Twelve billion. That’s the average amount of searches we do here in the United States, per month. With a number like that, small business owners should understand just how important it is to rank on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP). To do that, it’s all about the words and phrases you use to make your site attractive to search engines.

Some facts about SEO

Check out some of these latest SEO stats from a recent Hubspot round up:

• 86% of consumers stated that using a search engine allowed them to learn something new or important, which helped them increase their knowledge. (Pew Research Center, Search Engine Use 2012)
• The average content length for a web page that ranks in the top 10 results for any keyword on Google has at least 2,000 words. The higher up you go on the search listings page, the more content each web page has. (QuickSprout)
• If a post is greater than 1,500 words, on average it receives 68.1% more tweets and 22.6% more Facebook likes than a post that is under 1,500 words. (QuickSprout)
• SEO leads have a 14.6% close rate, while outbound leads (such as direct mail or print advertising) have a 1.7% close rate. (Search Engine Journal)

And, when you realize that 60% of all organic clicks come from the top three organic search results (Business2Community), you need to make sure you are in that top honors position. The right keywords will get you there.

And, the word is…

If you are practicing SEO in your company (who isn’t at this point?), you already have a list of keywords and phrases. These are the terms that have got you to where you are right now. However, there is always room for improvement.

The good news is that you don’t need to break the bank to generate a longer and stronger list – try checking out the free keyword-generating program, Übersuggest.

Übersuggest is a prominent keyword tools application. The company says this free program generates up to 750+ suggestions for every keyword and is extremely reliable, working 99.99% of the time.

The instructions are simple enough, taken right from the home page:

• Write a term in the box
• Choose a language and a source. Übersuggest can get suggestions either from regular Web search or from search verticals like Shopping, News or Video (with more to come)
• Übersuggest takes your base term, adds a letter or a digit in front of it, and extracts suggestions for it
• Click on each word to get further suggestions based on that term
• Add each keyword to your basket by clicking on the plus sign on its left
• Add all visible keywords to your basket by clicking on the large grey button

We tried out this process using the term: “Search Engine Optimization.” In about one second, we received 327 suggestions. The letter of the alphabet and numbers categorized all these options.

We first got some “original suggestions” ranging from ‘search engine optimization tips’ and ‘search engine optimization basics’ to ‘search engine optimization techniques’. There were many other options in the menu when adding a letter or number, some examples included below:

• +A: [search engine optimization] articles, audit, agreement, advantages
• + M: meta tags, metrics, market size
• +V: vs. pay per click, vs. social media optimization
• +3: WordPress 3 search engine optimization

Are you getting warmer?

The best and only way to test the waters of SEO is through experimentation. Measure the results to see how the keywords performed – you’ll see which ones soared and which words sunk quickly. It’s a constant process of extrapolating on what works and extending words into similar words and phrases that are intended to generate the same positive effect. Your end goal is to increase your visibility and your profit through SEO, and you can never stop improving this strategy. Since companies today have no choice but to be in the game, bring your best swing to the bat, and don’t settle for your first home run.

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Reference: http://www.hubspot.com/marketing-statistics