Keywords for Hub Pages

Keywords for Hub Pages is written for me, a newbie, to try to make sense of the concept of keywords.

Note the head in this paragraph. This is written for me to get me started. If you want to ride along, grab a seat. I just figured if I’m going to compile a bunch of notes about keywords for hub pages, I might as well write a hub. By doing so, the exercise forced me to get the logical ducks in a row so it would be understandable, even to me.

Realize, now, I’m not an expert; I’m a newbie. If you’re looking for words of wisdom from me, you won’t find a one. The smarts will come from the proven professionals I write of in the following paragraphs.

What motivated me to write this? Well, I’ve spent several weeks walking in the dark and bumping into walls looking for this answer: What are good keywords for Hub Pages?

The amount of advice is humungous. One could read for months and still not be sure of an answer. And reading for months stifles the most important part of writing Hub Pages - getting started.

Overall, the consensus seems to be that to do well with keywords for hub pages, one must study keywords and then apply them well if you expect even a penny of success. And if you make a mistake, that’s fine. It adds to your knowledge to build better next time. At least that’s my reading.

So what did I do to answer the puzzle of “Keywords for HubPages?” I had three choices.

One, I could buy an e-book about keywords. The choices were staggering. Most came across as carny barkers insisting I could make a pile of dollars if I only applied their “successful” techniques. I’d need to spend X amount of dollars but wealth and fame would be mine in 7 days or less.

My good angel said, No, you won’t make a pile of dollars instantly, so hold off the Rolls Royce purchase and try something less barky.

Other offers seemed sensible, such as an invitation for a 30 day keyword course for a triveling fee. That looked reasonable, but I didn’t have a 30 day time-slot for study.

Then I had the third way: Do-it-yourself. I can read through hundreds of web pages and go prospecting for information about keywords. Mining, though, is hard work that consumes precious time.

I did what Google recommends: narrow your keyword search to find exactly what you need.

So I typed “hub pages + hub keywords” into Google to see what showed up, and it was indeed interesting. I read through the first five pages Google returned, and picked five individual sites that looked promising, based on the descriptions.

A word of warning: I’ll be paraphrasing, rewriting and giving my personal impressions because I don’t want this hub flagged as “scrapping and copying.” If you want to read the contents of these sites in their original gem quality, hit the links provided.

So here we go:

1. The Google Keyword Tool

The Google Keyword Tool. Not just a tool, mind you, but a tool designed by Grand Master Google. And it’s - what’s that word I like? - FREE. A free keyword tool that slices open the keyword creature and lays out the entrails for you to read, ponder and prognosticate. I would’ve named it “Swami Says!” Probably a bad idea, though, and it’s why Google people are geniuses who make big bucks and I don’t.

The Google Keyword Tool, according to Benjamin J King's website, tells you how many times a keyword is searched for monthly. Use the tool to determine how much competition you’re facing when using certain keywords and phrases. Did I mention it’s free?

Says Mr. King: “It is no use having keywords that may only be searched for a handful of times per month. I like to aim for a couple hundred at the very least.” He also warns that if your hub page isn’t on the first page, you’re just another needle in the internet haystack.

So if you want to be ranked well for keywords, learn to use Google Keyword Tool and learn it well.

2. What’s that word I like? FREE!

Tom T’s Hub Page tells us that newbies can get a free keyword tool called Wordtracker. He explains the mystery about keywords as a supply and demand equation. The object is to find the keyword with a high demand but a low supply.

You type a keyword or keyword phrase into Wordtracker, and it spits out a bunch of suggestions in the form of more keywords and phrases you might use in an article. Is that simple or what? And here’s a bonus: it tells you the traffic volume each keyword gets. Now you have your supply. From this list you pick out 20 or so keywords to test the demand.

For the demand side of the equation, go to the Google search page and type in this - “allintitle:” (Leave out the quotation marks.) After “allintitle:” type in the keyword or keyword phrase you want to test.

This Google result gives the number of web pages that have that exact phrase in the title of the web page. By seeing the number of pages with your keyword phrase in the title, you have a good idea of the number of competitors you face.

Tom T gives the formula in his Hub titled “How to Find Most Searched Keywords for Hubs.” You can calculate supply and demand to arrive at a reasoned conclusion about which keywords are best for an article. Try it out. It looks like fun. And it might help you get ranked high and make money.

3. Keyword Content is King

Here’s something I never thought of.

BizChickBlogs adds another element in our understanding of keywords in hub pages. Tia Peterson states that writing content that apeals to people gets you traffic. It’s the method she uses to determine what content to write that makes this Hub Page of interest.

Ms. Peterson writes: “The lesson is specificity.”

Her best hub talks about a highway in New Hampshire that draws a million visitors each year. So her primary keyword phrase centered on the name of that highway. Now here’s the twist.

Instead of writing content based on keyword research, she re-engineered the process and added content based on keywords visitors used to find her web site. Nice? You bet.

If I understand this right, she first wrote her hub around a well used keyword. Then she added more content over time, based on other keywords that visitors typed to find her web site.

So watch which keywords surfers use to find your Hub Page. As these new keywords become apparent, write additional content based on those keyword searches into your hub Page. Doing this results in higher quality content for your readers and also content based on keywords used by visitors.

She has additional helpful hints at her web page.

4. Never Trust Keyword Tips

That bit of wisdom is given us by Ryankett in his skillfully crafted, useful and sardonic Hub Page titled “The Highest Paying Google Adsense Words: Do Your Own Research.”

Think about the logic of this because it’s impeccable. If the keyword really had value, the tipster would use it himself. Yes?

Ryankett gently admonishes us fellow newbies that anyone who is serious about making dollars should allot “considerable amounts of time” using the Google Keyword Tool, along with the SEO analytic tool for Firefox.

And both tools are - What’s that word we like? - FREE!

5. How I Made $475.25 in 30 Days

Want to see the big leagues? Here you go, Newbie Hub citizen. This fellow wrote 100 HubPages in 30 days and rang up a sum of $475 from Google ads. Impressive. How did he do it?

Well, he’s not real specific, but we do get hints.

He tells us that before he wrote his first hub, he did research. It consisted of this:

1) Always know how much you can make with a topic before writing about it.

2) Research your competitors before choosing a topic

3) Complete the keyword research and write the articles.

In the first week, he wrote 40 Hubs and made $56.20. In the 2nd week, he had 15 Hubs written and made $113.79. In the 3rd week, he wrote 42 Hubs and made $88.80. The 4th week he used to polish and improve the Hubs by linking related Hubs and promoting the Hubs. He earned $164.11 that week.

We’re not done.

The following month, the Hubs made $596.01. The total for two months - $1,071.26. He expected his hubs to eventually make $3,000 per month.

So what did I learn? There’s a ton of work ahead, but now there’s a light showing the way. And there are tools available, free tools.

This exercise also takes away the excuse to read, and read and read more. Reading to gain ever more knowledge can become a barrier. Constantly reading articles and web pages about keywords and their use can hinder your evolution as a hub writer. Sooner or later you must write or die.

This exercise on keywords for hubs gave me:

1) three free keyword tools

2) hints on how to use keywords

3) an analytic formula to test keywords

4) inspiration

I found the answer to the question of keywords for hubs. Not bad for a day’s work.

This exercise is neither scientific nor analytical. It’s simply my impressions of what might be of value to me. I listed the web pages numerically not to rank them from best to worst. Rather, the numbers are simply a tool to break up the listings and act as a sequential marker should I wish to go back and re-read the synopsis or visit the web site.

If I mis-represented any ideas or theories of the above authors, it was not my intention to do so. Contact me and corrections will be made.