Your future clients are searching online all the time. They type short phrases, full questions, or detailed descriptions to find what they want. Your goal is to match your business with the right searches. That is why keyword selection is the foundation of any successful search engine marketing (SEM) campaign.

Even if you hire a professional team to run your campaigns, no one understands your organisation better than you do. Creating a strong keyword list starts with your knowledge of your products, your audience, and your competitors.

Start With Your Seed Keywords

Imagine Connor, a small business owner who rents and sells karaoke equipment. He wants to create his first list of keywords.

To start, he brainstorms 3 to 5 initial “seed” keywords. These are precise, short phrases that reflect his core offerings. Broad single words like “karaoke” are too general. They attract irrelevant searches like karaoke bars, singing competitions, or unrelated equipment.

Connor chooses:

• Karaoke party rental
• Karaoke machine rental
• Rent karaoke equipment

Notice how every word in these phrases has a clear purpose. They are focused, practical, and ready to attract the right audience.

Grow Your Keyword List

Once the initial keywords are set, it’s time to expand. Three main sources help grow your list:

1. Your Website
   Review your pages for product lines, packages, bundles, or branded items. For example, Connor notices a popular microphone model and adds “USA-GF828 karaoke microphone” as a keyword.
2. Your Customers
   Talk to visitors and analyse their queries. Connor learns people often search for portable machines or DJ setups. He adds “portable karaoke machine” and “karaoke DJ rental” to his list.
3. Your Competitors
   Check competitor websites for inspiration. Connor discovers another business offers karaoke packages for sweet sixteen parties and office events. He adds “sweet sixteen party rental” and “office karaoke party” to his keywords.

Use Tools to Find Even More Keywords

There are tools that help generate new keyword ideas beyond what you can think of:

• Keyword Planners like Google Keyword Planner or Bing Keyword Research suggest related phrases when you input your seed keywords.
• Analytics Platforms like Google Analytics show which search phrases already lead visitors to your site.

These tools are powerful but not perfect. Use your intuition to pick only the keywords that make sense for your business.

Do This Now

1. Brainstorm 3 to 5 seed keywords.
2. Expand your list using your website’s content.
3. Talk to your clients to find out what phrases they use.
4. Study competitors to find untapped opportunities.
5. Use keyword planner and analytics tools to generate more options.
6. Review and refine your list regularly to improve your search engine marketing performance.

y following these steps, you can ensure that your promotions reach the right people at the right time. Lordkay media uses these exact strategies to help US businesses increase traffic, leads, and sales.