A website will only appear on search engines if it incorporates the right target keyword selection (also called search terms). By ‘right’ we mean descriptive search terms related to your product that people are actually searching for. Your words should aim to grab their attention, because those are the people looking for your product and are most likely to purchase it.Keywords are the driving force behind all effective Internet searches. They dictate how search engines rank websites; users type a certain search term, then search engines scan the web for information on the subject before displaying them on their results. The first step is to figure out what keywords are most relevant to your website.Before creating and publishing your content, you should take some time to discover which short-tail keywords and long-tail keywords) you need to focus on. No one knows your business better than you do. Brainstorm specific keywords that your target audience is using.i.e.: scuba diving Sydney; surf club Bondi Beach, sky diving Byron Bay, etc.Adding a geo-locating keyword to your search term will narrow down the search volume and increase your chances of being ranked higher on results pages. Keyword selection is more of an art than a science. Every page on your site should have two sorts of keywords:Short-tail: these are your more general and common keywords. As these are popular, competition will be high and there is little chance of your business being ranked on the first page of search results.Long-tail: these are more specific and consist of three or more words. Such phrases are almost always better than one or two-word searches. Why? They tend to have a smaller search volume but this means that they are easier to claim in terms of increasing your website’s search engine rank.Some choose to simply brainstorm their keywords, but since it’s so important to get right, we wouldn’t recommend leaving it up to chance. If you target the wrong keywords you will lose a lot of energy, money and time.Keyword selection should involve research with tons of analytical data to back up your decision. Many online tools are available to help you use scientific methods in choosing your keywords. They do this by calculating your Keyword Effectiveness Index (KEI). If you would like to do it yourself, check out Google AdWords, WordTracker, and Market Samurai. An alternative is to use professional services. They create your SEO strategy (including keyword selection) and implement it from start to finish, but that can be expensive. Frequently update and add keywords to your strategy, as this is essential to keeping your website current and relevant.To keep reading about this topic, download our comprehensive ebook: