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The Search Marketing Advisor Newsletter Article:
November 2005, Volume 4, Issue 11

search engine marketing

Keyword Selection: Getting in the Game

by Heather Molina, SEO Program Manager, Carat Interactive

Even though online “fantasy” leagues (e.g. fantasy football, fantasy hockey, fantasy curling) have been around for ages, I never really understood the draw people had to them. This is probably because I could care less about most sports. Then, this phenomenon entered my world... The fantasy fashion league. Now, I completely understand the attraction.

A fantasy fashion league works the same way a sports league does in that you draft players (in this case, celebrities, designers, celebrity designers, show designers, jewelry designers and handbag designers) and then earn points based on how your player performs in the fashion press. If you find a player that does not pay off, you can trade him/her on the designated trade day.

Even though I work in organic search, I live and breathe fashion in my spare time. Therefore, I thought I had a good understanding as to which designers in the game would be worth having on my fashion league team because I read and watch fashion news everyday. Therefore on draft day, I chose and successfully added every single player I wanted to my team — Marc Jacobs, Oscar de la Renta and Calvin Klein.

Then the league was off and running. And even though I chose what I thought were great picks, I found myself in last place. No one was writing about my selections in the press. Instead, the brands I loathe were getting all the press. I didn’t understand it. I considered myself pretty knowledgeable in this area and I didn’t see how it was possible that I wasn’t performing better.

Then I realized; I had chosen players I liked. But I had neglected to think about which players would actually bring in points due to their current popularity and buzz factor. The players that were earning all the points were designers that were popular across a broad audience. Many people write about them every day. They were trendy and buzz worthy. Therefore, it didn’t matter how classic and cutting-edge my selections were. The press simply weren’t writing about them, and I wouldn’t be seeing the payoff anytime soon.

I encounter a similar situation with clients from time to time when it comes to keyword selection.

I get asked all the time by clients how to go about prioritizing and selecting keyword phrases for their organic search campaigns. Occasionally, they suggest keywords that they think I have overlooked but they feel are “priority” keywords for the campaign. These are typically keywords that are centered on their way of thinking about their brand. But when we examine them closely and do the research, it becomes clear that those phrases aren’t how search engine users look for the information.

When selecting keywords for a campaign, it’s important to look at a number of different factors; some of which include: Asking these questions continuously throughout the keyword selection process helps us determine if what we’re choosing is going to pay off and give the client a good return on their investment.

Perhaps, if I had applied my strategy for choosing keyword phrases for an SEO campaign to choosing players for my fantasy fashion league, I would be basking in the glory of success.

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