Targeting the wrong keywords

April 30, 2006

It happens so often in the search engine optimisation industry that clients demand very difficult keywords for their marketing campaign. It happens more often though in the case of brand new websites with no page rank, back links or cached pages in the search engine engines. An example of this maybe a new loans website, where the owner wants to target keywords such as; loans, unsecured loans or homeowner loans. Well if you have been reading the blog entries on this website in the past, you will understand that these phrases are pretty much impossible, if the client wants to see results within 3 months, as so many do. The only way to get listings within this time frame would be to have a best friend who works for google, or a very high PPC (pay per click) budget, as these terms command very high bids. I wouldn’t be surprised if natural first page listings for key phrases relating to the loans industry took 3-4 years or maybe even longer.

A better idea for a new website is to target much less generic phrases such as; “cheap home owner loans” or “best loan rate uk”. Don’t get me wrong, these key phrases are still highly competitive and difficult to achieve, but at least they are easier than the phrases listed above. You need to remember that these phrases still receive many searches each month, although they are no where near in terms of searches for “loans”. They are still searches however, where the user is requesting loan specific information.

If you would like help with choosing the best keywords for your internet marketing campaign, give one of our sales advisor’s a call on 0845 121 1194.

Ben Ashton
SEO Consultant