One of the most important aspects of any successful Search Engine Optimisation campaign is the use of keywords and a crucial element of that can be defined as keyword strategy. In short, any keyword research carried out should be done in the larger context of an effective keyword strategy. Different scenarios call for different strategies and Pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns require a different strategy to a pure Search engine optimisation (SEO) campaign due to the differences between the ways in which keyword phrases can be targeted in PPC campaigns.

Selecting your target phrases

Following a proper keyword research process, you should have a list of desirable keyword phrases for which you want to create an effective strategy. (If you haven't already conducted keyword research, please consider our specialised keyword research process service for this requirement.)

Choosing your targeting methods

When we create a successful keyword strategy, we often start by:

    * reviewing the competition for each of the chosen keyword phrases, and
    * determining how the client should best target each of those phrases (PPC, SEO or a combination of both)
  

Choosing your content strategy

Once you've identified the competition for your keyword phrases and the methods that you'll use to target them, you'll then need to develop a content strategy that includes the keyword-optimised pages, landing pages and linking targets that will be needed in your SEO campaign. You need to consider each phrase and determine whether you should target it with existing content or landing pages, or whether new pages should be created. In a similar way, for phrases that will require link building in order to compete, you will need to make your targeted pages more compelling to other people who may link to them. By the end of this phase, you will know the number of pages that need to be created, rewritten or modified and will have a clear idea of the scope of work required for your SEO campaign.

Your strategy will change

Carrying out keyword research and creating a successful keyword strategy is not a one-time activity. The keyword phrases selected during your initial research will probably not be the right phrases for your website in 12 months time. The phrases you target should change as your website develops and as you gain better rankings in the search engines. For example, you may target phrases initially that you know you can gain high rankings for, but you may avoid targeting major phrases because the competition is just too great for your website to be able to gain any significant impact. However, once you have achieved success with the other phrases, targeting the major phrases may become a worthwhile activity. Or, by monitoring the keyword phrases you use over a period of time, you may discover that one type of phrase results in substantially more conversions than another and you may decide that another round of keyword research is necessary to find similar phrases that might be more useful for your website. It's important to realise that these activities change just as the rest of your marketing and business strategies change and evolve over time.