Finding the Right Keywords for Your Business

 

Finding the right keywords for your business has benefits such as improving your search ranking on SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) and making you a part of the Local 3-Pack, which is the goal of every business. If you are new to SEO and online marketing, the term “Local 3-Pack” may be new to you as well. I will briefly explain this with an example. Let us say I am looking for a bakery near me and want to search online. When I type “bakery near me” in the search engine, the top three results shown in the SERP are the Local 3-Pack, which are the top three results Google recognizes as the most relevant to my search, taking into consideration my location. So how can you achieve this goal for your business? Here are some tips for you.

1. Think like a customer

In order to know what keywords are best for your business, you have to put yourself in your customers’ shoes. Think like a customer by first asking yourself what keywords and phrases you would search for when looking for the kind of service or products your business offers. Understanding how your customers search for your services and products is a very good approach to starting your keyword research.

2. Check what others are doing

Check what keywords your competitors are using. With tools like SEMRUSH and Wordstream, you can find out keyword phrases your competitors are using by typing in their names or website links. Another way is to look for words used in the webpage titles of their websites and keyword tags of their homepages' HTML. This can be achieved by going to viewpage source in your browser, while on their sites and search for keywords.

3. Use Keyword tools

There are other tools that can be used to search for keywords. Some examples are Moz, Wordstream, and Google Keyword Planner. By typing in keyword phrases, a number of ideas would be listed which you can add to your keyword bank. These tools also furnish you with statistics on the number of people searching for these keywords and websites competing for these keywords as well.

 

4. Use Analytics

By looking into your website's analytics with tools such as Google Analytics, you would be able to get insights on the keywords that drive traffic to your site and work around those. Data does not lie so please do your best to add Analytics to your site.

5. Keep optimising

Keyword research never ends. Keep optimising and updating keywords on your site and in your search campaigns. Make sure to keep relevant keywords and keep your list up to date.  Check your analytics and refresh your keywords regularly.

 

With these tips and hard work, I believe you can get your business up in search rankings.

For more tips to help improve your business’ online visibility, please visit my blog.

Thanks for reading.

Step by Step guide to creating your Google My business listing

In my post about how to effectively build an online presence for your business, one of the essential points I mentioned was having a  Google My Business listing. In this post I will be walking you through how to create your Google My business listing from scratch. To begin with,  I would like to briefly touch on what Google My business is and why it is needed. 

 

Why Google My business?

Having a Google My business listing makes your business visible on Google Maps and Google Search. It also provides a medium for engaging with your customers or potential customers.  By including images, videos and contact details to your listing, people are able to get more information about what your business does. For someone who knows nothing about what Google My business is, I guess the first question would be what it is and where can it be seen. To make it more easier, I would like to illustrate it with an example.

 

The image above shows results for a search I did for restaurants near me. These restaurants listed in the results are visible because these businesses have created Google My business listings. Pretty straight forward, right? Yes, it is as simple as that. These type of listings you see on Google maps and on Google search (sometimes on the right side of the Search result page), is what this post is going to walk you through. Now that you know what Google My business listings looks like, let's dive into the set up.

Steps for setting up your listing

1. Create a Google My business Account

To create an account go to https://www.google.com/business/  and click on "Get Started Now" or log in with your Google account credentials.

2.   Enter your business details

 A tip for creating your business name is to use a keyword phrase that can help you rank better in Google Search. You however, have to be cautious when doing this. Using a name other than your registered business name could get you into trouble. You could be flagged by a competitor and get penalised. When this happens your listing can be demoted or ranked low. On the contrary, if your business is not already registered, you can go ahead and create a name with likely search keywords phrases like, Abena Furniture Installation Company. In this example "furniture installation" is a keyword phrase that can help your business rank better when people search for furniture installation companies. 

 3.  Claim your listing 

Since Google uses user generated information, there could be a situation where your business has already been listed. If this happens, do not panic. All you need to do is to select your business when it pops up and confirm that you are authorized to manage it. Afterwards, check your business listing on Google Maps and click on "Claim this business". If it has already been verified by someone you can not identify, you can request ownership and follow guidelines on how to claim it.

4.  Select your business category. 

Choose from the prelisted categories provided. If you do not find the exact match for your business, check what other businesses who provide similar services as you do, have as their product categories and choose the most recuring one or the one closest to what your business does.

5. Add location of your business.

Enter the address of your company. Since the purpose of having a Google My business listing to help people locate your business on Google Maps and Search, adding your business location is very essential. With this they will be able visit your shop or office.

6.  "Do you also work for customers outside of this company location? "

In this step, if your answer is "yes", you will be asked to enter areas that you provide services outside your company's location. Go ahead and add them.

7. Enter contact details you would like customers to contact you on.

In the section where you add your company's URL there is an option to create a free website. 

I would not recommend this, but it is all up to you. 

8. Verify your listing. 

A postcard would be sent to your mail to verify your listing. You can continue with the set up and verify your listing later. This is a step that should not be ignored since verifying your listing would help you to fully manage and take ownership of the listing.

Once your account is created, the next steps are to add more information to your set up.

9. Add photos and logo

I would recommend that you add some videos as well and not just photos. Adding photos and videos would enhance your listing. You can also Geotag your photos to improve search optimisation. 

10. Add your products

Add  product images, categories, descriptions and prices. A tip here is to add your business' keyword phrase and some more relevant keywords to the product descripitons. Vary descriptions for each product you add and ensure that all your descriptions have the keyword phrase for your business.

11.Add a post

Add a special offer you are running or details about a product you have. This could be a sale or promotion you are running or just a generic post about your products or services.

12. Add your opening hours

 Add the days and times your business is opened. Adding your opening hours will help your customers know when your business is opened and closed. This will help them make informed decisions about when to visit your store or office.

13. Take it from here

Play around the dashboard and add as much details as you can. You've got it 💪

I hope that with these steps you would be able to create your own Google My business listing. 

It is pretty straight forward and easy to set up. And always do your best to keep your details up to date.