I was reading Josh Whitford’s Unconventional Marketing Blog the other day, and I came across a post that intrigued me.  Now, I like Josh’s blog, and I check it out a couple of times a week.  He is smart, and he takes a unique angle with his posts and information, which I like.

But one of Josh’s posts from last week seemed to miss the point completely. 

In that post, Josh celebrated his blog being ranked #1 in Google for the keywords “unconventional marketing” and “unconventional marketing blog.”  That is always a feat that deserves celebration.  Sure enough, his blog made it to the top:

SEO Tips graphic 1 

The problem, however, is that no one searches for the keywords “unconventional marketing” or “unconventional marketing blog.”  Wordtracker’s free keyword research tool comes up with nothing for either keyword:

SEO Tips graphic 2 

SEO Tips graphic 3

SEO Book’s keyword suggestion tool also turns up zero searches for those keywords.

If no one is searching for those keywords, then no one is going to notice that Josh’s blog is ranking at the top of Google.  I’m not trying to take a shot at Josh or his blog.  Perhaps Josh is focusing on other ways to get some publicity for his chosen keywords.  Maybe he forgot to mention something relevant in his post.

But this is a very important point for anyone interested in optimizing his/her site for search engines. 

The most important SEO tip when targeting specific keywords (in order to rank well in Google) is to make sure that people are actually searching for those keywords!!  If very little or no people are searching for those keywords, then there is no market for such keywords.  It would be like opening a McDonald’s in a town where people don’t like or are not interested in McDonald’s. 

You need to make sure a market exists for your product or service . . . or, in this case, your keywords.  That is the most important SEO tip to keep in mind when optimizing your blog or website for search engines.

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