Using Free Keyword Analysis For Post Titles

The only way to get reliable organic traffic for your blog is to know the basics of search engine optimization.

Today, I want to talk about using free keyword analysis tools when you’re trying to come up with a title for a new post. It’s important that your title contain keywords that have some search volume attached. As far as Google is concerned, the title of your post is one of the most important indicators showing what the post is about.

Let’s use Google’s Keyword Tool as an example. Let’s say I want to write a post about a new camera we just got (the Canon Powershot S2 IS). So maybe my initial thought is to name the post, “My New Canon Camera”.

At Google’s keyword tool, if I type in “canon camera” into the keyword box, and click “Get Keyword Ideas”, I’ll see that there is a good amount of search volume for that phrase. But there’s also quite a bit of advertising competition. That doesn’t necessarily means it’s a bad idea, since we’re not advertising. But if there’s that much advertising competition, there’s probably quite a few websites, too.

Going to Google.com and typing in “canon camera” (with the quotes), I see that there are nearly 3 million websites with that exact phrase. Ranking well for it will be difficult for a blog post.

Okay, back to the keyword tool. If I look down the list, I’ll find that some people are searching for the exact name of my camera, “canon powershot s2 is digital camera”. The search volume isn’t as high as “canon camera”, but there’s far less advertising competition and the keyword is better targeted.

Going to Google and searching on “canon powershot s2 is digital camera” (with the quotes), I see there are only about 25,000 websites with that exact phrase. Much better than 3 million!

So I’d name my post something like “Canon Powershot S2 IS Digital Camera First Impressions”. That tells Google that my post is about that particular camera, and the post will then rank higher for it than it would have for just “canon camera”.

Taking a few minutes before writing your next post can help to ensure more organic traffic in the long-term.

P.S. It’s also important that your post title appear in the URL, so if you’re using Wordpress make sure to set up a custom permalink structure.

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