Keywords are very important when it comes to websites and search engines. A keyword is a word or phrase that a searcher uses in order to find information on a given topic. Keyword selection is the process of selecting the right keywords for each page of your website, and it is the stepping stone to your success on the Internet. With the right keywords your site can strike gold, while the wrong key words may turn your Internet marketing efforts into a flop. Below are tips to keep in mind when selecting keywords for your site.
Quality over quantity. This should be the overall goal of your site. You may be getting lots of traffic but your conversion rate, the rate in which site visitors become actual patients, may be low and your keywords may be to blame. The goal of your site should be to gain more qualified and targeted traffic, meaning visitors who are actually interested in your service, namely plastic surgery. The right keyword can not only bring you more traffic, but when chosen correctly they can ensure that that traffic is more targeted and thus increase your conversion rate. Remember, less traffic with more actual converted patients is better than more traffic with fewer patients.
Keep it relevant. W hen choosing keywords, it’s important that you keep their relevance to your site in mind. Keywords should be highly relevant and not just those that offer high traffic and little competition. While this won’t necessarily increase the overall traffic to your site, it will increase your amount of qualified and targeted traffic which in turn will increase your conversion rate. Further, it will help to keep visitors to your site from feeling deceived.
Make sure that your website is specific and clear. It’s important that, from the start, it’s clear to visitors what your website is all about. That means that your services and your intentions should be obvious. Visitors who are confused or have to go searching just to figure out what you do and what your site’s about are likely to leave just as quickly as they came.
Think like your patients. Try to get into the mindset of your patients. Consider what they search for, what they’re most interested in, and how they may act on a particular search result. Are they searching for information about particular procedures? Are they looking for a surgeon and his or her qualifications? Or are they, perhaps, most interested in seeing before and after pictures of other patients? Remember, too, that spelling mistakes are common and that different words may represent the same thing. For instance, there are many regional differences, such as ‘couch’ vs. ‘sofa’ and ‘pop’ vs. ‘soda’. This is particularly important when it comes to plastic surgery because many procedures and related terms go by various names. Consider the following: breast augmentation, breast augmentation, breast enlargement and breast enhancement; nose job, nose reshaping and rhinoplasty; plastic surgery and cosmetic surgery; and plastic surgeon, cosmetic surgeon, and doctor.
Use more phrases than single words. A recent study has shown that 65% of all searches use phrases rather than single words, which implies that users are searching for more focused results. As such, you can get more quality traffic to your site by optimizing your pages for commonly used phrases. For examples, ‘plastic surgery’ is better than ‘surgery’ and ‘plastic surgeon’ is better than ‘surgeon.
Divide and conquer. Rather than using your keywords all at once, distribute them throughout your website on various pages. At most, each page should be optimized for four to five keywords, and the top five keywords are best used on your homepage. Also remember that the ranking of a page is improved when the keywords are used towards the top of the pages.