Attention Service Providers: Stop Choosing Sucky Keywords (Think Commercial – Not Informational – Intent)

Your keywords are making me cryIf you’re a service provider, please do me a favor: I want you to take away ONE thing from this blog post and I’ll tell you what that is: choose keywords with commercial – not informational – intent for your main sales pages.  Okay, let’s get started!

Last month I talked about 3 of the biggest mistakes I see service providers, website owners and marketers making over and over. One of those mistakes is choosing keywords that are wwwaaayyyyy too broad and competitive. Those are called informational keywords. That is, those terms that have little commercial intent. You’re wasting your keywords and traffic on web surfers, instead of targeting people who are in the buying phase. 

Take a look at my examples below showing the broad informational terms, and then the commercial terms that are much, much better:

Broad/Informational (aka sucky)          Keyword Commercial (aka awesome)
Health insurance -> Employee benefits consultant Atlanta
Water Birth -> Atlanta Birthing Coach
Crossfit -> Crossfit Training Marietta
Weight Loss -> Weight Loss Coach
Web Design -> Web Design Firm

 

What exactly does commercial intent mean? It means that the searcher (your prospective customer) is shortlisting providers (you and your competitors) they want to reach out to. It’s not that broad, informational keywords are evil. I love informational keywords – but only when they’re matched with the RIGHT piece of content. Informational keywords reflect the search of someone who is probably in the “research” phase of the buying cycle. Save informational keywords keywords for your educational content (like blog posts and articles). Not your sales pages or homepage.

Craving More Keyword Goodness?

Of course, reach out to me if you ever have any questions about keywords. And if you’d like more in-depth keyword help check out my free keyword research report.

P.S. On a separate but somewhat related note, if you really want to make me cry, you’ll make me watch P.S. I Love You. Or, you’ll tell me you want to rank for the words “weight loss.”

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Jenny Munn

Jenny is an independent SEO Consultant with more than 14 years of experience helping companies, brands, and marketing teams generate brand awareness, traffic, and conversions with SEO. She is a frequent speaker and trainer, and has taught SEO to thousands of marketers, web designers, and content creators over the years.
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