Keyword research for a WordPress website is the same as any other. You need to have a solid understanding of your product or service, as well as understand what keywords or search phrases are going to be used to find you. That doesn’t mean you can pick them because you think they are correct or appropriate for your business. You need to make sure that they are going to drive the right kind of traffic. This point will become clear as you read on.
You might have seen in the previous post about WordPress SEO, the initial keywords were leading to jobs for WordPress developers instead of listings of actual WordPress developers. That led me to believe Google thinks that I was looking for WordPress jobs, based on that search term. Obviously I want to be found, and hired, by someone looking for a developer, rather than having to apply for actual WordPress jobs. In this instance it’s a good idea to look at a keyword suggestion tool that can help you get a better perspective on the search terms you need to target in order to get the right traffic. Below I managed to use the free version of UberSuggest and I managed to glean some valuable insights about my chosen keywords.
If you look at the results, you can see that the number of monthly searches are quite low and may not be worthwhile making that the only keyword focus. I can double-check the expected traffic using Google AdWords keyword tool as well, but this should suffice for the time being to convey a point. With the low search volume, coupled with the fact that they are targeting the wrong audience, its clear that I need to change things up.
In my case, I simply need to add words like “hire a freelance WordPress developer” into the mix of keywords and I should be on the right track. The keyword suggestion tools will often have a search volume amount attached to the specific keywords you have chosen. That way you can get an idea of how many people are actually going to be searching for those keywords each month, and subsequently how much traffic to expect. It’s okay to have a low search volume keyword if you happen to be in a very niche group. In my case, I can expect around 100 searches per month, if I happen to broadly match some of the search terms.
The amount of traffic you get is dependent on where your site ranks in the search engine results page. If your site ranks well and lands up on the first page, in the first slot below the adverts, then you are most likely golden when it comes to your SEO. If not, then it’s time to start with your on-page optimisation, based on your chosen keywords. You have the option to find more keywords that will add to your overall traffic, but then you must remember that you have to optimise for more keywords as well.
Ideally you want to keep things simple and minimise the number of keywords for a given page. If you want to target more keywords, you simply have to add more content to that effect. Keep an eye out for the post on WordPress content strategy and how to create a content plan that is aligned with your marketing goals. You effectively repeat this process for every age that you want to optimise and you’ll gradually begin to generate more traffic on your website. THat traffic will eventually lead to new leads and new business.