The Various Types of Keyword Phrases
In the world of internet marketing, we base a lot of what we do on keywords and keyword phrases. But if you’ve been around this industry for any length of time you also know that not all keywords and phrases are created equally.
I personally believe that it takes testing before you’ll know what a really good keyword phrase is. But you can shorten the time frame for that testing by using a few simple guidelines when it comes to choosing the keywords you are going to focus on. Basically, you need to recognize that there are different types of keywords. There are basically 3 of them: Browsing Keywords, Comparing Keywords, and Buying Keywords.
Browsing Keywords
We all go through a pattern when we are searching for something. We’ll start with a general search, and then as we become more educated about a product or service, we get more specific. So the first type of keyword or phrase is the Browsing Keyword. These are the keywords that someone types into the search engine when they are just looking for general information about something. You might consider it to be “window shopping.”
Here are some examples of Browsing Keywords:
- Camping
- Tents
- Cheap Computer
- etc.
Browsing keywords are very general, and that’s why they get the most traffic out of the 3 types.
Comparing Keywords
By the time someone starts to use Comparing Keywords, they have a better idea of what they are looking for. They are starting to compare different brands of products. They may use brands, price ranges, etc.
Here are some examples of Comparing Keywords:
- Coleman Tents
- Computers under $700
- Cheap Coleman Tents
- etc.
The person that is using Comparing Keywords is getting closer to making a purchase. They’ve seen the general options and are comparing their options.
Buying Keywords
The person that is in the part of the pattern where they are using a Buying Keyword really knows what they are looking for. These phrases usually include words that hint at their intent.
Here are some examples of the words you’ll see inside of a Buying Keyword Phrase:
- Buy _____
- Purchase _____
- Find _____
- Best price _____
- Model Numbers
- Specific Product Names
- etc.
What Should You Focus On?
As I mentioned at the beginning, not all keyword phrases are created equally. So which of these three should you focus on? Comparing Keywords and Buying Keywords.
The Browsing Keywords are just too general for us to worry about. They get the most traffic, yes. But they also have the most competition because those are the phrases that everyone tries to use. It’s also where a lot of the big companies are going to put their money. So we focus our time instead on the more specific Comparing and Buying Keywords.
So when you’re looking at your keyword list when you’re doing research, take note of what types of keyword phrases you’re coming up with. This will help you decide which ones you should focus on in the end.
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Interesting - I always shoot for rankings in specific product names/model numbers, but it hadn’t occurred to me to actually do some seo for keywords like “buy (product)”. Since the product name is still in the keyword, you could probably kill 2 birds with one stone (”buy product” and just “product”) when working with anchor text for situations like this.
I like the idea - anything that could improve conversion rate is certainly worth a little ppc testing.
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I like how you broke the keywords down into such simple categories. Very helpful.
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Thanks Gorilla Trades, I’m glad you found it helpful!
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Helpful tip really. Comparing and buying keywords are the way to go just make sure to reverify the quality traffic that you will be getting from these keywords which I do using wordtracker and google analytics.
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Useful article , but do you dig deeper and look at long tail
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Jack V,
Yes, and generally your long tail keywords will be more comparing or buying words.
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Working the long tail is the way to go for sure. As for the buying keywords, I agree that they are good, but as soon as words like “buy” are involved, the competition is there.
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Web Atahualpa,
Yes, this is very true. Naturally you’ll want to research them out before just jumping in, but you can also find “buying keywords” that don’t necessarily use the word “buy”.
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it helps me a lot. thank you very much.
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PPC advertising success is all about the “long tail”. Go for “Brand Model” or “Brand Type” keywords and your conversions will be much better than “Cheap Brand” type searches. Something like “Coleman Weathermaster”.
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thx, now i need to do some work with seo for my site.
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“They get the most traffic, yes. But they also have the most competition because those are the phrases that everyone tries to use.” I agree with you, focusing only on highly searched keywords and ignoring the competition in choosing your keywords is not such a good idea. If you choose a highly searched keyword but your placement is on page 20 or farther nobody will find your site anyway. So would you rather be a big fish in a small pond, or a small fish in a big pond?
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Thank you, Dan! I`m beginner and it is information of current importance for me.
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Thanks Dan, that’s so obvious when you say it but something that’s easy to overlook
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Nice tips in narrowing targeted keyword. I think when we reach at main keyword not general - browsing one, The keyword become keyword phrase. I think I am right..
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It takes a lot of testing. At first we might try words from our blog’s title let’s say but that’s not a good idea. We should try to search for keywords from our articles or other content. Correct me if I’m wrong.
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I am using most of these methods but have not figured our how to use hubs yet.
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It should take a while to assess which keywords you want to target in your internet website. Instead of just estimating what you would type in to find your website, start seeing what others type to find websites like yours
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Thanks! This is great article! Really helpful one.
Also seeing helpful comments here, thanks to you guys.
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Thanks for the information shared in the article. I have found several keyword research tools that have worked for me especial the one that came with my website builder. Knowing the demand and competition for keyword is important.
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Excellent article, keyword research is vital before applying keywords. Getting the right keywords and density will lead to success.
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really nice article i’ll also start thinking about more usable keywords. i am currently using anything search phrase that comes into my mind, i am really doubtful about this way of choosing keywords.
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The tools on google now are extrememly helpful in finding keywords
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Dan Reply:
October 6th, 2008 at 9:01 am
Agreed. I really don’t use anything else anymore, just the Google AdWords tool for finding out the demand of phrases.
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thanks for the information. I really like the keyword tools that comes with my website builder.
It shows demand and competition for each keyword
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Dan Reply:
November 14th, 2008 at 11:06 pm
what builder are you using?
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Google adwords has some nice keyword research tools. It suggests not only based on synonyms but on behavioral data concerning what other people have searched. If you are developing a web site this service is what you should focus before you start your SEO efforts
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Dan Reply:
November 24th, 2008 at 7:12 am
I agree. It has definitely become the keyword research tool of choice for me!
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Its quite new for me that there are different types of keywords which are Browsing keywords, Comparing keywords and buying keywords.And its good to got the definition of each with examples.Many thanks for sharing this.Hope this introduction will make my selection easy .
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I was focusing on browsing keywords but its really good to know that Browsing Keywords get the most traffic, But they also have the most competition because those are the phrases that everyone tries to use.So I think I should focus on the other too.Because they are suitable for me.
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I’m agrre. This is very important for the long tail keywords, a lot of traffic comes from the long tail.
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This is very true. Keywords are important any business.
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I’ve been a little confused on what to put and now I have an idea. Thanks so much!
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