SEO Speedwagon

Most, if not all, Search Engine Marketers (SEM) will preach the importance of keyword research. If yours doesn’t, it’s probably past time to ask why not. When most people speak about keyword research they are referring to the work done at the beginning of an SEM campaign. This is unquestionably the backbone of an SEM campaign, however there are other interesting and important ways to do research on your keywords.

In the real world I actually find this step to be vital in trying to determine why in the world (pun intended) I’m not performing for a keyword that I think I should be. Take for example the phrase “ppc”. When I searched on Google Trends for “paid search, pay per click, ppc” these are the results that were returned.

As you can see “ppc” is far and away the traffic leader but as the bottom half points out there are quite a few different cultural groups that show up for “ppc”.

If we do a little digging we will find what we thought we would find, Pay Per Click results, but we will also find quite a few other results including Pocket PC, and even a Vietnamese power company.

Now, besides the obvious Geo-Targeting issues, some reasons for why I’m not performing the way I should for the keyword “ppc” have come into focus. Steps can now be taken to either Geo-Target, and/or change the way we advertise in the various marketplaces/cultures around the world.

The main thing to remember is that keyword research is a vitally important part of any SEM campaign, natural or paid, but research on your keywords can be just as important to your bottom line .