Question

Topic: SEO/SEM

What Keywords Should I Use For Seo?

Posted by Kellyin651 on 3/30/2009 at 1:41 PM ET 125 Points
Company offerings: Repair services on furnace, central air, water heater, range, dryer, washer, refrigerator, dishwasher, gas fireplace, freezer, and gas grill. Customers can either pay for the repair or if they have a Repair Plan they have no out of pocket expenses.

Customers do not engage with us unless they have an appliance failure. We are trying to improve organic search by modifying keywords and keyword phrases to be more competitive. However, we work on SO many brands and types of appliances. My challenge is to narrow down the list of keywords to ten (10) to test some changes with our meta data.

So if you have your furnace, central air, kitchen or laundry appliance breakdown and you did not know the name of a company and you turned to the world wide web, what keywords would you use to find information?
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by mktgcbb on 3/30/2009 at 2:19 PM Member
    That's tough. I'd start with "(the brand I have) repair" and possibly my location. Based on the business you describe, it might be very hard to generalize. I would think that it would be easier to find customers by getting on manufacturer's websites as an authorized repair location (though I'm sure you've already done that).
  • Posted by Kellyin651 on 3/30/2009 at 2:28 PM Author
    Ahhh, you see the dilemma, which is why I am resorting to web posts for feedback. I cannot possibly list all the brand names, nor all the appliance types, but naturally many consumers type in the brand name, and the type of appliance and either use "repair" or "service".

    I guess my question is how do I educate consumers to think more generically when searching online so they use broader terms. Is that taking two steps back?

    We are working to enhance our external linking from manufacturer website. We are not always an authorized warranty dealer, but we still do the work at no charge if the customer is enrolled in our repair plan.

    Thanks for responding!
  • Posted by Lorenz Lammens on 3/30/2009 at 2:54 PM Member
    Hi Kelly,

    the best way to go about this is to use the Google external keyword tool:

    https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

    Just type in all the keywords you think are relevant and Google will return to you the exact keywords that people have typed into its search engine, how many searches there are monthly and what months the search phrase is most often used.

    This information will give you great results, and will outperform similar information offered by WordTracker or KeyWordDiscovery.
  • Posted by Kellyin651 on 3/30/2009 at 3:30 PM Author
    We used the Google tool as well as WordTracker and KeyWord Discovery. We also looked at KeyWord Discovery to identify keyword density in our copy so we can identify areas of improvement. It clearly pointed out our laziness in labeling images! The term "image" has the second highest density. A quick fix is to appropriately name our image assets so they contribute to our overall quality score and desired keyword optimization.

    Thanks for the resource suggestions!

  • Posted by Lorenz Lammens on 3/30/2009 at 3:46 PM Accepted
    Hi Kelly,

    did Google point you to the ten most used generic key phrases for your service offering? Because the 10 key phrases with highest search volume that Google returned would be your best bet.

    You also said that you considered working with your meta tags. Meta tags have been devalued by search engines. If you want to rank well for keywords you need to do two things:

    1) Optimize page copy:
    - Have your keywords once in the page title (title);
    - Once in the Heading (H1)
    - Once in the first paragraph
    - Once in the last paragraph
    - Link out to other related pages or resources at the bottom where possible.

    2) Have articles with those keywords linking to your site
    The easiest way is to write articles for ezinearticles.com and goarticles.com and link them to your relevant pages, or to try and get published in online industry publications.

    You can further improve your listings in your target markets by registering on local search engines (including Google's, MSN's and Yahoo's local pages) and by installing tracking software so you know exactly with what keywords your site was found (Google Analytics is a free option that works very well).

    Make sure you also register for webmaster tools (Google, Yahoo, MSN). Especially Google Webmaster tools is important, as it gives you the keywords you ranked for but did not result in a click (e.g. because you only ranked on page 4).

    Hope this helps.
  • Posted on 3/30/2009 at 7:43 PM Accepted
    Perhaps a slightly different direction but I thought might be useful for you. Your page wont please everybody - you cant optimise for every term. Optimise to meet the exact intention of a searcher in a vertical you can rank in. Ie

    Title - "Same Day Broken Water Heater Repairs In (your area)
    Copy should really match this title. Keep it under 70 characters to feature in Google without truncation.

    And the only meta information you should address is the description. Meta keywords are 100% useless. Your page title is the most important factor, and yes, I use a H1 tag followed with original text around your terms.

    Optimise one page for one phrase. See here

    https://www.hobo-web.co.uk/seo-blog/index.php/how-many-words-can-i-optimise...

    Go for double listings
    https://www.hobo-web.co.uk/seo-blog/index.php/illustrating-google-double-li...

    And yes the Google tool is useful but a bit overwhelming. If you know your indusrty inside out get a piece of paper and write down the terms you think people will type into Google to find your SERVICE in that AREA.

    Consider testing with Adwords or Google Local Business centre too https://www.google.com/local/add/


    Best of luck :)
  • Posted by Kellyin651 on 3/31/2009 at 8:44 AM Author
    Mike, Thank you for the link to a free ebook. Neither the question nor the responses make reference to any quantity of pages to optimize, so I am not sure to whom you are directing your comment about guessing. I see from your comment you are passionate about SEO, so thank you for taking time to respond.
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