Ever try to find something in a junk drawer that you KNOW is in there, but no matter how many times you shuffle the stuff around, the thing you are looking for does not appear? Imagine how your readers feel when they search for your website and are unsuccessful. I know you’re there. They know you’re there. But if they can’t find you, the more likely they are to stumble onto someone else’s site. Here are some great tips to make sure you’re not hiding your light under a bushel.
You have most likely heard the expression, “content is king,” if you have dabbled in any form of online business, freelance work or personal blogging. Simply put, this phrase means a website has to have original, relevant and appealing content in order to thrive. Content is one of the most important factors to consider when creating a blog, but it means nothing if you play hide and seek. You can be the best writer of your generation, offering valuable and educational information, but that won’t matter if no one can find your site online.
Another common philosophical question is, “If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it really make a sound?” Interpreting this question in regards to search, it means, “If you write relevant and original content on your site, but no one can find it, does it really exist?” In order for your content to be found by the right visitors, you need to determine what those people are searching for and incorporate the keywords and phrases into your website. The process of finding those expressions is called keyword research.
What is Google Suggest?!
There are many ways to conduct keyword research, however, the most basic and straightforward method is to use Google Suggest. What is this “Google Suggest” I speak of? Well, when you begin typing something into the search box, the phrases that appear and change as you continue typing are suggestions that Google gives you based on previous searches and content available on the Internet. The image below is an example of Google Suggest.
These suggestions are not based on your previous searches, but the previous searches of all Google users, which is why these recommendations are so valuable for keyword research. If you know what other people are searching for, you can work those phrases into your website’s title tags, meta descriptions, blog titles and content to increase your chances of being found by your readers. It is important to keep in mind, however, that you are trying to attract interested visitors to your site, not just visitors in bulk.
For example, just because people are searching for “how to tie a tie,” I would suggest that you NOT work that expression into the content of your “how to ride a motorcycle” blog. If you have a blog about fashion and have a piece about tying ties, then, by all means, that keyword fits perfectly. Make sure the keywords you choose to incorporate on your site are relevant so you never mislead your visitors. If you use keywords that don’t apply to your site, you will score a lot of hits, but not so many happy customers. There is a time and place to play hard to get. This is not one of them. As my mother used to say, “Use your words!”
Google Suggest Tools
If you were lost in the dark, wouldn’t you want a flashlight? Well, this flashlight shines on you so you can be found! Now, instead of spending a lot of time typing the beginning of expressions into Google and not hitting enter over and over again, there are two tools that make keyword research with Google Suggest much easier: Soovle and UberSuggest.
Below you can see how each tool functions when using the expression, “how to cook.”
Soovle is a site that collects the top terms entered by people into search engines like Google, Amazon, Bing, YouTube, Wikipedia and Answers.
UberSuggest is another site that completes the expression, “how to cook” with the top ten Google Suggest results. Following those results, this tool also combines “how to cook” with each letter of the alphabet and numbers 0-9 and returns those top ten keywords people search for.
Optimizing Your Content with Google Suggest Keywords
To illustrate how you can use those tools to determine Google Suggest keywords and attract interested visitors, let’s use an example!
If I had a cooking blog and posted about preparing a Thanksgiving turkey, I would want to optimize the blog title and content using keywords. Using Soovle.com and Ubersuggest.org, I would type the beginning of a variety of Thanksgiving turkey and cooking-related phrases, including some of the following words and expressions, to determine what people are searching for around this topic:
- Thanksgiving
- Thanksgiving turkey
- Cook a
- Cooking turkey
- Turkey
- How to cook
- How to cook a turkey
- How to cook a thanksgiving
- Roasting a
- Best turkey
- Recipes for
Using the tools, there are hundreds of keywords being searched for that could be integrated into the content to optimize the post. Some of the keywords I selected at random from those hundreds of keywords include:
- Thanksgiving recipes
- Thanksgiving turkey
- Thanksgiving turkey recipes
- Thanksgiving turkey help
- Cook a turkey
- Cooking turkey time per pound
- Cooking a turkey
- Turkey recipes
- How to cook a turkey
- How to cook a turkey for thanksgiving
- How to cook a Thanksgiving turkey
- Roasting a turkey
- Best turkey recipe
- Recipes for Thanksgiving
Without knowing how many people are searching for each of those keywords, I would try to incorporate into the title as many keywords as possible that most relate to the post without going overboard. Therefore, considering my post is a how-to on cooking a turkey, I would title the post “Recipes for Thanksgiving: How to Cook a Thanksgiving Turkey” because seven of the selected fourteen keywords are included in the title.
Even though some of the keywords are not used verbatim, the jumbled keywords can still help the page rank in search results if a user searches for any one of these words. Then, by incorporating all fourteen keywords into the post, the chances of ranking for searches like “how to cook a thanksgiving turkey” and “recipes for thanksgiving turkey” will increase.
Content Creation and Google Suggest
Using Google Suggest to optimize existing content is always useful, but it can be used in a variety of ways. One of the best Google Suggest techniques is for content creation. If you want to write a post for your blog, you can use Google Suggest to see what people are searching for.
For example, if you have a fashion blog, you can type the phrase, “how to wear,” into Soovle or Ubersuggest to get some ideas.
By investigating what people are searching for, you can spark an idea! With Google Suggest pointing you in the right direction, the more in- depth keyword research process (as discussed in the above section) can help you refine and focus on finding a relevant title and keywords to place in your blog.
So, now you know all about the glory and wonder of Google Suggest! It’s amazing, right?! Use the tool for content creation or to simply optimize your existing posts. All you have to do is discover applicable keywords and incorporate those keywords in your site. It’s like emptying the junk from the drawer so you can be found by the right kind of visitors. It’s just that easy! You’ve all heard the English proverb about hiding one’s light under a bushel. Stop doing that!
