Wordtracker allows you to discover the keywords you need to succeed online. The free tool provided by Wordtracker provides lots of really helpful information, you just need to know how to use it. This tutorial will walk you through doing basic keyword research using Wordtracker's free tool.
Supplies Needed:
- Computer with Internet Connection
- List of Keyword Phrases you want to research
Step 1: Navigate to Wordtracker’s free tool
In your browser’s address bar, navigate to http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/.
Step 2: Conduct your keyword search
When doing keyword research, I recommend you start with at least 10 keyword phrases that you want to research. These would be keyword phrases you believe apply to your business website. If you already have a website, you can review your stats to see which phrases are already bringing you traffic. If you haven’t optimized for the phrase and you are already getting some traffic, imagine how much more you can get if you create a page or post and optimize it specifically for that phrase. Please avoid one-word keywords (i.e. gluten) as it is usually very hard to rank for these. Do a good enough job with your keyword phrases though and you may end up ranking for a few one-word keywords.
Ok, let’s get started. Enter your first keyword phrase and click on the button that says “Hit Me.”
NOTE: The adult filter has the following options. Choose one before clicking on “Hit Me.”
Step 3: Evalute the results.
After clicking on “Hit Me”, wait for a few seconds for your results. Wordtracker gives you the top 100 results in the free version. If you want more results, you’ll need to use the paid version.
Below is the top 15. In your results, you will, of course, need to scroll to see the complete list.
If you hover your mouse over the ? next to Searches at the top right, you will see
This tells you what the # given for “Searches” is. Keep in mind that Wordtracker’s database does not have the exact same data as other databases.
Depending what other tools you are using, you may need to divide the # by 12 to get a monthly figure or by 365 to get a daily figure if you want to be able to compare data across tools.
I personally do not recommend comparing the information from various tools to each other. I recommend that you choose one tool and stick with it. That way, you know you are comparing apples to apples.
The goal here is to look for phrases that apply to your website and will likely convert the visitor into a buyer/customer.
If your website is less than a year old, you should probably focus on phrases toward the bottom of the list. If your website is older and you are good at acquiring backlinks, then you can probably pull from the top results as well.
Look for long-tail keyword phrases. That means look for the longer phrases that are more targeted. If your website sells women’s shoes but only high-heel wedding shoes, you wouldn’t want to optimize for “women’s shoes” as someone looking for sandals or tennis shoes would not be your potential customer.
Review the results from your search. Choose 5-10 keyword phrases you believe you can get ranked for. If you’re a beginner at creating keyword-rich content, you’ll probably want to target only two keyword phrases per page or post. Your main keyword phrase will be your primary and the other is considered secondary.
Example: If you provide online real estate investing classes, you would want to target “online real estate investing classes” rather than “real estate investing”. Over time, as your site becomes more popular and you create more keyword-rich content, you will naturally move up in the rankings for “online real estate” but not everyone looking for “online real estate” is looking for classes. By targeting the long-tail keyword phrase, you ensure that your traffic is qualified but you still could naturally rank for the shorter phrase.
If you’re thinking 87 searches per year is not very much, you are correct. The key is to optimize different pages/posts for different keyword phrases. Over time, they will all add up if you work consistently to improve your rankings.
Step 4: Create and optimize your content using the keyword phrases
This is a beginner guide so we won’t go into much detail here but you need to actually USE the keyword phrases in your content for the research to accomplish anything.
Make sure you use your keyword phrases in the Title, Description, Headings, Alt Text, etc. When possible, link from other pages/posts to the new page or post using the keyword phrase. This is called internal linking.
You’ll also want to get external links from websites other than yours. The external links need to appear natural to search engines so don’t obsess over all of the links having the same phrase.
Additional Tips
The more popular a search is, the fiercer the competition usually is. Make sure you look for long-tail keyword phrases. These are phrases with multiple words that further define the search. For example, “web design” would be a typical search and “small business web design” would be a long-tail keyword phrase related to web design. The number of searches on “web design” is far higher than for “small business web design” but getting a first page ranking is harder with the more popular search.
Step 8: Rinse and repeat
Things change over time so conduct keyword research periodically to make sure you are still targeting the best keyword phrases.
NOTE: This tool does not give you a lot of information in the free version. However, quite a # of people happily use it every day to gather data. The important thing is to keep in mind that you are only seeing the # of searches in Wordtracker’s partner databases in the last 365 days.
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RESOURCES
Wordtracker Academy – http://www.wordtracker.com/academy
Wordtracker’s paid version has a lot of information that is not included in the free version.
Sign up for a free trial at https://www.wordtracker.com/trial/
Free Keyword Research Guide – http://www.wordtracker.com/academy/keyword-research
Need some help? One of the primary services provided by Premium Web Design and Hosting is keyword research.
If you’d like the entire keyword research guide, please email [email protected] & ask how you can get it!
Glennette Goodbread, Owner
Premium Web Design and Hosting
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