We've been trying to climb the Google rankings for different search terms for a tile and paint contractor in Charlotte, NC.

We're on top or near it in a bunch of searches.

There's got to be a keyword search tool for this.

But trying to determine which key search terms do people use when searching for a tile contractor or paint contractor
So we can work on getting better results for these specific terms

Any search terms you can come up with?

I can come up with a bunch, but I'm an idiot, and you'd be an idiot for listening to me on them. Instead, maybe you can find more reliable information to work with?

What search terms are you coming up at the top for? You don't have to answer here, you can do it on a piece of paper next to your computer. I don't need to know, but you need to list them.

Now, go into your web stats, and what search terms are you actually getting clicks for? Cross reference this list with the secret one we just talked about. How many searches make both lists? How many make one but not the other?

I used to think it was pointless to look at the searches people already find you with, but others people in this form who aren't idiots have demonstrated why I was wrong. Probably the best thing you can do is find searches you come up for, but as #22, and make yourself #4 instead.

In other words, stop trying to guess keywords, and build around the ones your customers show you.

use Wordtracker and / or Keyworddiscovery to get more suggestions

Do note these are NOT precise tools they are suggestions tools

or you could outsource it Seo Research Labs

Thanks Newbie,

I'm logging into our Google Analytics now.
That's kind of a bare bones, cut and dry, back to the basics way,
but sounds like it works.

Just that, maybe we are waaaaaay low (too unseen) on rankings of other search words people are searching for. These are the words I'd like to know.

There's got to be a search word popularity tool that lets you see how many times a keyword phrase was searched in say a given month, and other related search terms that meet or beat that phrase.
And if you can filter it by location, say a set radius from a major town, that would be awesome.

Google Suggest might help too.[/color]
[COLOR=black"] [/color]
[COLOR=black"]You can actually get the same sort of results by using the newest version of the Google Toolbar.

I'd combine them with WordTracker and KeywordDiscovery, along with what John said.

Mind you, you're probably going to be fairly low regardless of the terms you're using. From what I've seen (although I do live in the fairly large Canadian province of Ontario) people tend not to look for (state/province) (term), but rather (city) (term) so that they can get someone in their own region or city.

I'd check out things like "Charlotte Tile Contractor" and see if they turn up higher.

This brings up another question. Maybe this one would be best for a new thread. But I'm curious in relation to Matt's question. How does Google see words? It seems like their search is getting smarter, like if I go into Google and do a search for the word test, here's the first result:

Test Central Home

Provides extranet privacy to clients making a range of tests and surveys available to their human resources departments. Companies can test prospective and ...
www.test.com/ - 39k - Cached - Similar pages

What's interesting to me is the first bold word is tests, not test. I wonder about -er, -ing, -ed, and other suffixes? Has Google gotten smarter?

A lot of webmasters drop long, bloated, keyword-stuffed links like "Charlotte, North Carolina (NC) Tile Contractor" and, well, it's a mouthful. ( Sorry, Matt - would have made that an active link, but I can't see your URL from here. ) Users, the people who read web pages, click around, and "surf" don't like such long anchor text. It takes too long to read, and turns them off. So the question is how to get your keywords in there, and not put everyone to sleep.

"Charlotte, NC's best tile contractor" would be my next guess. Google will almost certainly see NC as its own word ( because of the apostrophe ) so I'd play around here. Find a few short and to-the-point phrases, and use them as anchor text. It sounds like there are tools I'm not really aware of to help you with this.

Also, look for as many local sites as you can. You must have your own branch of Craigslist? I'm guessing Google also understands that, the way Craigslist uses a city name as a subdomain ( sfbay.craigslist.org ) apart from bringing you more qualified traffic, if you drop links there, Google may understand they're on a local site, so probably have to do with something local. That's just a hunch.

What's interesting to me is the first bold word is tests, not test. I wonder about -er, -ing, -ed, and other suffixes? Has Google gotten smarter?

It's a process called "stemming"

http://www.google.com/help/basics.html scroll down to "Word variations"

Originally Posted by ADAM Web Design

Google Suggest might help too.[/color]
[COLOR=black"] [/color]
[COLOR=black"]You can actually get the same sort of results by using the newest version of the Google Toolbar.

I'd combine them with WordTracker and KeywordDiscovery, along with what John said.

Mind you, you're probably going to be fairly low regardless of the terms you're using. From what I've seen (although I do live in the fairly large Canadian province of Ontario) people tend not to look for (state/province) (term), but rather (city) (term) so that they can get someone in their own region or city.

I'd check out things like "Charlotte Tile Contractor" and see if they turn up higher.

we are #1 for "Charlotte tile contractor"

interested in other search terms we should strive to reach
how many people search for "charlotte tile contractor" in our area?
What do they search for more of that we can rank better in?

Id really love to find a tool that you can input a 3 word search phrase in Google, and the program will spit out matched terms that users in a specified area are searching more for.

www.wordtracker.com

It doesn't use Google, but it still works pretty well for keyword research.

http://www.webmaster-talk.com/364301-post3.html

Matt - nice to see you again; and you're still sounding "desperate" for business...

After looking again at your code, you really should consider a couple of changes IMO -- your description and keywords leave alot to be desired, so I re-wrote them as a "go-by" for you:

<meta name="keywords" content="charlotte tile contractor, charlotte paint company, tile install, interior painting, exterior paint" />
<meta name="description" content="Charlotte Custom Tile and Paint, specializing in home improvement projects - contact us for a free estimate." />

Here's a "partial" list of other keywords you can change from time to time, but use your keywords sparingly...

+++++++++++++++++++++

additions
bath
bath remodel
bathroom ceramic tiles
bathroom remodeling
bathroom tile
bathtub
brick
brick contractors
brick tools
builders
carpet contractors
ceramic
ceramic tile
ceramic tiles dealers
ceramic tiles installation products
ceramic tiles maintenance
commercial
construction
contractor
contractors
counter top
decorative
do it yourself
estimators
firplace
floor
floor covering contractors
flooring
flooring concrete
granite
granite counter top
grout
handyman
home builders
home improvement
home maintenance
house improvment
installations
interior decorators
interior designers
kitchen
kitchen countertops
kitchen remodel
kitchen tile
kitchen tile remodeling
marble
marble tile
mortar
porcelain
porcelain tile
porcelain tiles distributor
remodeling
remodels
residential
shower
steam shower
stone
tile
tile contractors
tile floor
tile installation
tile maintanence
tile repair
tile shower
tile tools
tiling
tools

I guess it's something I need to do on my own
half those keywords we don't have any affiliation with

I'm desperately trying to get more leads from our website.
That's a whole genre of people we need to tap into.
We get plenty of leads from other sources.
We already have 3 major remodels with signed contracts, and other small jobs scheduled.
But the internet is a whole nother source for business that we'd like to employ to our benefit

Well, you came here asking for help and people have offered several solutions; but how do you know what keywords people are searching for?

The one's you currently have are not what I'd use to search for a company like your's -- after all; who's REALLY searching for "cupan tile"?

Thousands of businesses across America are hurting for business too, so you're not alone; home sales are plummeting fast and people don't have the resources to remodel -- if they do, they're going to Home Depot; etc, and doing the projects themselves, rather than going to Internet sites.

I'm not sure about America, but that's certainly not the case in Canada. One of my clients is a kitchen refacer (which is different than renovating) and there are a ton of new home buyers coming to him right now, as well as older people who just don't have the energy or physical ability to do it themselves anymore.

There must be some market out there. It doesn't have to be a large one in all likelihood...it just has to be a steady one.

Maybe that's your problem, Matt...your business is in the wrong part of town. Come up to Toronto.

Seriously...if you're looking for more leads for your website, the best thing you can do is to focus on search engines as part (not all) of your marketing package. Look at sites such as respond.com that offer lead-generation services and try them out. Find contractor directories and sites to get your link onto. Basically, piggyback off of existing sites in your genre that offer indirect or direct lead generation service and the rest will come from that.

But remember...there is such a thing as too much lead generation (most businesses miss this completely).

Originally Posted by ADAM Web Design

...there is such a thing as too much lead generation.

My EX told me the same thing over 30 years ago...

Originally Posted by travelagent

Well, you came here asking for help and people have offered several solutions; but how do you know what keywords people are searching for?

The one's you currently have are not what I'd use to search for a company like your's -- after all; who's REALLY searching for "cupan tile"?

Thousands of businesses across America are hurting for business too, so you're not alone; home sales are plummeting fast and people don't have the resources to remodel -- if they do, they're going to Home Depot; etc, and doing the projects themselves, rather than going to Internet sites.

I don't really care about the meta keywords section, google doesn't pay attention to it. they care more about title, description, and content

We're not really hurting for business. We are booked til May already. And still doing estimates and getting calls.
We are just getting less calls from internet than we usually recieve.
Maybe because its spring and most are out and about rather than sitting on their butts in front of a computer
And actually its tax return time, so people are having the resources to remodel, and thats what most use their tax return for.

Originally Posted by MattCoops

I don't really care about the meta keywords section, google doesn't pay attention to it. they care more about title, description, and content

We're not really hurting for business. We are booked til May already. And still doing estimates and getting calls.
We are just getting less calls from internet than we usually recieve.
Maybe because its spring and most are out and about rather than sitting on their butts in front of a computer
And actually its tax return time, so people are having the resources to remodel, and thats what most use their tax return for.

Hmmm -- that's funny you say that you don't care about keywords and that Google doesn't pay attention to it ... after all, that's what you asked about in your original post ...

"There's got to be a keyword search tool for this.

But trying to determine which key search terms do people use when searching for a tile contractor or paint contractor
So we can work on getting better results for these specific terms"

So, if you're that busy and booked up, then don't worry about "internet calls" -- you're right; it's spring and most of us aren't in front of the PC ... when I got my tax return, the last thing I never would've done was rush to the PC and type in "cupan tile" -- most people spend their tax return on other things like I did ... best of luck!

Originally Posted by travelagent

Hmmm -- that's funny you say that you don't care about keywords and that Google doesn't pay attention to it ... after all, that's what you asked about in your original post ...

'Cos I like to be picky, I have to point out that MattCoops actually said:

Originally Posted by MattCoops

I don't really care about the meta keywords section

(my bold)

AFAIK he's correct about that much?

I agree with TA: if you're already booked until May, this may be something you should put out of your mind for now (depending on when in May...if it's the beginning of May, you may want to keep hustling. If it's the end of May, I'd pump the brakes on the issue).

There is a general drop-off in Internet traffic over the summer months, depending on the industry and the nature of lead generation. Ironically, it's when I find myself to be the busiest. So that in itself isn't abnormal.

I try to use forms to be able to track specific leads; people will quite often fill out a form online if they're interested in XYZ service or ABC product. You may also be picking up "online phone-in" traffic; a lot of people will try to call you because they feel the need to talk to a real human being. If you're getting a bunch of calls, that's always a possibility.

At any rate, don't sweat it but keep your eye on it.

I won't pump the brakes til the whole year is booked.
In my business you have to market more when you're busy, so you aren't bumbed when you slow.

After yesterday afternoon, we're now booked halfway through April.
My wife helped me close two estimates for bath remodels.

I actually devote 1-2 hours per night working online marketing.
We use only limited lead generation. We used ServiceMagic last year, and half the leads were bogus. Plus it gets to be super expensive.
As it is we get at least 3 estimates per week directly from our website and online trade directories.

More is better.