searching

What’s the first basic skill anyone working in SEO learns how to perform? 

Chances are, it’s doing keyword research and finding out what people are searching for with respect to whatever website that SEO’er is optimizing. 

Is it a website about dog products? 

Well, are people searching for ‘dog beds’ or ‘dog pillows’?  What has a higher search volume month over month, ‘dog products’ or ‘dog supplies’?  The answers provide the base from which to begin the SEO process for that particular site. 

Having been in SEO for a while though, I’ve also learned a few unexpected things along the way from my keyword research.  I’ve been able to see what interests people online and to see what they look for when they think no one is looking.  

For example, I was doing keyword research for a clothing company and looked up “women’s skirts”.   The answers were not exactly what I expected, with “up skirt” getting 65,000 searches per year followed by “short skirt” with 28,522. It’s interesting because although you always hear how everyone uses the Internet for porn, seeing the search results pointing to that effect really drives the point home. 

We also really like to use the Internet to learn about the opposite sex as well. While researching for a dating site, I saw the many searches for “how to attract men”, “flirting tips” and “how to impress women”.    So many people search for keywords around losing weight too, probably to appear more attractive to the opposite sex. 

Although Google and most search engines record the keywords people type into the search box, I don’t think the majority of people think about that when surfing the net.  At least personally, I tend to think of myself being the only one who sees the results of what I’m looking for. 

I feel completely safe typing in whatever I want to see, and don’t have that filter of being embarrassed or having to be politically correct or sounding stupid that I might have if actually having a conversation with another person about that same topic.  Therefore, I tend to think that the large numbers of people looking for information about the opposite sex, or just sex itself, is fascinating. 

It shows that those subjects are first and foremost on our minds.  That’s what really matters to us.  That’s what we care about, our relationships and interactions with people.   The something which we’ve cared about since the beginning of time.    Perhaps even as quickly as technology changes and things advance by the minute in our world, we can count on certain things staying the same. 

Some things never change I guess. 

By: Brooke Betts 

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