Please note that this technique is for SEO and not PPC (pay per click - paid ads), though they have similarities, what is best for SEO may not be ideal for PPC campaigns that you’ll want to start for your online marketing.
So on our previous topic about keywords, I’ve shared and used this same table as an example. In this topic, this is not the ideal sample since it’s too broad - best if we’re more specific like for example “bangkok thailand hotel” or if you can be more specific the keyword “bangkok thailand hotel with swimming pool” is also great. But let’s just say this is what we’re targeting and the keywords we want.
# | Keyword | Search Volume | Number of Results |
1 | bangkok thailand | 18,100 | 104,000,000 |
2 | thailand bangkok | 1,600 | 442,000,000 |
3 | bangkock thailand | 30 | 102,000,000 |
Before anything else, let me explain about our columns.
- Keyword – as explained above, these are words or set of words that are entered to the search engine by its users.
- Search Volume – this is actually the average search volume per month. Therefore, there are months that it can be more than that, or less. Depending on the search trend.
- Number of Results – the number of pages of websites are shown when the keyword is entered. In other words, those are the number of competitors we have for those keywords.
- The first keyword “Bangkok Thailand” has the highest search volume. Of course, it’s how you really type or write it in, that’s the proper way to put it, and majority of the users do it.
- The second keyword “Thailand Bangkok” can be those users who entered “Thailand” first, and then later on added “Bangkok” to be more specific about the destination – and don’t deny it, we all do that. Sometimes I even enter “chocolate” then add “Hershey’s” after that if I want to be more specific. It’s not proper, but search engines understand what you need because of the words you use.
- Obviously Bangkok is misspelled on this keyword. Not all of us are perfect. I even use the search engine sometimes to know the correct spelling of the word.
Which Keyword to Choose?
So with this data, how do you choose the best keyword for you to start? Here’s how!
With my years of experience in providing SEO service to clients around the globe, the best keywords are those low on competition and high in search volume, but not all keywords are like that. There are a number of keywords that are high in search volume, but also high in competition, and there are that are low in competition but also low in search volume.
The second thing you’ll then check is choosing the keywords that are high to average in search volume and at least average in competition.
But nothing in this life is really perfect, there are keywords that a client would love to rank but again it’s both high on competition and volume which means a lot of time needed to rank on the keyword and effort to do since there are a lot competitors for that keyword that have been around a long time ranking for that keyword.
As an experienced SEO Specialist myself, I don’t discourage you to rank on those type of keywords, since if you’ll ever get a ranking on those type of keywords it totally is worth it but again, don’t expect it to be quick to rank. But I highly don't advice for you to try to rank on misspelled keywords like the 3rd keyword, if it does have at least a good search volume you'll be also ranking on that keyword if you're doing great and ranking on the 1st and/or 2nd keyword.
