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Keywords & Phrases 

This may be obvious, but for people (and search engines) to find your site, you must have the words and combinations of words that people search for actually in your site somewhere! Regardless of what you sell, promote or have to say in your website if it doesn’t contain the word or phrase that people are looking for, then YOU WON’T GET FOUND.

The first step in optimising a website for the search engines is Keyword Research.

- What are people going to type into a search engine to find your site?
- What words or combinations of words are used most in your area?
- Which are most relevant to your website? 

First, list all possible keywords by asking yourself ‘What would I type into a search engine to find the service or product I offer?’ And remember, people won’t search for ‘Sammy the Plumber’, they’ll search for ‘plumber in Glasgow’ or ‘plumbing services scotland’.

A great place to get a better idea of keywords or phrases is to look at competitor’s websites.

Once you have a list of words and phrases, you can narrow it down to the most common key phrases people type into search engines by using an online keyword suggestion tool. This will tell you how many people actually use a particular keyword or phrase and also suggest alternatives.