We are all aware that when looking at launching a business it’s always advisable to find a niche. An area that you can specialise in, that sets you apart from your competitors. Well, the same is true in the online world.
If you are seeking to generate leads for your business through your website and part of that strategy involves google search, then you will need to be specific.
Why Look for Niche Search Phrases
In any business there are different products or services, or even if you only have one there are different types of customer or marketplace that you can sell to. Going after the more generic phrases will often see you competing against big well known brands. Brands that have whole departments of people working on their website. Websites that have thousands and thousands of pages.
If I am a smaller business with a newer website, then I need to be smart about the way I approach search marketing.
More niche phrases tend to have lower search volumes but you may find that there is also less competition.
How to Find Niche Search Phrases
To find these phrases you need to understand the search volume and competition. There are lots of paid tools you can use, but as a smaller business this may be cost restrictive. In this case, you can use one of the following:
Google Ads
Within a Google Ads account you can find the Google Keyword Planner, this allows you to find suggested keywords detailing search volume and competition.
Google Trends
Google trends is good if you have some keyphrases that you want to explore further, but they need to have a decent amount of searches otherwise the data isn’t as helpful. But what it will do is give you an insight into trends movement and how popular or not a phrase is.
Google Search Console
If you have a website and you are managing it yourself, then you should definitely have a search console account set up, it will give you a lot of useful information about your website. On the subject of keyphrases however, it will tell you how different keyphrases are performing in relation to your website. It can help you see opportunities and identify which areas to work on next.
Answer The Public
This website will give you an insight into the longer tailed phrases that people are typing into the search engines. It’s a really good tool for identifying titles and subjects for new pages on your website, or how to tweak existing ones to get more traction.
By using all of these tools in unison, you can identify new phrases, monitor existing ones and put together a plan to help you focus on what to do next.
The SEO Bigger Picture
All of your SEO efforts are connected. It may seem like a lot of work to gain an additional 10 visitors each month. But if you do this for tens of phrases this number soon mounts up. Additionally, if those people coming to your website enjoy a good user experience, then this can have a positive impact on the rest of your website, helping you gain traction on some of those bigger and more competitive phrases.
Like anything SEO related, the key is consistency. Making small changes on and ongoing basis will help you to continually grow online. Adding new content aimed at a specific topic, adjusting existing pages to keep them up to date and monitoring performance to enable continual improvement will all help a smaller business to shine!