• Tweet
• 

Last week we discussed planning out keyword research by creating a research strategy. Now let’s get into some actual keyword research techniques!  One free tool is Google’s Keyword Tool.

For example, if you have a pet sitting business start with the keyword phrase “pet sitter“.

• Pros: High local searches. Local monthly searches refers to searches in the United States, but these settings can be easily changed.
• Cons: This keyword phrase has a lot of competition. “Pet sitter” is a short-tail keyword phrase, meaning it has 2 words or less. Research shows that searching using phrases with 3 or more words, or long-tail keywords, shows a user is more likely to buy.

Solutions To Short-Tail Keywords:

Location

An easy way to make long-tail keywords is to add in location.  For many small retail businesses this may be more beneficial for finding local, not national, customers.

• Pros: These searches are very specific.
• Cons: Unfortunately, there is a lot of competition for these keyword phrases, and not enough local searches to outweigh the amount of competition.

Alternate Phrases

Look into different ways of describing your business.  You may find the market is referring to your business or industry in a way you didn’t know of.

• Pros: Multiple phrases to choose from with high local searches and low competition.
• Cons: All appropriate keyword phrases are short-tail.

From here I will choose between: “doggie daycare”, “canine boarding”, and “dog boarding” and build upon it to create a long-tail keyword phrase.

In weighing the pros and cons, I would go in the direction of “doggie daycare”. I would then go back and add in my location or go on to the next solution to make it a long-tail. If neither of those worked out, come back to this step and try again with “canine boarding” and “dog boarding”.

Descriptors

Dig deeper to find keywords that can be added on to make a long-tail keyword phrase. Play around with possible keywords that may be important to a pet owner when looking for a pet sitter. I generally start with words referring to quality of product/service, and cost of product/service.

Which keyword phrase would be best?

There is no perfect keyword, but my vote would be for “professional pet sitter” due to its low competition, fairly high searches, and being a long-tail phrase.