Don't blow your entire SEO investment (whether it be time or money or both) with the thought that choosing the right keywords is a no-brainer. You'd be surprised at how many people jump in, optimize their site, and achieve top rankings. Then they’re totally upset and frustrated when they discover they have no more visitors now than they did before they took the trouble to optimize their site. What happened?  They failed to choose keywords that people were actually looking for. Don’t assume you can pick your relevant keywords simply by thinking of them. You MUST conduct the proper research.

Stay away from terms that are too general or broad in meaning, or, targeting single words. There's a fine line between targeting keywords that are too general or competitive versus keyword phrases that are so specific that few people even think to search using that term.

Don't go after generic keywords. Generic words are not how the average person really queries a search engine.Statistically, a user will type in a generic or single word like "animals," then realize what they asked for was too broad in scope. They have to narrow it down, like "animal pictures," "baby animal pictures," and the list goes on. If you can just focus on very specific key phrases, you will have more success in the long term, hold a position longer, have less competition for focused phrases, and find that users will stay on the site longer because your site answered their questions.

Website owners love one-word search terms because they seem to get a lot of traffic. The reality is that only a fraction of Internet users entering a broad search word want what you offer. Go for search terms with two, three or four words that help visitors qualify their interests. Remember, you want targeted traffic that will actually convert into a sale.

DO:

Brainstorm a list of keywords and phrases that relate to your products and services… but don’t stop there. For each keyword you identify, there are probably two or three others that can deliver better, more targeted traffic. Misspellings, odd spacing, and product feature-specific variations should also be considered. And while some experts say a "more-is-better" approach to keywords, I don’t feel this is always the case. Search engines index pages, not sites. So it makes sense to target 2 or 3 different key terms for each page, maximizing your chances of having one of your site’s pages show up in the search results. Focusing each page on a few key terms also helps focus the information and content of the page, which improves how the search engine spiders will “see” your site and what keywords relate to it.

Next, don't go after generic or single terms. Put yourself in the shoes of your web searcher. Generic words are not how the average person really queries a search engine. Users will type in a generic or single word like "animals," then realize what they asked for was too broad in scope. They have to narrow it down, like "animal pictures," or "baby animal pictures”. If you can just focus on very specific key phrases, you will have more success in the long term, hold a position longer, have less competition for focused phrases, and find that users will stay on the site longer because your site answered their questions.

Lastly, don't guess your best keywords. Know which ones they are by taking the time to use the available tools out there. Wordtracker is a great tool for identifying highly popular keyword terms with low competition.

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