Acceptance of Circumstances, AI Search, Being Found On Bing, Being Found on Google, Google Ads, keeping up with trends, marketing best practices, Marketing Planning, Objectives Setting, paid search, pull marketing, push marketing, Search Engine Optimization, search terms, SEM, SEO, SEO tags, strategic planning, target audiences, Target Marketing, Understanding Your Environment, website

Like SEO, Keyword Research Is Not Dead

Some SEO experts are saying identifying and focusing on ranking for keywords, i.e., high-volume appropriate search terms your organization wants to be found for in search engines in relevant geographies, isn’t as critical to SEO success as it used to be. In keeping with our recent blog post about SEO (search engine optimization) still being relevant, keyword research is still quite relevant to both for-profits’ and non-profits’ success.

Here at Results Communications & Research, we still believe and see evidence from the SEO rankings audits of clients’ websites that we conduct, that understanding the search terms that target audiences are entering into Google, Bing, and other search engines and capitalizing on them (as explained in this previous blog post about how to interpret and use keyword research) is still an important SEO tactic and one that moves the SEO needle.

We don’t see the day coming (for a long time, if ever) on the SEO front where clients aren’t going to want and need to remove their blinders and not rely on internal speak and internal knowledge to inform both their SEO and their overall business strategy. Keyword research allows them to take those blinders off.

This is a blue square image that reads in black font, "like SEO, keyword research is not dead," and that contains the picture of a tombstone that says "RIP" on it, and the tombstone has a red X over it/crossing it out. The image also contains the logo of our SEO consulting firm, Results Communications and Research

Non-SEO Benefits Of Keyword Research

Keyword Research Is Not All About SEO, It’s Also About Your Marketing and Business Strategy

Even if keywords were no longer important to SEO, keyword research still allows you to determine:

  • What products and services target audiences are searching on which can help an organization to decide to eliminate products or services or add new ones
  • The volume of individuals who are searching in an organization’s market area (geography) to help inform whether push or pull marketing is warranted

Read our blog post about why keyword research informs more than an SEO strategy.

Need Help Conducting Keyword Research?

Our team regularly conducts keyword research to inform our clients’ marketing and SEO strategies. Reach out today to schedule a complimentary discussion about our keyword research services.

Being Found on Google, competitive advantage, Google My Business Profile, keywords, marketing best practices, online presence, organic SEO, pull marketing, Search Engine Optimization, search terms, SEO

Are You Making These 3 Mistakes Related To Your Google My Business Profile?

As part of our organization’s organic SEO (search engine optimization) services, we ask to have access to a client’s Google My Business Profile, or at least have a chance to review the behind-the-scenes information/set-up with our SEO clients via a Zoom call where they access and share their Google My Business Profile dashboard.

Whether you want to think of it as a mistake or a missed opportunity, here’s three Google My Business capabilities you may be missing out on to get your organization ranking better locally on Google (remember, Google is more likely to serve up your Google My Business Profile vs. your website) for “near me” or “city/town” terms) :

  1. Providing Google with 20 services areas. Make sure you capitalize on these. And, remember, the further out your business is physically from the geography in which a searcher is searching on relevant terms, the less likely Google is to serve up your Profile, so keep any service areas you add to your Profile within a two-hour drive of your physical office, and ideally far less than two-hours.
  2. Identifying up to 10 business categories. You need to pick a primary category — a category of business that best describes your products and services, but you can pick 9 additional “secondary” categories. Right now, there are over 4,000 business categories in Google My Business from which you can select. And, Google keeps adding to the list, so even if you don’t see a category that fits a particular product or service you offer now, you should revisit your Profile information every 3 months or so to see if there are any new categories you can select that are appropriate to your business.
  3. Providing specific product or service lists underneath your various business categories that employ keywords (search terms) on which your target audience(s) may be searching. See example below where we listed our SEM (paid SEO/Google and Bing Ads) and organic SEO services under our primary business category.
This image shows information you can see within your Google My Business Profile dashboard. It shows an example of service listings that have been added under a primary business category in Google My Business. The primary business category says "Marketing agency" and underneath it there are service listings for "Local and Global (Organic) SEO and "SEM/Paid Search."

We Can Help You Optimize Your Google My Business Profile

Reach out today to learn more about our local SEO services! And, learn about another Google My Business best practice!