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There are three areas worth looking into whenever you are performing a keyword research exercise, specifically for Malaysia.
1) Long Tail Keywords Research
2) Geo-targeting Keywords Research
3) Keyword Niches Research
What are Long Tail Keywords?
Long tail keywords are three to four keyword phrases that are extremely important and specific to your industry. It relates specifically to what you are selling and to explain this, let's try to understand how human beings behave when they are looking to buy something.
There are unseen but analyzed six steps to the buying process. If you read books on the psychological aspect of marketing, you will know these six steps very well.
1. Consumer becomes aware of a product.
2. Consumer seeks information about that product in preparation for possible purchase.
3. Consumer evaluates alternatives to product (features, pricing, etc...).
4. Consumer makes their purchase decision.
5. Consumer pulls out their credit card and completes the transaction.
6. Consumer then evaluates the product after buying it and decides if they want to keep or return it.
At the back of your mind, you can see this process going on in your head whenever you are shopping for something, having bought it and are currently using it. Based on the above, you would most likely want to get to your potential customers when they are at the 3rd and 4th step...when they are looking for alternative products to buy and when they decide to go with you.
Why are Long Tail Keywords Important
You might wonder what the difference is with using keywords like 'buy Toyota VIOS Malaysia' in the above example long tail keywords as compared to just using keyword like 'Toyota VIOS '. The reason is this – when a potential customer enters the above keywords for a Google search, chances are, they are looking for exactly that. They WANT to buy a Toyota VIOS in Malaysia!
In almost every case, when a website owner manages to capitalize on highly specific search phrase, the result is a sale. Such hits are very likely to convert into a sale rather than a general generic search that tends to lean more towards consumers who have yet to decide what they want. Generic searches bring you potential customers who accidentally found your website prior to making a decision to buy anything.
The second reason to capitalize on Long Tail Keywords is budget. For small to medium sized companies, you get to level the playing ground and avoid fierce competition with large international brand names, here's something to ponder over. Imagine if you optimize your website with suitable Short Tail Keywords (broad keywords like 'Toyota VIOS you are fighting with a whole world of companies and individuals who have already optimized their websites for the term and name. What are your chances of ranking higher than these folks who, most probably, spent an immeasurable amount of time and money ensuring that they come out tops in Google for the keyword?
If you use the keyword 'Toyota Vios' for your pay per click campaign and have been having a tough time ranking your ads highly in Google Adwords, you may end up having to cough up amounts to the tune of RM10 per click. Sometimes, it can go up to as high as RM20 per click, depending on how feverish the competition is. At the end of the day, it doesn't add up.
As I was saying, unless you are a large company with a huge budget for an all-out internet marketing campaign in Malaysia, it's a no-go for the rest of us because it would result in low sales or....worse yet, NO SALE.
There continues to be a need for broad keywords, however, but the keywords would be used for category pages for eCommerce websites. I'll explain what that is all about a little later in this newsletter under 'Keyword Niche'.
If you are selling Toyota VIOS cars, there is a need for you to include very specific words like 'Toyota VIOS Malaysia price' or 'buy Toyota VIOS in Malaysia', etc. Let's look into the reason why.
What is Geo-targeting and Geo-targeting Keywords?
The world of online marketing and internet continues to grow and expand even as we speak. Only in recent years that geography came into play for online searches. According to Wikipedia, geo-targeting is a type of internet marketing that takes into account the location of the person who is doing the search.
After taking into consideration the location of the person based on the country, state, city, zip code, IP address and also ISP, the search engine brings the said internet surfer results based on that information. Some website owners are doing the same thing too.
So, a person from India performing a search for 'Toyota VIOS ' may not see the same results as someone who is performing the search from Los Angeles.
The reason is so that local businesses and companies will receive priority treatment for customers or consumers who are looking for stuff in and around the vicinity. This is to accommodate and adjust to the growing internet realm whereby the online platform is almost never ending.
For example, if you are selling Toyota VIOS in Malaysia, naturally, your target market would be Malaysians and not general consumers anywhere else in the world. Hence, your preferred keyword would not be 'buy Toyota VIOS ' and instead, you should go for keywords along the lines of 'Buy Toyota VIOS Malaysia'.
Including the word 'Malaysia' into your keywords phrase helps differentiate you from competitors who are already established in the international market and are already ranking very highly in search engines for those generic and all-encompassing keywords.
With Google Adwords External Keyword Tool, you are given the option of selecting the geography of your target marketing.
Why are Geo-targeting Keywords Important
As explained, the reason why geo-targeting keywords are important is because it levels the playing field. You don't have to spend an exponential amount of money battling large companies and fierce international competition. Therefore, you have more dollars to put into targeting your intended market – Malaysia – and for higher returns too.
Previously, people usually end up bumping into and buying from websites from other locations because of the lack of options or they simply can't find (or it is simply too much trouble to find) businesses located within their area. Not through the internet, anyway. Generally speaking, consumers would rather shop local IF they could find them. It is so much easier (and more affordable, in terms of shipping) to contact a seller who is 5KMs away than one that is 12 hours behind your timeline. Imagine the trouble of purchasing from Amazon or eBay and you end up not knowing how to get in touch with the right people if you had questions or did not get what you ordered and paid for.
In fact, some Malaysians prefer to perform searches online to find businesses near them and then drive to the shop itself and buy offline despite the fact that there is an eCommerce system on the website. For one, there is always the concern about security.
What are Keyword Niches
A single keyword is a word or a phrase used to make a search on a search engine. A keyword niche, on the other hand, is all keywords containing a single keyword.
As an example, you wish to find results on Google for website content for the single keyword 'marketing strategy'. The keyword niche for 'marketing strategy' is when all the keywords containing 'marketing strategy' are included:
marketing strategy
marketing strategies
business marketing strategy
marketing strategy planning
marketing strategy development
...and many more
Long Tail Keyword Niches
And then what about including some Long Tail Keywords into it as well? When you add long tail keywords, you might find yourself using keywords like:
what is marketing strategy
microsoft marketing strategy
how to develop marketing strategy
internet marketing strategy
definition of marketing strategy
.....and many more
As you can see, you can target Long Tail keywords but the main keyword(s) continues to be 'marketing' and 'strategy'.
I've said that we need to target Long Tail keywords, so why should we ALSO go for Short Tail keywords (broad keywords)?
In an effort to give you a clearer picture, we will use the example of a car seller above (eCommerce website). The structure of an eCommerce website (a website selling car accessories) is as follows:
• Main Page
• Accessories (a short tail or broad keyword)
• Super Nano Fuel Saving Catalyst System (a long tail keyword)
• Audi Front Grille Strobe Light (a long tail keyword)
• 10 Super Bright 28smd LED Car light (a long tail keyword)
It is well-illustrated above that we used Short Tail (broad) keywords for the Accessories page (considered as a category page) while Long Tail Keywords are used for each product page. Therefore, there is a need to write very specific copy and keyword content for the right pages. Employ creativity when performing your own keyword research. Don't limit yourself with a set of keywords that you think people will use when performing online searches.
In fact, you are encouraged to use the Google Wonder Wheel, Google Set and Google Adwords External Keyword Tools to explore what keywords to use on your website.
Sometimes, people get too excited over unique keywords that they forget one simple fact – use keywords that you think people are going to use to find you, something a little less scientific. For example, if you are selling wheatgrass, get creative with the keyword instead of picking a scientific name like Triticum aestivum which normal consumers like you and I won't know how to spell, much less use it on Google. Unless, of course, your target market are scientists who are familiar with the term.
If all of the above sounds like too much and too tedious, take advantage of our free consultation on search engine optimization. Give us a call at +6017 24 30 307 or contact us via our contact form and let's get the engines started.
