Sometimes getting better search engine ranking may require some reverse  thinking. By that I’m talking about taking a look at sites which directly compete with yours. This is one of the best places to start when looking at improving your SEO.

By analyzing your competition you can find quickly new keywords you never thought of for your website and also find out how effectively your competitors have used these targeted keywords. Be sure to look for target phrases (usually the most competitive term) your competitor is using.

Once you have a good list you can begin analyzing the popularity rating of each keyword and select the ones that make sense to the content you have in mind. Using the appropriate phrases and keywords will only bring you better search engine ranking.

My recommended keyword tool to get started

There are lots of “keyword research tools out there.  Ubersuggest is a good one to check out- and its free as well. Look for keywords that bring a fair amount of traffic but are not too competitive. And remember, choose the keywords that are the most relevant to your website theme.

Long tailed or “low hanging” fruit keywords

Imagine hundreds of thousands of keywords that your site could be ranked for that no one is competing for.  Many searchers will type in 3 or more keywords to narrow their results in order for them to find a specific product or solution. These are called long tailed keywords.

Long tailed keyword marketing is the art of crafting these keywords and implementing them throughout your site.

The big advantages to using long tailed keywords are:

• They are plentiful and everywhere
• They are easy to rank for (low competition)
• They deliver better page result for the user

Collectively these low demand keywords can actually bring you more traffic than the more popular keywords. With enough of them inside your content, your traffic can eventually improve.

Let Google find those keywords for you too

If you search using Google input box then start typing in your search term, you’ll notice it will start to populate the query for you. This uses what is called the Google Suggest Tool.

Then also notice at the bottom of the page will be a handy list of related keywords – some of those you may have missed in your keyword analysis. Give it a try, allow Google to find related keywords for. You might be surprised or maybe even enlightened!