Search Engine Terms

A frequent question I'm asked by my clients is how to find the right keywords that people are searching with. My first answer is always, "Start with your common sense." Typically, you know your site's content better than anyone, because it's your area of expertise. If that's the case, you know the industry jargon. Now spend some time thinking about all of the different terms your customers use. That will give you the best start. However, there are more opportunities for expanding your list of keywords. Here are some good places to look:

• Keyword tool suggestions (such as Google AdWords Keyword Tool, if you're an AdWords customer)
• Similar/related sites, see what words they use
• Alternative search query suggestions in ranking results (see the bottom of the list in Google searches)
• The dictionary and thesaurus
• Top ranking pages (competitor sites that rank better than yours)
• Wikipedia and other authoritative sites
• Books on the topic

An interesting article on how to write search engine optimized copy for your site (and where several of the above ideas came from) can be found here: http://searchengineland.com/seo-copywriting-tips-optimizing-for-multiple...