Who chooses keywords for positioning?

As we indicated in the introduction to this article, despite the growing strength of the website positioning trend focused on increasing overall visibility, without focusing on specific keywords, positioning on specific phrases, combined with their regular, daily monitoring is still important. That is why the selection of keywords stored in the positioning contract is so important. We know from experience that the results and presence of keywords in the top 10 are one of the bases for assessing customer satisfaction with positioning services, along with increased visibility and website traffic.

Our clients have unique knowledge about what part of the range is crucial for their business, what people interested in their offer ask, what phrases they use, etc. This information is very useful in the context of creating a set of keywords. That is why in-depth customer interview regarding keyword expectations is so important.

A good set of keywords is the result of knowledge of the client and the account manager. The first one is the person who knows his business best, knows what brings him the most money, which is an important and profitable niche worth promoting, which products will soon disappear from the offer and as such are not worth advertising, etc. Paraphrase-Online customer care specialist is a specialist who has an overview through search engine trends, has access to tools dedicated to keyword selection, knows from practice what works in promotion, observes changes in Google search engine (e.g. the issue of local positioning).

Due to this, it is worth cooperating with each other in the selection of keywords – for the common good, it is not worth underestimating the knowledge of both the client and the account manager.

What characterizes a good set of keywords?

Despite the specifics of each positioned website and the uniqueness of the set of keywords matched to the promotion, one can distinguish a pool of common features that characterize well-chosen keywords. We will present them at this point:

A. Matching keywords to the offer visible on the website – this is related to the construction of the Google search engine itself, which in matching pages to the results displayed in the search engine is based on the content of websites. In short: if something does not appear on the website literally (this applies primarily to the content and appropriate meta tags), then Google’s web robots are not able to match such a page to the query – keyword. Therefore, it is not possible to effectively position yourself for phrases absent from the site or “on stock” (unless a sub-page announcing the appearance of a new product or service in the offer is available – such a pre-premiere presentation). For the same reason, it is also not possible to effectively position yourself on competition-related phrases (apart from the ethical overtones of such a situation).

An interesting case related to the selection of phrases is the situation in which some customers searching for a given product or service uses the incorrect term – colloquial, not professional, with a spelling mistake, etc. In the ancient past SEO in the positioning of keyword sets appeared keywords with popular spelling mistakes, but today Google is good at understanding the intentions of the user and correcting spelling mistakes. It looks a little different in the case of synonyms, colloquial names, etc., which are often considered incorrect from an industry point of view, and the customers themselves do not want to have them because of the “unprofessionality” used on their website (although they also want to promote them) efficiently). Their Google robots are not so good at matching terminology yet. In such a situation, a compromise solution is e.g. the use of these colloquial phrases in the texts in the blog part, and not on the product category subpages. The blog entry formula allows for greater freedom and clarification in the entry of the relationship between colloquial and professional naming. This is a compromise, although not perfect solution. However, it allows a meaningful link between the website and the desired keywords.

B. Keyword diversity in length – general, specific and long tails. We have already described the topic of phrases with long tails on our blog. In this post, we also want to present in more detail the trend regarding the length of typed phrases in the search engine. The relationship between shorter and longer phrases definitely indicates the reverse of the “one-word” trend.

C. Matching phrases to business location – this is particularly important for local service businesses. The place names appearing in the keywords must correspond to the real seat of the company (head office, branch, store, stationary point etc. – what has its stationary address). Positioning on a “uncomfortable” town will not be effective. Due to Google’s preferences in matching the displayed results to their location, it is definitely worth placing your stationary address on the website, even if the service is largely provided away or at the company’s clients.

D. Linking phrases with each other – if you decide to position your website on related passwords (forming a kind of family) then you can count on a better effect than in the case of several unrelated terms. It is good to bet even on several groups of terms referring to different elements of the offer than on unrelated passwords. When planning a set of keywords, it is worth consulting a mentor who, based on his experience, will advise on the right set of keywords, supporting the positioning process and properly presenting the offer of the promoted company.

E. Competitiveness of phrases and pace of entry to the top 10 search engine results – it is worth focusing on such a set of keywords that will ensure website visibility at the first stage of the positioning process. For this reason, it’s also good to have less competitive terms in the set, which will quickly enter the top 10 search results and ensure visibility and traffic on the site at an earlier stage of the positioning process. For this reason, it is not worth betting on the very highly competitive phrases, in which we will have to wait for the results, and thus the benefits associated with them.

Selection of keywords – what do people enter in the search engine?

Contrary to popular belief, general passwords are not the most popular and are not the most frequently entered. Research indicates that as much as over 80% of keywords entered in a search engine consists of 2 or more keywords. It should be noted that these more elaborate expressions with long tails are less often described as separate queries (which is a logical consequence of their greater diversity), but in general they constitute the majority of phrases that are typed in the search engine. Therefore, it is important to properly interpret the results for keywords after which potential customers reach the given website. Phrases with long tails will not be at the forefront of such results, but this does not mean that you should give them up.

There is also the question of readiness to buy from a potential customer – the person who enters a more precise password is closer to throwing the product into the basket than the one who searches for approximate general terms.

General or specific keywords?

In this case, a lot may depend on what budget allocated to the positioning service we have. The budget largely determines the planned and feasible actions. That is why it is so important to determine at the outset the amount that can be spent on SEO per month.

It happens that our clients suggest that they find the most general phrases among their keywords, considering that such phrases catch the largest number of their potential customers. General and very varied (unrelated) phrases are best in small quantities, because it will be cheaper – a set of terms such as “windows”, “doors”, “gates”, “drives”, “blinds” – this is the recipe for ineffective positioning .

In the case of a small budget, it is better to bet on varied phrases, among which there will be ones that will bring the effect and visibility faster, and thus more quickly reveal their potential in attracting customers. We write about a small budget because it places the biggest restrictions on positioning and choosing phrases. It is also worth realizing that the concept of “small budget” is relative and something else will be a small amount for a local business from a small town, and something else for an online store. That is why it is sometimes necessary to realize that some amount may be too small to be able to carry out effective positioning activities. In this situation, we inform our potential customers about it, not wanting to expose them to unnecessary and unprofitable expenses. The same way we inform our clients before signing the contract about the fact that a given page is extremely unadapted for positioning and before the SEO specialist starts working with it, it should be looking forward to its new version.

What is the Nofollow update from March 1, 2020?

The change will affect the indexing of nofollow links. Earlier, Google treated nofollow links only as a mark, so these links did not crawl. In other words, they were not taken into account by the search engine algorithm. This changes on March 1, 2020. From March 1, Google will treat nofollow links as a crawl guide.

Nofollow links policy

Some website owners have used nofollow links to prevent indexing of given pages. Typical pages linked to nofollow can be links to user profiles, links to login pages, links to various sections of the website, or links to external (e.g. sponsored) pages. Using nofollow to block Google from indexing pages has never been a good practice. There are more reliable ways to prevent page indexing (e.g. by adding a meta tag noindex to your HTML).

Will the Nofollow update affect my site ranking?

It is difficult to predict how the update of nofollow link indexing will affect the ranking. This may depend on which Google pages will index. Google can configure the rules for selecting pages to be indexed and not. It has not yet been determined whether Google will decide not to index low quality pages.

How to prepare a website for nofollow update?

A. Read the Nofollow update.
Check what changes Google requires. If the rankings or traffic on your site begins to change, please report this problem to the person managing the website or the website positioning specialist.

B. Analyze the nofollow links on your website.
Incorrect implementation of nofollow can lead to unintended consequences. Check how nofollow links are used on your website and decide if it’s time to remove them and go to the noindex meta robots or to assign them the right attributes.

In the elements of eristics and rhetoric we read: “In statements, keywords should be repeated or replaced with words related to them semantically.“

Of the four advantages of praising (brightness, correctness, appropriateness and ornamentation), repetitions affect two. Thus, thanks to repetitions, the statement becomes clearer (specifically: consistent) and decorative. They will also make it easier for the specialist text reader to remember the most important information.

How to increase consistency through repetition

Have you often heard the phrase: “Replace repetition with a synonym“? Well, I have interesting news for you: a synonym is also a repetition! Only inaccurate. Both exact and inaccurate repetitions and discussions, i.e. periphrases, help to make the text consistent. What repetitions will give the text consistency?

– the same word – when necessary, e.g. Google values ​​timeliness. If you expand an old article by adding some new paragraphs to it, Google will see it and index it again. Although you can replace the word “Google” with the word “search engine” in this sentence, Google will be more precise.
– a synonym, She liked to wear a hat with a feather. The decorative headgear attracted the attention of passers-by.
– a more general word, e.g. People surrounded Angelina with a wreath. This squat woman with a distracted look knew all the latest news.
– replacement of one name with another, i.e. metonymy, e.g. The actor read the poems of the master. The words of the master from the forest, heard years later, seemed different than in school times.
– pronoun, John made an appointment with Julia. He invited her to a concert of his favorite band.
– discussion, or periphrase, e.g. We ordered a chicken stew. Pieces of meat in white sauce served with loose rice turned out to be a good choice.

So when should you avoid repetition? And how, if the synonym is also a repetition? Let’s look at the sentence: A terrified neighbor ran out to the staircase. The man shouted: “People, thief!“. Repetition of an inaccurate male neighbor is superfluous and additionally confusing. Is the man who shouted a neighbor or someone else? So let’s apply the most effective editing rule: remove the unnecessary word. A terrified neighbor ran out to the staircase. He shouted: “People, thief!“

How to decorate and strengthen the text with repetitions

Writers, repeating words, do it on purpose. In addition to creativity, rhetoric helps them in this difficult art. Ways of deliberate repetition have already been discovered in ancient times.

According to the rules of rhetoric, repetition belongs to the word figures by joining. Unlike the figures by dropping, which serve to condense the content, the figures by attaching contribute to its elongation. Unnecessary? Only seemingly.

Repetition as an ornament helps to highlight words, draw the reader’s attention to them, and also play with the language. How to create such a repetition? Learn the word figures that will help you.

Poliptoton helps to focus attention on the repeated word

Repeat the same word. In this way, you’ll notice how important it is, e.g. Is there anything more valuable than time? Lost foaming can be recovered, lost time – never. And yet, when we share time with a loved one, we multiply it. Poliptoton will work better in oration than in the text. Very often we hear it in the speeches of politicians who want to emphasize the importance of a thought in this way.

Anadiplosis adds pathos

Begin the sentence with the word that finished the previous sentence, e.g. We are trying to catch up with the world and the world is not waiting for us. In this way you will emphasize the continuity of thought. Ireneusz Iwański aptly notes that anadiplosis gives the expression a shade of pathos.

Anaphora serves to strengthen

Repeat the same word or phrase at the beginning of the following sentences. According to Marek Walas, anaphora enlivens the text and makes it more emphatic. This is probably why you can often see it in advertising slogans, and they repeat it three times, e.g. in the slogan My Life. My world. My furniture. Use anaphora to stress the voltage. Let each subsequent sentence sound stronger than the previous one. Finally, anaphora, from Greek, means “lifting,” for example. She was beautiful. She was perfect. She was so haughty that I was afraid to look her in the eye.

You can repeat the selected word more than three times. Thanks to this, the tension will last even longer. Here is a statement by Captain McAdams about his last boat trip. Subsequent subordinate sentences begin with the word no:

“Not a solemn farewell in New York, not the journey itself without interesting events, not a couple of weeks waiting in Hong Kong for handing over the ship recycling facility, not even the moment of deliberate grounding or leaving the flag. I was most moved by the last descent on the gangway and the reflection from the side of the motorboat taking us. The ship was about to cease to exist. “

Epifora highlights the end of the sentence

If you repeat the same word not at the beginning but at the end of the text passages, you will receive an epiphora. Usually it appears in texts in which the subsequent parts have a similar structure, so they are parallel.

It is difficult to write a few sentences with the thought that each of them will end with the same word and make the whole sound natural. Despite this, the epiphorus appears quite often in advertising. Then the repeated word – often the brand name – appears as an answer to the recipient’s problems, e.g.
Fever? New Healthy Brand!
Sore throat? New Healthy Brand!
Overwork? New Healthy Brand!

Epanalepsa shows what the point is

Put the repeated word in important places – preferably at the beginning and end of the sentence – to emphasize what you think is the most important, as in the example: History belongs to us and the people create history. Epanalepsa will also add drama.

Diafora discovers a new sense of the word

Use the same word twice, but in such a way that the repetition prompts the reader to think about its proper meaning, e.g. What steel is steel.

Paronomasia encourages linguistic play

Use similar wording with different meanings. In this verbal fun you can also use words that sound the same, but differently written. Advertising often uses paronomasia as a set of words that differ in one or more letters.

Repeat to make it easier for the reader to remember

All information that reaches you at a given moment goes to the sensory memory, in which it remains for a maximum of 2 seconds. The ones you pay attention to are supposed to be stored in short-term memory for about 20 seconds. From there, the road leads to long-term memory. It will contain only a small part of what you have stored for a moment in short-term memory.

Proposal? Only information that he draws attention to has a chance to get to the reader’s long-term memory. You’ll increase this chance by repeating important words. “Repeating is kind of lengthening attention.“

This way you can also help the reader remember more. Because repetitio mater studiorum est. How and what to repeat in an expert article?

At the beginning of the article, pay attention to the dates you will write about – for the time being to make them interesting. You can ask a question that will direct your attention. For example, at the beginning of this article I asked a question in which two names appeared: “Do you know how to use such rhetorical figures as polyptoton or epanaleps to strengthen the text?”

Explanations and definitions in the further part of the entry will cause that the announced date will be repeated in the article. I described both polyptotonoton and epanalepsis in subsequent parts of the text.

Repetition is also a summary. You can summarize the knowledge after each important passage, or collect mainly thoughts in conclusion, as I will do now:

– Thanks to repetitions, we increase consistency, add expressiveness and facilitate memorization.
– Exact repetition, synonym, pronoun, generic word, and discussion affect consistency.
– Accidental repetition often confuses or delays the content.
– Intentional repetition helps to focus attention on a selected word, emphasizes part of the sentence, encourages linguistic play or shows what the core of thought is.
– To make it easier for the reader to read a specialist text, repeat key terms and summarize messages.