MARKETING STRATEGY : Search Engine Optimization : Adjusting Keywords - Listen to your Customers

You probably use many sources and sofware to brainstorm your search keywords, but how do you know if your customers are starting to change the way they search for your products? Now you can listen to social media conversations and analyze them for any number of purposes, including search keywords.

Think about how you do keyword research normally. You probably start by entering into the search engines some keywords you know are relevant. Then you look at what pages come up and start to catalog in yourmind some other words that you see on those pages. Then you start entering some of those words and continue the process until you start to see that you are getting too far away from the original subject.

Then you take those words and use a keyword research tool to help you see which words are searched for frequently enough to be valuable. Next you let those tools show you other popular variations. And while all of that is very smart, you know that over time your customers start to shift what they are looking for.

The language around your product might change, due to technology changes ( cell phone becomes smart phone ), changes in client needs ( low-cost becomes total-cost of ownership ), or simple shifts in the language ( energy efficient becomes green ). When it does, you need some way of picking up on what’s happening so you can adjust your keyword mix in response.

For large businesses, you can use social media listening services to help you find new words that your regular keyword research might not have uncovered. The listening companies will do the work for you and find those nuggets that you might have missed.-

But for small businesses with limited ( no? ) budgets, what can they do to listen to their customers’ conversations?

Google Alerts to the rescue. You probably already use Google Alerts to monitor mentions about yourself and your company, but you can also use it for keyword research. You can load up Google Alerts with a bunch of your keywords and start reading the stories that come your way for new keywords.

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