Keyword planning is one of the basics of a great digital strategy. It means research and analysis on words that are relevant to your brand and target group (TG). The better and richer the keyword planning, the easier it is for the audience to find you.

Here are some advantages:

• Enhanced SEO: Optimizing and enriching your website’s content, tags, meta tags header and URL with relevant keywords help to increase your search score.

 

• Improved organic traffic: Websites with higher search rankings are easier to find and therefore attract great organic traffic from key audiences. Use keyword planning to land audiences on pages where they can take action on your website like buy, subscribe, etc.

 

• Competitive advantage: Keep track of your competitors’ keywords to identify gaps in your planning and also capitalize on the weaknesses of your competition.

 

• Content update: A well-researched and content-driven website with proper keyword planning always serves fresh content. To maintain your relevance with the planned keywords, new content should be updated regularly.

 

• Negative keywords: These are keywords with which you don’t want your website or pages to be associated. Understanding negative keywords for your TG and web property can increase the value of your search campaigns and increase ROI.

Keyword planning is essential for your web property’s health. This level of optimization requires an investment in time, but the ROI is always worth the effort.

(Digital Digest is a continuing series provided courtesy of the MPE Caribbean Report, which offers travel and tourism news weekly. It is published by US-based integrated marketing agency Marketplace Excellence, which has an office in Richmond Hill, Ont. www.marketplaceexcellence.com)