“How to Cook a Turkey” and Other Really Bad SEO Tactics

I’ve counseled quite a few business owners in my day regarding the importance of using keywords on their website and blog posts. Content with keywords is super critical in getting a good ranking in search engines.

But, it really isn’t as easy as finding the most popular keywords and peppering all of your content with them. If only it were that easy.

Targeted Keywords are the ticket!

At the time of this writing it is exactly one week before Thanksgiving. I was doing a little research this morning and saw that the number one searched phrase is “How to Cook a Turkey.” (And, I must admit, I will be using that same phrase soon as the family member-in-charge of the turkey this year!) So, why wouldn’t you just write an article today and hastily post it all over the web titled, “How to Cook a Turkey” which would undoubtedly give you traffic.

Answer: Because you will be getting the wrong kind of traffic!

Let’s assume that you are a Divorce Financial Analyst. You could write the best article in the world about how people could save tons of money and years of heartache simply by working with you (all true by the way!) but it would really get you nowhere. This is because people are searching Google for instructions on how long and at what temperature their bird should roast. They are not looking for your information. The result may be a spike it hits and visits but they won’t be staying around to read.

The takeaway here is that you should be doing research to determine exactly how your prospective clients are looking for you. (And they ARE looking for you!) Use very targeted keyword phrases that include the name of your community. That way, you’ll find the people that actually do want to hear what you are saying.

Note: My apologies to anyone who accidently lands here looking for instructions on how to cook a turkey. Oh, and, if you find good directions, please email me at paula (at) progressiveofficesolutions (dot) com.

Happy Thanksgiving!