Researching the Right Keywords

Keyword analysis is the most basic step when it comes to optimizing a website for search engines. But the shocking thing is that, many people do things like search engine submissions, directory submissions, and use many other optimization techniques, without actually spending much time on picking up the right keywords for their website. Keyword analysis is the core of any search engine optimization campaign, and hence the right keywords should be carefully chosen, before implementing any other SEO techniques. This article discusses some techniques that could be effectively used to pick the right keywords for your website:
Parent Keyword:
First step is to pick the most common keyword which represents your online business. For e.g. if your website is a forum for discussion about pets, “pets” would be the parent keyword. It is also important to note that singular and plural keywords are treated differently by search engines. Choosing the parent keyword is usually a simple task, although it can be a bit tricky in case of certain specific topics, where you should pick the most general keyword. Once you have defined the parent keyword, the next step is to do a vertical and lateral keyword analysis.
Vertical Keyword Analysis:
A vertical keyword analysis produces a list of keywords which are variants and synonyms of the parent keyword. Here you can either yourself do some guess work and come up with a list, or use a tool, which is much more preferable. The two most popular tools for vertical keyword analysis are overture and word tracker. Word tracker has been the market leader for quite some time, and its worth paying for its paid version, which is much more powerful than the trial version available on their website.
Lateral Keyword Analysis:
Lateral keyword analysis basically refers to the process of generating keywords which are not directly related to the parent keyword, but relate to the parent keyword in some way. For e.g. in case of pets, users searching for cat food, dog chains, etc. would also constitute targeted visitors for that website. Hence through the process of lateral keyword analysis, it’s possible to compile a list of keywords, which might help bring in targeted visitors to the website.
By now you should have a large list of keywords to work with, and this is the time when you distinguish between your primary and secondary keywords. The most important thing to decide is unless you have large resources or vast SEO experience it is best not to target the most competitive keywords, i.e. keywords which are searched the most.
If you use the overture or word tracker tool, you can find out how many times a keyword is searched for, and on the basis of that you can pick a reasonable keyword, according to your expectations. A right keyword for one person might not be the right one for another, as it depends on many other factors, such as the goals of your website, your short and long term plans etc. It is also preferable to choose up to 3 to 4 secondary keywords. Once you have your primary keyword and secondary keywords ready, your page content should be designed accordingly.