Most SEO experts would agree that SEO is only successful when it provides sustained results for the website. This means a low bounce rate and decent conversions on top of the increased traffic the SEO brings. The two former things won’t happen if you and your site’s users aren’t on the same page.

Keywords are the cornerstone of search engine optimisation, but they are often its greatest downfall. The way keyword research usually works is this:

1. The business decides it wants to rank well with at least four of its pages.

2. The business, perhaps with the help of an SEO company, performs keyword research and draws up a list of the most tempting prospects.

3. The keywords are sorted into levels of competition, and the business picks out which ones to compete for. This might be two high-competition keywords and two low-competition ones.

4. The main pages, which have been pre-selected for optimisation, have the keywords slotted in. The pages are fine-tuned, and the site is uploaded. Several weeks later, success.

This sounds like an ideal scenario, but it misses out one point. You can’t just jam keywords onto your pages and expect the traffic this generates to get you good results. Treating keyword selection like shopping at a supermarket puts you in danger of confusing your site’s users. A confused user is likely to turn right back to the search engine results pages and visit the site of your competitor instead.

A good ranking only works if it’s for the right page. This might seem confusing. After all, appearing as the number one result is success in anyone’s book, right? Wrong. Your rankings need to meet with your target users’ expectations.

For example, say your business provides a broad range of internet services, from website maintenance to internet connections. One of your keywords might be ‘internet services’, but if you apply this keyword to your pages about internet connection services, your users will be rightly confused. People who search for internet services are not necessarily thinking about getting their computer hooked up to the net.

This happens more often than you think. Many businesses are understandably hesitant to alter much of their site in the SEO process. SEO often means upheaval, and this can be disturbing. As a result, SEO is often layered over an existing site. This kind of slap-handed application doesn’t usually achieve the outcomes a business wants, and is a waste of everyone’s time.

The right focus for search engine optimisation is something that’s a little difficult to define. You can talk to us about finding your focus at SEO Consult. There are probably thousands of keywords that are applicable to your business. Your keyword research will show you which ones will be easier to compete for, but the story doesn’t end there. Keywords can’t be pasted over a page like wallpaper. They need to be an integral part of the page. It’s vitally important to ensure that you match your keywords to right pages.

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