When Keyword Research and Search Data Deceives
As search engine optimization (SEO) professionals, we obsess with search data from a wide variety of resources. Which one is best for our clients? Which keyword research tool reveals the most accurate search behaviors when rebuilding a site’s information architecture? Does our web analytics data validate our keyword research?
And, more importantly, did these tools provide your most desired information? Some answers might surprise you.
Keyword research data
I love keyword research tools. I use all of them because I can discover core keyword phrases, which are commonly used across all of the commercial web search engines. And I can also tailor ads and landing pages to searchers who typically use a single, targeted search engine (and it isn’t always Google, as one might imagine).
However, keyword research tools are not a substitute for a knowledgeable and intuitive search engine marketer. All too often, website owners and even experienced search engine optimization professionals launch into a site’s information architecture without gauging user response. As good SEO professionals, we should understand when it is appropriate to implement keywords into a site’s information architecture: when keyword usage overwhelms users, and when keyword usage needs to be more apparent.
This situation occurred recently when I was performing some usability tests on a client site’s revised information architecture. This particular client website is being delivered in multiple languages. We were testing American English, British English, and French. Therefore, the test participants were American, British, and French.
All of the keyword research tools showed the word "student" or "students" (in French, "étudiant" or "étudiants") as a possible target. The appearance of this word in both keyword research data and in the site’s web analytics data led my client to believe that we should make this area a main category.
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