We all know that in order to receive traffic from the search engines, your website needs to be optimized for certain keyword phrases. The best thing to do is compile a list with keyword phrases that you think best describe your topic. This is the method that is used by almost all webmasters, but what about other not so obvious ways of finding keywords? Here are 5 tricks I use to find keywords related to my website that not many people know about:
1. Misspelled words. After my "master list" of keywords is completed, I give it a throughout reading and try to think of spelling mistakes. Did you know that 10% to 20% of all queries in the search engines are misspelled? Don't believe me? According to Google Keyword Tool, the misspelled keyword phrase "vacum cleaners" is searched 33,000 times a month. That is over 1,000 searches a day. And this is just one example. I really encourage you to look at you keywords lists and find these hidden gems.
2. Synonyms. Let's suppose you just built a 30 page website where you give tips on how to find the perfect house. It is common sense that all of your articles should contain the keyword "house" but have you ever thought about using the word "home"? This could open a whole list of new keywords for your website you don't want to miss.
3. Split or merged words. The "vacuumcleaner" keyword phrase is searched over 100 times a day. I know that it doesn't seem like a lot, but what if you find 10 such phrases? That will be an extra 1000 visitors a day. In order to find these words, you need to put yourself in your visitor's shoes and consider their point of view.
4. Singular and Plurals. If you search for "car" and "cars" you will get different results. This means that if you build 2 pages (one for each keyword) you could increase the visitors to your website. It is also important to remember that the term "cars" is searched 2 times more than "car".
5. Hyphenated words. Check your list of keywords and see if any of your keywords phrases can be used with (or without) hyphens. One great example is the word "e-mail", which can also be used as "email". Make sure you are not missing out on these potential keywords.
6. Geo targeting. If you have a local website, make sure you optimize the content for the area you live in. If you give advice on mortgage for residents in Los Angeles, California, make sure your articles contain these keyword phrases.
These type of keywords are easily overlooked by your competition. Why not use this opportunity to expand your keyword list and increase your chances of getting more traffic to your website? After all, a website without visitors is a shop without customers.