How to Generate and Refine Search Engine Keywords Using the Google Adwords Keyword Tool

So you've got a website or a blog. It's well designed and it's got good content. Job done, right? Now you can just sit back and let customers come to you. Sadly, this is not the case. Now comes the difficult part: Customers can't read your excellent content or admire your superb design unless they can first find your site. This is where Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) comes in. In broad terms, search engine optimisation is how to get your site well placed in Google, and other online search engines, so that it can be found easily by potential customers looking for your products and services.

Search engine optimisation is divided into two main types, off-site and on-site. Both are mid- to long-term strategies and are an art rather than a science. This article focusses on one type of on-site optimisation; keyword refinement.

What are keywords?

Primarily, keywords are the words and phrases that your site is most likely to be found on. Their first purpose is to be embedded in the header of your website, which is visible to search engines rather than customers. However, modern search engines not only search headers and visible text but also compare them, looking for correlations. Sites where the content matches the search terms in a natural way tend to rank higher on search engines.

Note that keywords are not always the terms that you might want your site to be found on. For example if you selling sports jackets, simply using the term 'sports jackets' is probably a bad idea, as Nike and Adidas are likely to be way ahead of you.

What makes a good search term?

The trick here is specialisation. Rather than have clients search on generic terms, which many people are looking for but many other businesses are targeting, use specific language which refers to your business in particular. Fewer people may be looking for it but it is much more likely that they will find you rather than one of your competitors.

Have a key phrase or phrases that you are specifically targeting. The Adwords instructions below will help you come up with a coherent phrase that your customers may well be searching for, that addresses their particular needs. A good phrase might be one of your core services, combined with a one or two word summary of your USP or location. Mine is 'convert access databases edinburgh', for example. You should have at least one key phrase that you are specifically targeting but unless you have a large product or service base and possibly multiple sites, you shouldn't aim for more than about two or three phrases, in general.

Incorporate a unique selling point into your search terms. A USP helps to differentiate you from other similar businesses. This is more important than ever on the internet, where clients have access to potentially thousands of competitors. Remember that this competition is distributed globally and this may not be useful to all customers. Therefore, for more local businesses, your geographical position can be a useful way of distinguishing yourself.

Consider addressing a need rather than providing a solution. This addresses the 'benefits vs. features' approach to marketing. You know that you sell excellent quality sports jackets. The customer knows that they are cold or that they need a fashion item for the new season. Make sure that your keywords and content match your customers' requirements.

Be brief. The average user types in four or less words into a search engine for each query. Any phrases you use that are longer than that are probably wasted.

How to use Google Adwords to refine your Search Terms

• Create a Gmail account, if you don't already have one. Google requires you to have a profile with them in order to use their internet tools.
• Go to http://adwords.google.com
• On the top menu bar, click on Tools and Analysis / Keyword Tool.
• In the 'Word or phrase' box, type in the terms that you want your site to be found on. Bear in mind that some phrases will have heavy competition and not all phrases will be as sought after as you might think. The best option is to aim for the 'low hanging fruit', ie. the terms with low competition but high search frequencies.
  Ten or fifteen search terms is a reasonable amount. Remember that each separate word or phrase should be on a new line.
• Click on 'Search'. Click on the 'Keyword ideas' above the 'Search terms' box. Scroll down to the 'Keyword ideas' results box below.
• Click on the ' Global Monthly Searches' heading to sort by the most frequently sought after terms. Do this for both the 'Search terms' and 'Keyword ideas' results. Disregard any results that have less than a million searches.
• Look down the 'Competition' column. Competition is divided into three categories, 'High', 'Medium' and 'Low'. Ideally, you want all of your keywords to have 'Low' competition but this may not always be practical.
• Using the checkboxes on the left, select the relevant keywords, with the most searches and the lowest competition, from both the 'Search terms' and 'Keyword ideas' results. Click on the 'View as text' / 'My keyword ideas' option, above the 'Search terms' result set. This will bring up a list of your refined keywords. You can now stop here or use these terms to repeat the process and refine them further.

How to use Keywords

As mentioned above, the first thing to do with your refined keyword list is to make sure that it is embedded in the header of your web page or blog. It should be in the following format:

<meta name="keywords" content="[Comma separated list of keywords and phrases]">

Each page of your site should contain this element and there should be only one list per page. It is also good SEO practice to use these words and phrases in the title and content of your pages, in an organic fashion, especially in the headings and links. It is also a good idea to vary your keywords between pages, in order to relate better to each page's content, while keeping an overall theme.


Download the How To Generate Search Engine Keywords using Google Adwords article as a printable PDF file.