Unlock keywords to boost your site ranking.

Keywords are more than words, actually they are usually a few words in the form of simple phrases that effectively describe what your website offers. They are 2-5 words long and use commonly spoken, easy to understand language that searchers are likely to type in or speak into their iPhone or Google’s search by voice feature.

It’s better for you to root out competitive keywords that are very commonly searched for because it will be borderline impossible for you to break into the search results for those keywords. The more broad and common your keywords are the more likely they’ll be too competitive and bump you to the tenth page. On the flip side, if your keywords are overly specific they will only pull in a few visitors.

Search engines rank pages, not sites.

You can use this to your advantage by targeting a few people with specific pages and use more general long tails for your home and about pages. They are words that command attention from search engines and bring people to your site. This is how you can easily gain organic traffic for free.

Why do competitor Keyword research?

Every post I write is keyword enhanced by strategic competitor Keyword research and optimized for SEO with a WordPress Plug-in called Yoast. By doing this, I am telling Google that I want to be as good as them and want to pop up in search results close to them. If I do a really good job and organically build my base over time I can show up before them in search. But, Yoast won’t tell me if my keyword is overused, too generic, too trendy or too specific.

Research your top competitors in your niche and what thier most profitable keywords have been over time. There are sites and software available that will do the dirty work for you like SpyFu.com. and more marking geared sited like SimilarWeb.com.

The thing is, if you’re starting out it’s best the keep your investments low until you catch-on and get your feet wet. SpyFu.com will run $600 a year just for their basic plan and that’s more than I brought in for writing in the last two weeks. Luckily, their demo/free trail version will get the top hits and deliver just enough information to get you started with your own competitor Keyword research.

These two screenshots are from SimilarWeb.com‘s free trail. I chose to compare the top writing market competitors looking for the same visitors I’m trying to attract. As you can see, much of their traffic is organic search and very little is from paid sources or ad clicks.

TheWriteLife.com is dominating the market and chomping up half of this donut. MakeALivingWriting.com and FreelanceWriting.com are very close contenders for second place and probably bounce around some from month to month to duel for the second spot.

There are many SEO keyword tools to try out there, but keep in mind they are not all created equal. Some are simple to use and totally free. Others only allow you to view a limited amount of data for free accounts.

Word Stream, Internet Marketing Ninjas, M ajestic, SEM Rush, Keyword Spy, Uber Suggest, Keyword, Discovery, Word Tracker, Bing, Tools SEO Book… and more!

Find the ones that work best for you instead of settling on any one tool. Every site is different and you may need more or less features than some of these tools offer. Always be leery about giving away your credit card information and remember that most of what you need online to be a better writer and make money writing from home is FREE. Below is a demo of one tool that is very easy to use and free by Internet Marketing Ninjas.

The Internet Marketing Ninjas tool box to the right resulted in the long list of keyword combinations on the left.

Competitor writing better
Competitor blogging
Competitor blog
Competitor article writing
Competitor blog ranking
Keyword writing better
Keyword blogging
Keyword blog
Keyword article writing
Keyword blog ranking
Research writing better
Research blogging
Research blog
Research article writing
Research blog ranking
SEO writing better
SEO blogging
SEO blog
SEO article writing
SEO blog ranking
long tail keyword writing better
long tail keyword blogging
long tail keyword blog
long tail keyword article writing
long tail keyword blog ranking
writing better
blogging
blog
article writing
blog ranking
writing better
blogging
blog
article writing
blog ranking

Search engines are picky eaters.

Like my 11-year-old son, search engines will not simply eat what websites put in front of them. Instead they will pick through their plate looking for the best stuff that they have a firm history with. And their tastes, like my son’s, can even change over time. Google is constantly evolving with the way the index sites and rank for results. Sometimes you make have to refresh your mad keyword skills and figure out a list of good keywords to enhance your blog.

Wait, aren’t all keywords awesome? No, they’re not. Some are disliked so much that they’ll ruin the whole dinner party.

If everyone LOVES kiwi this month, strawberries the next month, who’s to say it won’t be broccoli the month after that? People will still like kiwi and strawberries, but there will be more searches for broccoli. This is how the internet works.

Once a week I lay out a few topics and possible titles on a scrap of paper and do some researching to figure out the best log tails for my next several posts. This saves time later having them lined up, but not too far ahead so the ingredients are fresh for cooking up the next batch of delicious posts.

Some folks think a sprinkling of 2- to 3-word keyword phrases will do the trick, they’re wrong.

If you have a highly information-rich site, traffic will organically come from searches even remotely related to your keywords even if your keywords are over four words long, Traffic, also known simply as the visitors to your site, will come if:

Your information is good
Many other people have clicked on your site before
Other sites have links to your site
Your site has links to other sites
Your photos have an alternative description with a good keyword description
Your post has a few images or GIFs that go well with the topic
Social media has shared your post

This video does a great job of describing the long tail and the need for :

Okay, so now that you know the long tail keywords are your traffic makers, remember your site has to be cool enough to keep them there.

Common mistakes in competitor keyword research to avoid:

Single-word terms that are popular
General, overly common, broad terms
Keywords that are not specific to what your site offers
Overly specialized terms that no one will look for
Hyper-competitive terms that are just impossible to compete with

Terms must be specific, but terms that are TOO specific are useless because nobody searches for them. Try switching the words around or change one word in a long tail phrase in order to keep the main keyword but change it enough so it’s less competitive.

Find search terms relevant to who is searching for them and what your site is about. Ensure your competitor keyword research gives you popular enough long tails to draw in visitors without being so trendy that they bump you off the search results altogether. So how do you find out where all these criteria these intersect? If you made it through this post feel like you were trying to read an alien language, then maybe the SEO software is best for you. If you are not tech savvy enough or not interested in learning, maybe an SEO consultant is your thing.

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