A "keyword" is whatever you type in when you search on Google. Although you may type in more than one word when searching many people still call it a keyword as opposed to a "keyword phrase" or "several keywords" for simplicity's sake.

When considering a search engine optimization strategy choosing the right keyword or keywords to optimize for is critical. You might say it's similar to choosing the right category in the phone book. Choose wrong, and nobody will be able to find you when they need to. When it comes to choosing your keywords there are three main criteria to consider:

1. Relevancy. This might seem obvious, but your keywords need to relate specifically to what your website is about. For example, if you're a dentist you might want to optimize for the keyword "dentist" but if that's the only keyword you optimized for your SEO campaign would fail. This is because dental practices have geographical limitations, and so when someone in New York City searches for a dentist they likely won't just type in "dentist", they'll type in "new york city dentist" or something similar. In other words, the keyword "dentist" is too general and vague and you would need to get more specific.

2. Search Volume. If you optimize your site for keywords nobody searches for then you might rank #1 for those keywords, but you won't get any additional traffic. The more people using the keywords you are optimizing for the better.

3. Competition. Of course, if a lot of people are searching for certain keywords then there might be a lot of competition for those keywords.

The ideal keyword will be highly relevant, have high search volume, and low levels of competition. These keywords are rare, but they are out there and of course we'll help you determine which keyword or keywords are going to be best for you.

Most companies only need to optimize their site for a few keywords, and in some cases optimizing for just one keyword is enough to get a large return on your investment. Exceptions include companies that are marketing themselves nationally vs. locally, and those selling products online. That's why we offer a range of SEO packages ranging from optimization for 1 keyword to SEO packages for companies that optimization for as many as 50 keywords.