It’s a shame that Google can’t get its own keyword tool right.

Sure, it’s an awesome search engine. But come on guys, with all of that money, you would think you could make sure your keyword tool work correctly.

I’ve been doing some keyword research about teen issues and basic keywords show no search data.  “Teen jobs” yields no search data. And that’s not the only phrase.

Get some background at Search Engine Land.

If you’re passionate about SEO or accounting, you’ll find want to get my new national study, “When Will SEO and Accounting Firms Add Up?”

Get the free study of accounting firms.

I spent a lot of time with 200 accounting firms – well maybe not in their offices. But I got to know them – from the single page that looks like it was made in 1996 to the largest CPA firms in the world. Amazingly, despite the apparent strides they’re making, they aren’t performing too well from a search engine optimization standpoint.

From what I could tell, they really lack visibility on the Internet. It appears that 62% don’t have a single word in the top 1o 0n Google for keywords based on the cities where they’re located.

Ouch.

I led the study with a team through Online Marketing Coach, a service of World Synergy (I’m the web strategy thought leader).

Online Marketing Coach manages an Internet directory I created called Accountants and CPA Firms. Until recently, it was Ohio CPA Firms. The directory ranks all over the place for major cities in Ohio. In recent months, we’ve been building up content with the new directory – and top rankings are springing up for everything from Fresno and Spokane to Ocean City (and a lot more).

Get listing info here.

By the way, we didn’t use any of the directory advertisers for the study except one we couldn’t avoid because it’s among the top 100 firms in the nation (one of the types of firms we targeted). We also looked at 100 small firms to see how they stacked up.

View the news release.

Let me know what you think of the study after you get a chance to check it out.

Try michael at onlinemarketingcoach.com or call me at 440.349.4940 ext. 635.

For effective online search marketing, here are some SEO Basics:

Keywords:

Keyword phrases are the most important part of your strategy. You’re going to miss your target, but that’s OK. That’s web site development. That’s marketing.

You can cast a big net and grab everything or you can target a specific phrase. I favor a mixed portfolio. It increases your odds of some success. A mixed set of keyword phrases also ensures some commonality among keyword phrases like nature posters and nature posters for sale.

If you go broad, your opportunities to convert a visitor (prompt them to take some action) are more limited. The searcher may very well not be interested in what you offer. If you’re too specific, no one may be searching (or the search traffic may be rare).

Web Site Content for Online Search Marketing

You don’t have a Golden Rule for content and the number of times you need to mention a keyword phrase. Start with few and then add more. Overkill won’t cut it. Some people suggest having 250-500 words per page. I think that can vary site to site and depending on what keyword you’re targeting. I’ve received traffic with 50 keywords and had no traffic with 500.

Focus on page headers, subheads and info boxes (secondary navigation) to other parts of the web site. Search engines seem to like it when you cluster together related keywords and navigation).

Online Search Marketing Analysis:

You can’t look at data in a vacuum. The real story is in the multiple slices of data and how they relate. A keyword ranking is nothing if no one is searching. And a single web site visitor can be worthless or an invaluable piece of data. You need to know how often people search for your relevant phrase. For example, if you see that you only got one visitor, that may be good if you’re ranking #15 and 500 people search for your phrase each month. You can do more with the page that is ranking and create related pages to support that keyword phrase (to help you get on the first page of Google and get more of those 500 visitors). Or, if you’re already ranking #3 for the keyword phrase and you only got one visitor, it’s likely a keyword phrase people rarely use. So don’t dismiss low web site visitor traffic. Keep it in perspective. If the Google tool suggests that relevant search traffic is high and you’re in the ballpark with rankings, you can make some changes and get the web site traffic volume you want.

Learn More

2011 Search Engine Ranking Factors – SEOmoz
 

SEO

• Competition
• Domain age
• Keywords in domain
• Text navigation
• Number of pages
• Amount of content on a page
• Keyword themes (keyword focus on web site)
• Anchor text (linked words when cross-referencing pages)
• Inbound links (from other web sites)
• Alt tags (text associated with images)
• Page headers (like headlines – H1 code)
• Subheads
• Proximity and density of keywords on page (staggered or limited to one area)
• Info boxes (secondary navigation with closely related linked text)
• Page age
• Programming (prominence of text on page or text lost in mounds of programming)
• Page load time
• Splash page (bad for SEO, and limited value for visitors who leave or click on
• Skip Intro out of habit)
• Keywords in page URLs
• Web site traffic
• Social media (mentions of your web site)
• Future content (your capacity to add to the web site)

If you want to be successful at online search marketing, these are some of the many variables you need to consider.

Some people would argue that there are no shortcuts when it comes to keyword research for keyword rankings.

I disagree.

You can only do so much given everything else on your plate.  Your search engine optimization or SEO campaign will never be perfect.  So cut yourself some slack with keyword search engine optimization.

Do the best you can with your time and your talent.  Unfortunately, there are some people who would expect to use all 50 keyword tools if there was an official list of 50 keyword tools and techniques.

I don’t know all the ways that you can tap to research keyword phrases.  You could look at Google’s free keyword tool.  But it’s better to get a Google account in accessed more data.  You can go to Keyword Discovery.  Or you can check out the competition.  And that’s just the start.

The extent of your keyword research is an important topic.  Sure, you don’t want to go overboard.  We don’t want you to claim you’re busy either and just try one keyword research tactic.  You have to decide how much keyword research your website merits.  Do you really need to research all of the keywords at the beginning?  Or can you target a certain product, a series of products or maybe a section of the website?

Keep in mind as you look at possible keyword phrases that different online marketing research resources will have considerable common ground.  In other words, you’re going to come across the same keyword  phrases no matter where you look.

Sometimes you need to get creative.  I was running out of ideas ones so I got a large book on a topic, skipped the Table of Contents and went right for the index that provided ample ideas for keyword.  It never hurts to ask someone, particularly the customer, how he would look for your product or service.  Can you imagine a web site owner targeting “autos” when his customers are searching for “cars”?  Or maybe the campaign needs to be robust and target both.

At the end of the day, you need to ask yourself whether you made the effort that you should have to help increase your search engine visibility.  Get rolling, measure what you’ve accomplished and adjust.