Sometimes it can be hard to choose the right terms for Google. There have been a lot of changes in search behavior and search guidelines in the last few years, and they’re constantly evolving. So, you’ve got to understand how to research and use keywords in the current environment which will help you rank for the right search terms on your pet business website. And this is exactly what we are tackling today!

On this episode, Bella sits down with Erika Godwin. Erika Godwin is the Co-Founder and the Chief Marketing Officer of ProPet Software, a boarding kennel, dog daycare and pet grooming management software. She is also an expert on website creation, maintenance, and SEO.

Biggest Takeaways You Don't Want To Miss:

What you need to know about how local searches work [3:00]

What’s the point of ranking #1 for a search term if it’s not what your potential customers are searching for? Google and most other search engines use three facto help generate their search results.

Relevance: How close your business matches to the search terms

Distance: If location is added to a search term, Google will calculate based on their location

Prominence: How well known is the business? This is based on information Google collects from across the web from data such as Links, Articles, Directories, Google Review Count + Score.

What is a site crawler and how does it pertain to search terms? [6:00]

Site Crawling and Sitemaps (A web crawler (also known as a web spider or web robot) is a program or automated script which browses the World Wide Web in a methodical, automated manner. This process is called Web crawling or spidering. Many legitimate sites, in particular, search engines, use spidering as a means of providing up-to-date data).

How does this help you? How often do you need to update your sitemap?  - The most important thing is to let Google know when you have a new website. Use the internal link and fresh content, such as blogs, to help get more crawling on your site, but you don’t have to update every day. Link old blogs to new blogs, it helps Google crawl your site for search terms. Then Google will more easily find your site when people in your area search for that.

Make sure Google knows your location and services you offer:

Google Business and Google+: Based on the searchers' location, Google will serve them results based on relevancy. So if you search ‘pet sitter near me’ and you live in Dallas - it won’t show you pet sitters in Seattle.

Local Pack + Localized Organic [20:00]: All different things that will show up on your search engine. You want to find the biggest proximity signals, the links below will help you learn the difference between the two and how to utilize them. Don’t look spammy or overuse keywords. Make sure the keyword is used naturally no matter what. You want a natural flow.

 

 

What are the different types of keywords and how do I use them? [10:00]

1) Head Keywords - basic / big search vol but competitive and may not be worth it

2) Body Keywords - go after more, more descriptive, not searched as often and less comp

3) Long Tail Keywords - a lot of people search for them. A long question like keywords ranks higher. “Should I...” questions are blowing up the internet now.

Should I Pay For More Than One Keyword? [14:45]

 One keyword is a better focus, but make it a general topic. Google often bridges the gap for the other keywords, your website is probably just wanting to optimize the one keyword that is the most important.

So, how do know what our customers are searching for? It will fluctuate every day, there are too many factors to know exactly, but there are tools to use that help us.

Use a tool for search volume research SE Ranking tools (links below) for keywords you think your client base may be interested in.

Find top 5 competitors and plug them into a software for ranking to find out more abou...