What's Google Instant and What Does It Mean to An Accounting Website?
Google has added a brand new search feature called "Google Instant". Google is the most trafficked search engine on the planet and when it alters it's results the rumble it causes is felt globally. Google toolbar users will find it familiar. It's a simple keyword suggestion tool. What "Google Instant" does is show prospective search terms instantaneously. It selects probable options based on the popularity of like search terms. When you understand how it works, you can use it to find the best keywords for your services.
There's nothing new about keyword suggestions. Google instant, however, has made these suggestions much more important. Casual users didn't usually use keyword suggestions, probably because of the subtleties of using the keyboard to select the ones you wanted. No such subtleties are needed to use Google Instant.
What does this mean to you? It means that "New York Accountants" is a better keyword than "New York Accountant" because the plural version comes up as a result in Google Instant and the singular version does not.
Try to choose relevant keywords that appear as Google Instant suggestions. A good ranking in a suggested keyword will get more exposure and your accounting website will get more visits.
How Does It Work?
Let's look an a practical example; suppose a searcher is looking for a "Boston accountant". As the searcher types Google Instant displays suggested keywords. The City name is too generic to matter, and none of the suggested keywords will be relevant to you, but look what happens as you type "a-c-c-o-u"... the suggested keywords become more relevant and eventually an appropriate key phrase appears! Most users are going to stop typing here and use their down arrow to select the search term they want... "Boston Accountants". Naturally this is a search term you want to market to!
What Does This Mean for SEO?
There's a concern in the SEO marketing community that this could negatively impact how SEO works for long-tailed keywords, phrases containing three or more words. But will this really mess up your SEO? No, and here's why.
The first step in the SEO process is identifying your relevant keywords. Google instant makes this process easy. As you type, the keywords Google has found to be used most often show up in gray in the search box.
Deciding on your keywords used to be a bit of a guessing game - but this new feature changes that. Google Instant tells you exactly what keywords and phrases are the top hits.
Keyword Basics Still Count
There are some basic rules in selecting key phrases for your accounting website that still apply. The basic keywords you need to implement into your website should consist of the services you provide and your location. This will give you a base to work with. After you have a list of base keywords, expand it by making some more specific terms that potential clients might type in. For example, someone could look for "Boston MA Estate Planning."
Once You Choose your Keywords...
Now... make your page content relevant to your keywords. This is a lot of work, but there are some easy steps to take that will help. For one thing you can use your keywords on the page you're optimizing. The home page should have keywords for your primary service and your location. Once you're done inserting keywords into your home page, move onto your About page and insert some keywords there as well. The more you customize your site the more relevant it will appear. Make sure your service pages are optimized to your location.
By following these steps, your page's SEO score will increase. Try to optimize as many pages as you can to as many different key phrases as you can.
And finally, don't set up five or six keywords and keyword phrases and then let your website sit for six months. SEO is a process rather than a destination.
Even the longest trip starts with a single step, so get started today. Spend a little time on Google Instant and let it make your journey a bit simpler.