The cost of keywords is rising, so it is important to optimize to attract more qualified traffic.  Move away from general keywords to more specific ones.  Go for phrases which match the search queries of your target audience.  Ensure that the phrases are relevant and popular in your industry.

Setting up your keywords as part of your SEO campaign involves more than simply bidding on selected words. With the cost of keywords increasing, it is important to optimize your site for natural (organic) searches; that is, to make sure the pages where visitors land are relevant to their searches, to qualify these potential customers and then to convert them when they click.

Here are some measures you can take to better ensure that your keywords generate more and better qualified site traffic:

1. Get Specific

In designing and writing your site information, make sure that you have included more selective keyword phrases to better “reel in” qualified visitors. Site optimization should hone in on a specific part of your business with certain keywords that appeal to specific customers (i.e. insurance - home), as oppose to a more generalist approach. There is lots of competition for general keywords, which means your site won’t rank as high; there is less competition for more specific words and the visitors that do come your way will be more highly qualified, will have thought more about what they want, and will be more ready to purchase.

2. Match your keywords with search queries

Your website pages should feature keyword phrases which match the phrases typed into search queries by your target audience. You should be putting lots of thought into choosing these words, and then into placing them strategically throughout your entire site. Also, incorporate your search-matching keywords into title tags, hyperlink text, alt tags, behind each photo, and high up in the page, where they are accorded more weight by search engines.

3. Choose wisely

The work you do in the above two steps will not lead to higher search engine rankings if you do not select the right keywords for your industry. Do some research to find out more about your industry, what your competitors are doing, and what type of keywords your potential customers are using in their searches. You definitely want to consider keywords which are more specific, but you also want to make sure they are popular and relevant as well.