Is it soda, pop or cola? What term do you use when speaking about a carbonated caffeinated beverage? I say soda but not everyone else will use the same term. So when thinking about keywords on your website, you have to think in terms of what other people think about when wanting to search for your product or service.
Use a variety of keywords
As long as it is natural, when explaining your products/services on your website, be sure to use various keywords, or variations of your keywords. For a product that uses initials, like SEO, be sure to use both SEO and search engine optimization to have better chances of being recognized in search and by the search engines.
Other combinations of keywords
With pay per click marketing, it is also known as search engine marketing, SEM, PPC and even Google Ads since Google is kind of the King of search engines. Just think, when was the last time that you asked someone for a piece of tissue versus asking for a Kleenex? What about when someone says – why don’t you do a search on the internet? Who says that? They say – Google it. These are brands, but you get the jest, there are other variations and terminology used to explain products and services, so the point, try to get as many as you can that are valuable to you and your business.
Don’t be spammy though
Now, that doesn’t mean, be sure to put every variation, every combination and the like in each and every page of your website, but to be aware of them and use them when natural and possible. Keep in mind too which are used more often and those might be the ones you spend more time 
focusing one.
Everyone loves a good tool
There are many tools out there that can assist with coming up with keyword variations or even trending words that may be associated with your keyword as well. In Keywords, What’s All the Fuss, I mention several tools that can be used for coming up with keywords, so be sure to hop over there and check them out!
Check out the volume
When you check out the keyword tool in Google Adwords, pay attention to the volume searched for each keyword. This will help you determine which keywords are being searched. This is where you may find out that soda is more commonly used than pop. However, as geographic locations vary, so do their terminology so it will depend on your location and your target market, so keep those things in mind as well.
The volume is important but don’t plan to go after all of the highest volume keywords, because, as you can imagine, those will be the most competitive too. It’s healthy to have a few competitive keywords with some less competitive keywords. Just keep and eye on them, track them and see how they work out for you. It might be time to reevaluate and update, and that’s okay too.
What do you think?
Hopefully this has been helpful for you – that you need to consider your location, your target market and other keyword variations when planning your keywords for your website. Remember, your website is for your consumers, not for you, so you need to build it that way. 😉 Should you need help or have any questions about search engine optimization or keyword research, please feel free to contact me. I’d love to help.
Feel free to leave a comment about the most useful nugget in this blog. Thanks for stopping by!
~Kristen
Great background when considering what key words to use. I will definitely jump over to your “Keywords, what all the Fuss” to check out some helpful resources. Thanks
I hope you were able to follow the internal link to the other blog and found it useful as well. 😉
Great post Kristen 🙂 Very Useful information.
Thanks Andy – glad it was useful
The value of keywords cannot be overemphasized.
Always get something useful in your blogs. Thanks.
Glad to hear Roslyn!
Such great info about keywords. Your point about not everybody using the same words, like soda and pop, is something I don’t tend to think about but will try to be mindful of that from now on. Geographical location often determines what words are used.
Glad that you found it useful Beth… slang and location can make a difference. I also noticed that when reading blogs from other countries. 😉
Thanks for sharing some great tips! The nugget that really spoke to me was your point around “think in terms of what other people think about when wanting to search for your product or service.” Sometimes we get so caught up in what we want to write, that we forget who we’re writing it for. Thanks again!
Glad the your customers and how they think was the nugget that spoke to you – very important! 😉
Love the tip about not being “spammy” with your keywords… there’s definitely such thing as key word overload! I hate reading someone’s page and noticing how hard they try to get them all in… it should be effortless, right? Thanks for sharing!
So true Holly – you can certainly “stuff” keywords and that just isn’t good for you, search engines or your consumers! If natural, it WILL be effortless! 🙂
Thanks for the keyword tools!
You are welcome Sharon – let me know if you need any help.
One of my favourite bloggers
YAY! Hope it was helpful Sonya!
I’ve always struggled with finding good keywords and how to fit them into my website without looking spammy. Good tips – I’ll make use of them. 🙂
Sorry that you have struggled, but glad that you found these tips helpful!