Description
The second part of our series of search engine optimisation (SEO) tactics that simply do not and will not work:
Tip: There is also below – some that do work!!
2. Optimising for General or Peripheral Keywords.
Unfortunately you or your business is not (ever) going to rank for a one-word keyword! Run a UK-wide football coaching academy? Well you’re never going to get on the first page for the Google search ‘Football‘.
In addition, it’s going to be seriously tough to rank for many two-word searches. Often, time spent optimising for these searches is time wasted. A far better approach is to target the phrases that people actually type in!
Let’s use another example. You are a builder in London. Targeting the search ‘builder’ or ‘London builders’ is going to be a very tough ask to crack the first page of Google (natural search listings). In fact, if we give it some thought we realise that searcher’s often have a very specific need for a certain type of builder, in a certain borough of London.
So rather than littering your website pages with the word ‘builder’ and ‘London builders’, think about creating a well laid out website, with well written copy and sub-pages that deliver great rankings for searches such as ‘builders in Chelsea’, ‘loft conversions Clapham’, or ‘Maida Vale builders’.
A second great benefit to this approach is that in general the longer the search term, the more specific the request. Sending a searcher through to your page, written and optimised specifically for (example) ‘football coaching academy in Brighton’, will generate a higher conversion rate for you – because the relevance is higher.