How Keywords Work

A common misconception is that you need to get as much traffic to your website as possible. While you do need visitors, success is actually about attracting the right kind of visitors. It's also not enough to rank highly for keywords like “pottery” or “t-shirt”. These highly common search terms are referred to as "short tail keywords", and only make up around 30% of all searches.

The other 70% of search queries are “long tail keywords”, which are usually longer and more specific. Long tail keywords typically convert better, because they're searched for by people who are ready to buy. A person searching for "t-shirt" might just be killing time online, but someone searching for "best price Star Wars graphic tee" is likely to have their credit card out already.

Consumers using a search engine are typically in one of three modes:

Browsers: These searchers are just exploring — they don't necessarily have a specific goal. They might search for funny cat videos or the history of Japan. They use short, non-descriptive search queries like "cat" or "Japanese history". These searches return hundreds of millions of results, making it hard to compete and be found.

Researchers: Searchers in research mode have a specific topic in mind, and are actively seeking more information on it. This could be someone considering purchasing a camera, and looking up reviews and specifications for a particular model. People in this mode have slightly more specific queries, like "Nikon camera reviews".

Buyers: As an online merchant, this is the mode you want shoppers to be in when they find your products. They are committed to making a purchase, and are performing a search in order to do so. Searchers in this mode are straightforward and detailed with their search queries, like "buy Nikon 16 megapixel digital SLR", "women's white long sleeve cashmere sweater", or "orange bamboo martingale dog collar". These searches return fewer results, meaning it's much more likely for your result to be shown.

Here's the benefit of long tail keywords demonstrated in two photos:

Someone doing research on fashion trends might do a general search for "women's shoes", and will get literally millions of results.

At the same time, someone who has zeroed in on what they want to buy will do a search for "sparkly red pumps size 7", and receive fewer but far more relevant results.

By uncovering the longer, more specific search terms used by people looking to buy, you can optimize your online store's pages to best speak to shoppers and rank with search engines. Here is a simple example of keyword targeting in a product page:

Meta Descriptions

The purpose of a meta description tag is to provide a brief and concise summary of your website's content. Search Engines often display meta description tags in the Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs). These descriptions provide an introduction to your web site that will likely determine whether a person decides to visit your page or bypass it. Therefore, the better your meta description tags are, the greater the likelihood that a person will actually click on your link and visit your website.

SYNTAX OF A META DESCRIPTION TAG

There are a few important things to keep in mind when writing meta description tags for your web page.

• Each page of your website should have a unique meta description describing the content found on that page.
• Keep your meta description below 160 characters. If you make it longer, search engines may not display it in full.
• If you are targeting specific keywords, make sure to include them at the beginning of the tag.
• A meta description tag should be well composed, compelling and informative. Think of it as an advertisement. A well composed meta description tag will most likely increase your website's Click-Through Rate (CTR) - the number of times your link is clicked, divided by the number of impressions (the number of times your link is displayed in the Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs) every time a specific search is performed by a user)