the site has poor quality or scammer qualities then regardless of keywords it will rank poorly on the SERPS. Links to the site and the reputation of both the link and its keywords compared to your website’s rank and reputation will determine if you are an emerging authority on your niche or not. The security of the site also has a lot to do with this. We mentioned much of this information back in our post about the Google Panda algorithm.

The best way to get the most out of using keywords is to do a keyword search to choose the proper keywords for your site. If you have a fashion blog, fashion should not be your only keyword. You want to use terms like: ootd (outfit of the day), fashionista, grwm (get ready with me) and so many more. Being creative and keeping up with current slang/lingo can boost your prospects exponentially. Another tip/trick is to use three word terms as keywords.

Competitor analyses help a lot when it comes to choosing keywords. Why should you do a competitor analysis? To gain clientele. Competitor analyses allow us to learn winning strategies from our competitors. They also help us to learn the limitations of our services. Think about it this way- why should your ideal prospects buy from you and not your competition? A simple question that any emerging business should ask.

In your competitor analysis you want to at least compare:

1. Product information.
2. Cost/Affordability.
3. Value of Service.
4. Overview of each business.

This information will help you better understand what it is that you can be doing for your customers and what services you are missing that make it difficult to win over your competitor’s clientele. Your competitor analysis will help you learn your competitor’s keywords and product costs. Two very important pieces of information that you must consider if you are serious about winning over more customers. Why should John Doe purchase dog bones from you when your competitor sells the same bones for far cheaper? These are the things you must be mindful of as a competitive business owner. It is very important that you regularly do Google (or any other high quality search engine for that matter) searches to see if there is new competition and plan to do competitor analyses accordingly.

Keywords and competitor analyses come together because your competitors are going to be the higher ranking sites on the SERPS. There is no point in trying to outdo a link baiting scammer website when they already at the bottom of the business chain. The competition you need to worry about is the competition that you see on the first few pages. View their pages. Think critically about their marketing strategies. What do they have that you don’t? Why are customers more prone to purchasing from their sites? Another final factor that I will mention is the actual look of a website. It doesn’t matter how professional the content is. If the theme of your web page looks bland and outdated no one is going to want to sit there and read what you have to say. Many new website owners overlook this detail believing that readers are just there for content or to purchase goods. Well they are- that doesn’t mean that the site they are visiting doesn’t have to be virtually appeasing.