For me personally, Wordtracker.com is not just a tool for looking up
keywords. Sure, that's one good use for it, but what I want to
distinguish is another influential and exciting use for Wordtracker as
an SEO resource.
"Keywords" for use in your Meta tags are
probably the least influential element in search engine optimization
these days. However, hunting for keywords still seems the most popular
use for Wordtracker. After all, it contains over 336 million queries
within its database, which is no older than 60 days. An SEO can spend
long periods of time doing research and hunting for keywords. But let's
really try and get our minds around the keyword hunting issue for a
minute, and I'll explain a few other tips for using
Wordtracker.
Identify your target audience's "surfing
behavior"
Is there any greater discovery than having an
understanding of a target audience's "surfing behavior"? It's like a
light coming on in your mind. It's like flipping on a switch to an idea
generator! Wordtracker will give you absolutely AMAZING detail if you
take time to think about it laterally and outside of the context of just
a "keyword hunt."
Later in this article, I'll explain how you can
use WordTracker to identify your audience's surfing
behavior.
Move beyond the "keyword universe"
function
In speaking with many search engine optimizers, I
have learned that so many seem to get stuck in the "Keyword Universe"
feature. The ability to generate lists of keyword phrases using the
built in thesaurus is nice, but you must not get stuck there and let it
do all the thinking for you. As you move on to discover other features
within Wordtracker, you will also have the opportunity to perform a
"comprehensive search" or an "exact search" or utilize the "top 1000"
report.
Tips to identify human behavior?
Where
you'll find most of your "revelations" or "insights" are in the
"comprehensive search" feature of Wordtracker. Try entering one part of
a search phrase and letting "comprehensive search" figure out the best
"full use" of the phrase. Another technique I like to use is to examine
the top reports for a "high performance" keyword or topic related to my
client and then cut and paste it into comprehensive search to get
streams of currently "hot topics." I define a hot topic as a popular
topic in high demand, which may also have lists of related keyword
phrases also in high demand.
Let's study a real life example .
. .
Now let me give you a recent example of understanding
behaviors. I wanted to pull additional traffic into a site selling baby
furniture. The site sells strollers, baby furniture, cribs and other
baby products. The client explained that they wanted me to find ways to
pull in their true audience. Sometimes you'll discover the true audience
is not what it first may seem. By true audience....I mean "targeted
audience" or the folks most likely to "BUY" or "respond" to the Web
site.
If you just think only in "keywords" mode, you may miss
this.
Performing a comprehensive search within Wordtracker by
typing in the word "baby," Wordtracker returns interesting results. Do
you know what I learned? The target audience for baby strollers is NOT
people who have babies! You heard correct. The "true audience" for those
buying strollers and baby cribs ARE NOT "folks who have NEWBORN BABIES!"
Here is the catch....if you are targeting folks with newborns, to sell
them a stroller....you're too late! The true audience are people who are
"soon to become parents."
Once Mom and Dad know a new family
member is on the way, they start buying BEFORE the baby arrives. Better
yet...often it's not even the parents who are buying...it's the
grandparents. Perhaps you have pages scoring tremendously well for
things like babies, strollers, cribs and baby furniture...... but now
your client wants even more.
Here's an example
strategy:
One behavior of the true target audience which I
discovered by using Wordtracker was as follows. As I entered the term
"baby" into "comprehensive search," the first thing I noticed was the
top phrase "baby names" which had been requested on major search engines
over 34,350 times in the last 60 days. It became very obvious when I
noticed the incredibly high demands on major search engines for the
phrase "baby names," or how about "meanings of baby names."
This
was indeed like a light coming on! I thought, imagine this, "soon to be
parents" are researching their unborn child's name by using the
Internet. What better time to connect with folks than before the baby is
born.
Finally, build a strategy based on the identified
behavior
Suppose we were to build a little library of themed
pages right into your client's site to attract the TARGET audience. They
are searching for baby names so it is essential that this is what you
MUST give them. Give them lists of baby names to choose from, right?
Don't ever trick your audience or they will simply never buy. Give them
exactly what they are looking right up front. In this example, you could
create pages that offer baby names and meanings of baby names AND subtly
offer a few product listings or links to your client's store front. It
is essential that you always provide content related to their search
first, and then you might offer some links to other appropriate products
within your client's site.
Test these unique ways for using
Wordtracker yourself, and learn how effective they can be.
Good
luck!
About John Alexander
John has taught onsite search engine
marketing sessions to people from over 80 different countries, and he's
worked as a professional in the search engine industry for years. John
operates a Web site for professional search engine optimizers, Beyond-SEO. For onsite training
by Robin Nobles and John Alexander, visit Search
Engine Workshops.
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