Hi folks!

Welcome to Themezoom.com, possbily the most advanced keyword research tool available to the general public.

Here is a conversation I had with someone in the High Rankings forum: classic SEO contradiction and useful to consider. She was about to lose a client over the high-ranking versus more quality traffic contradiction.

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Hi, I have a problem with a client:

I have a client who rank's on page 1 and 2 for some very competitive keywords, although he ranks for competitive keywords, the volume of traffic overall does not increase.

example: using keyword discovery a keyword such as "keyword" has a search of 1,000,000. The keyword ranks on page 1 for Google. Some other keywords that are targeted on this page rank on page 2 - 3 in Google results.

If I look at the internal reports to see how many visits the page receives its very low.
The client that I'm working with does not want to continue optimizing more page if the numbers will be this low for competitive keywords.

Can I be targeting the wrong keywords? Please note that my competitors are in the top 4 for the same keyword.

Should I change the copy on these pages. Each page is optimized for 3 - 4 keywords.

I know this might be too much too ask, but can anyone tell me how I can handle a situation like this with the client?

In distress unsure.gif

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Theme Zoom response:

Hello,

I am the CEO of Theme Zoom, which is a keyword research tool and service designed to combat the very issues you are facing. Alas neither Theme Zoom, nor any keyword research tool will solve this internal contradiction you struggle with.

In my experience, the answer to this question depends PROFOUNDLY on your business model.

Have you read Jill Whalen's how to write for the search engines e-book?

Suggestions:

What keywords are in your web log files? Leave no stone unturned. These are keywords visitors use to arrive on the site- as you know. I know you are only interested in the terms visitors are NOT using when your client is paying for that service. I had to deal with a client in a similar situation which was demanded that I “re-educate” or “fire” him.

; - )

Web log keywords: keywords visitors have already used to discover your website.

We call these "effective" keywords. Contained within "effective" keywords are also phrases we call "unexpected" keywords.

Have you looked at those?

These words provide a GOLDMINE of information about the behavior of your visitors- along with the average time on the website and other juicy details.

Crack into those terms, and you will start to crack into your true client base.

And guess what?

You don't need keyword tools to do that . . . not even mine (damn it).

Question:

Whos idea was it to optimize for difficult terms? Is that an idea that you GAVE your client, or an idea that he already had when he hired you??

Owning difficult terms over time involves excellent inbound link strategy COMBINED with writing excellent content for your authentic visitor. I know you know this. Yet- when someone is paying you top dollar for those results that are not happening . . . I know what it must feel like.

There is a huge long argument inside this (Jill's) forum about Latent Semantic Indexing - what it IS and what it is not. Both sides are wrong. ; - )

The bottom line is that I have clients ranking highly for terms that are not even on the damn page! Yet, there they are . . . right on the SERP. (Search Engine Results Page).

It is a real “mind blower” the first time you see it.

It's like "uh-oh, hot dog". Everything I thought I knew is wrong. (Sorry watching too much Mad TV).

We need to re-educate our client-base! Is it about "high ranking" or is it about conversion of profits. Starting to sound like Jill's motto ay?

Obviously for you, as a service provider- if success means getting your client a high ranking immediately- or he stops paying you - well . . .

I keep finding that what my clients REALLY want is qualified and responsive traffic. I also find that I have had to educate them on the difference between this and "high ranking". I ALSO find they will pay for this once they understand the value.

No. Really. They will.

Of course I had to fire some clients who wanted to rank number one on "viagra" . . . or else send them to my friend G*. (censored). You get my point.

So the Theme Zoom philosophy is to cast a wide net with excellent content- representing your product/service as a subject matter expert. Create an inbound link strategy that matches your well thought-out 3-4 keywords per page. You will unlikely rank well for them without a well Silo'd strategy. The real purpose of Silo structures for me is to get a handle on keyword strategy over the long haul.

Theme your site using the basic silo structure taught by Bruce Clay. Using Silo structure and basic theme-ing – so you can back yourself into broad and difficult phrases in a reasonable amount of time while still getting traffic on less competitive but related keyword terms. That is the single reason I went out and created my own keyword tool- because I wanted the keywords organized in a way that made sense for long term optimization- and that sorted out bogus overture keywords. ; - )

Again, no tool will perform the process of a subject matter expert. (Although I am still trying to build one that can).This method is a strategy not a tactic. It DEMANDS a carefully laid out offsite and onsite plan. I can get you ranked very quickly, but it may not be stable until those inbound link relationships and anchor-texts match your targeted themes and keywords.

In summary:

1.

Once you have the "foundation" framework keywords (difficult broad and competitive phrases) that you would like to eventually dominate- start backing into those ambitions with a well laid out content plan and inbound link strategy. Use your "unexpected" keywords discovered in your own web logs on a regular basis. Drill in to them. Research them. Find the "latent" behaviors within them. Write articles on these matters where they apply.

2.

Use expert verbiage in the content of your website- this is verbiage that an author
or an expert would use. An example of that is the "statistically improbable phrases" provided by amazon.com on about 50% of their book pages. These are phrases that are highly unlikely to appear in any other theme or book- therefore they are probably what Theme Zoom calls "expert verbiage". This will become EXTREMELY important in 2007-2008.

3. Keep your sites set on those difficult phrases. Back-engineer the high ranking site for your term . . . time permitting. Text summarize the content using a TS software and especially beware the anchortext of inbound links.

I hope all of this is as clear as mud!

- Russell Wright