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Use Search Engine Modifiers to Boost Your Rankings
By Kim Roach (c) 2006

Searching is the second most popular online activity, right
behind email. Because of this, search engine optimization
should be at the top of every web owner's marketing list.

To begin, you must start with the right keywords. Keyphrase
selection is the single most important step in a search engine
optimization campaign. You should choose your keywords before
you write a single word of web copy.

Unfortunately, many people make the mistake of optimizing for
very general keywords like "used cars" or "internet marketing".
Although these terms get lots of traffic, it is very unlikely
that you will be able to rank highly for them. Then, even if you
do, this type of traffic produces very low conversion rates
because they are not targeted prospects.

It is much more effective to target the low-hanging fruit. Who
do you think is more likely to buy; someone who goes to Google
and searches for "ipod" or someone who searches for "4gb black
ipod nano"? Obviously, the person who searches for a more
specific phrase is much closer to making a buying decision. The
additional keywords (4gb, black, and nano) are called modifiers.

By adding a few modifiers to competitive keywords, you can
uncover a long list of powerful keyword phrases for which high
rankings are attainable.

In order to find these types of lucrative keyword phrases, there
are 4 search modifiers that you need to know about. They are
geographic, descriptive, brands, and misspellings.

Geographic

If your products or services are targeted to a geographic area,
you will need to optimize your pages for those specific
locations. For example, if you are a real estate agent in
Atlanta, you would want to optimize your listings for cities and
towns surrounding Atlanta. Serious buyers would not just type
"real estate" into the search engines.

However, they may search for "atlanta real estate agents". In
fact, according to WordTracker, that phrase is searched for 80
times per day. This phrase is extremely valuable because it
attracts a much more targeted visitor.

If you are a consultant, broker, or agent, it is crucial that you
optimize your web site for specific geographic areas.

Descriptive

You can also add descriptions to a keyword to attract targeted
visitors. Let's say you have a site that sells backpacks.
Although the keyword "backpacks" get thousands of searches per
day, this is not the type of visitor that you want to attract.
It would be much more beneficial for you to optimize for the
following keyword phrases:

leather laptop backpacks
digital camera backpack
one strap backpack
small dog backpack

Each of these keyword phrases use adjectives to narrow in on
specific searches. You can do the same thing with your own web
site in order to bring in quality traffic. As web masters, we
want the kind of traffic that converts to buyers, not just
visitors looking for information.

Brands

Brand names are another very powerful modifier. Using the
previous example of backpacks, lets find some lucrative keyword
phrases that target brands. To find some different backpack
brands, I went to a popular backpack web site
(http://www.hikingandbackpacking.com/backpacks.html).

They listed the following brands:

camelbak
dana design
eastpak
jansport
kelty

I then took these brands and plugged them into my favorite
keyword tool (http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/suggestion/) to
find some quality keyword phrases. Here's what I found:

camelbak commander
camelbak alterra
camelbak classic
dana design backpacks
dana design arcflex alpine pack
jansport rainier
jansport odyssey
kelty red cloud 5000

By plugging a number of backpack brands into WordTracker, I was
able to find very targeted brand models. These keyword phrases
are the kind that will produce a higher conversion to buyers.

Whenever you are optimizing for brands, keep in mind that keyword
tools don't always give you a full picture. New brands that have
just been released will not show up in WordTracker or any other
keyword tool. The ipod is a perfect example. When it was first
released, the ipod wouldn't even register in the keyword tools.
However, it was one of the hottest product releases of the year.
Sometimes, you simply have to keep up with the trends. Just take
a look at a few industry magazines and you will quickly find some
untapped opportunities.

Misspellings

The last modifier that you should consider are misspellings.
Well, I guess it's not really a modifier, per se, but they can
definitely bring in an extra stream of traffic to your web site.
Google has estimated that 10% of all searches made on Google are
mistyped or misspelled.

You can take advantage of these common mistakes by making a few
simple changes to your web site.

Here is a step-by-step guide that you can use to start gaining
extra traffic from misspellings:

1. Put common misspellings into the meta keyword description tag.

2. Place common misspellings at the end of your title tag. This
step is extremely important for ranking for misspellings. To see
a web page that does this very effectively, go to
http://www.lendingleaders.com/mortgage-calculator/mortgage.cfm .
This page ranks highly for the very popular misspelling:
"morgage".

3. Create a box on the web page for common misspellings. Keep in
mind that you can often still rank for misspellings without doing
this step, but it may give you some extra push.

To find typos for your keywords, go to
www.seochat.com/seo-tools/keyword-typo-generator/ .

Now that you know about the 4 main types of modifiers, I urge you
to start optimizing your pages for high-quality traffic. By
targeting long keyword phrases, you can tap into some extremely
profitable traffic. Keep in mind that this is not just for
organic seo. These methods are also very effective when used for
pay-per-click campaigns.

Adding the right search modifiers will significantly increase
your chances of success in the search engine wars.
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Kim Roach is a staff writer and editor for the SiteProNews
(http://www.sitepronews.com) and SEO-News
(http://www.seo-news.com) newsletters. You can contact Kim at:
kim @ seo-news.com

This article may be freely distributed without modification and
provided that the copyright notice and author information remain
intact.
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