B2B SEO campaign, Use Google Keyword Planner tool

If you are just getting started with a B2B SEO campaign or have added additional pages to your site that need to be optimized, it’s necessary to conduct keyword research. Using the Google Keyword Planner tool, you can type in the keywords that you would like to target and it will provide you with a list of additional related keywords and their corresponding average monthly search information (determined based on the location criteria that you set) and the level of competition (High, Medium, Low).

When we are conducting keyword research on behalf of a client and present our findings, we find that some B2B SEO clients become overly consumed with the monthly search numbers and want to only target the keywords that have the highest search volume. They think that by targeting a keyword that has a high search volume it means that their site will generate a high number of visitors. Unfortunately (like everything in SEO), it’s not that easy. A high search volume also correlates with a high level of competition since every other website owner in your niche is thinking the same thing.

At the start of an SEO campaign or if you are optimizing brand new pages, it’s best to stay away from targeting the high search volume and high competition keywords. At this point in the process, it’s advisable to instead target the mid range keywords, or keywords that fall somewhere in the middle. They still have a healthy search volume but aren’t as competitive as the keywords that have the highest search volume. Mid range keywords often include long tail keywords that are used by searchers that are looking for something specific, which actually improves conversion rate. Targeting mid range keywords also means that there is a better chance that your site will begin to rank more quickly for the keywords that you target.

Once you have started to gain some traction by targeting mid range keywords, you can then start to incorporate some of the more competitive keywords into the mix. SEO success is largely based on the trust of a website, which takes time to achieve. The search engines don’t want to rank web pages within a website that just started out and could potentially be a fly by night site that only exists for a short period of time. The search engines want to rank pages of a website that is established, has generated quality inbound links, and publishes quality content on a regular basis. It takes time for a website to gain that momentum and “move up the ladder” so to say which is why it’s important to target long tail keywords that will be an easier “win” with the search engines, at least initially. Over time, a competitive keyword is much more realistic to target, it just requires lots of work in order to get to that point.

This can be frustrating to many website owners, but it’s all part of why SEO is such a long term process. If you aren’t involved in SEO for the long haul, success is going to be minimal.