Keywords are essential to every website’s success, so choose them wisely. Research your target keywords carefully and position them strategically. When you’ve taken steps to plan and implement a keyword development strategy, you’re on your way to a website that sells.

Here are seven questions to ask yourself as you create and implement your SEO plan.

Question #1: What keywords and phrases does your target audience use to find information?

Your audience and prospects are looking for your information. Your job is to determine what keywords they’re using to look for you. Once you’ve uncovered the low supply high demand keywords, you can position them strategically in your content and website.

Question #2: What keywords and keyword phrases does your competition target?

Finding low supply, high demand keywords is just the beginning. You also want to know what keywords your competition uses to target prospects. You can then use this information to develop your keyword strategy further.

Question #3: What strategies will you use to research keywords and phrases?

Here are just a few options to consider:

• Test and track activity on your website
• Use keyword research tools
• Research what your competition is using
• Ask your audience, customers, and website visitors
• Follow your intuition
• Look at trends
• Pay attention to popular terms on social networking sites

Question #4: What keyword research tools will you use to research and develop your keywords and phrases?

Here are a few to consider:

Moz
Mangools’ KWFinder
Google Ads Keyword Planner
UberSuggest
SEMRush

Question #5: What keyword tools will you use to analyze and research your competitors’ keywords?

Here are a few tools to consider:

BuzzSumo
Spyfu
SEMRush
Google Alerts

Question #6: How will you track keyword trends and popular search terms?

Here are some helpful trend research tools to consider:

Google Trends
Google Alerts
Twitter popular topics

Question #7: Where do you/will you use your keywords?

Here are some places to consider positioning your keywords on each web page:

Above your logo
In your URL
In your subheadings
In your headlines
Within your content
In anchor text
In your image/alt tags

Once your keyword research is completed, it’s essential to create a plan and a system to keep it organized. It’s also important to review your plan regularly and update it. Keywords change, and customers evolve. Keyword development isn’t a “set it and forget it” tactic. You’ll want to continue researching and planning regularly.

Ensure your keyword research and development system is well organized and easy to use. Make it an essential part of your traffic generation strategy and create a consistent research and development plan. For example, every quarter, review your existing keywords. Look for new and trending keywords. Create a plan to take advantage of that audience. Research your analytics.

Keywords and keyword phrases are part of website success. They boost search engines, enhance navigation, attract eyeballs, and motivate conversions. Keyword research and development are critical to your website and business success. Ensure you take every advantage.