The objective for this assignment was to conduct a keyword search that could be used for Big Sky Resort’s Search Engine Optimization. In order to complete this task, I used three different methods!
Method 1: TheHoth
The first method is used to find the keywords of competitors. In order to start this process I first identified who Big Sky’s top competitors are, and came up with Bridger Bowl Ski Area. The next step was to input Bridger Bowl’s URL into the website The HOTH. Now, for this first part of the method, I was looking for a result that had a high rank and volume, with a low number of seach results. Out of these results I decided to use the phrase, “skiing near Bozeman”, becuase it could pertain more to prospective customers rather than current consumers. Lastly, I plugged that phrase into the Ahrefts Keyword Generator, and found that if the phrase itself, and similar phrases, all had a keyword difficulty (KD) level- easy.
Method 2: Google Trends
For this method, I first went to the website Google Trends. I then determined some trendy words that would coincide with Big Sky, and completed the next step by pluggin it in. The keyword that I chose was “skiing”. The results show that there is a seasonal trend with the search of skiing,where the keyword starts to become popularized in November, it peaks in January, as well as another small peak in Feburary, and then declines during the spring season. Google trends also shows the subregions that have the most interest in the term skiing- the top two being Vermont and Colorado, with Montana ranking fourth. Google Trends also provides related terms to the keyword, however, many of these terms were way to broad to get a good output using the Ahrefts Keyword Generator. To combat this issue, I decided on using the phrase “Ski Season” which resulted in an easy KD, with the specific “Montana Ski Season” being a medium KD.
Method 3: Google Ads
For this final method, Google Ads was used to help generate new keywords, using the keyword planner. First, I inputed in some keywords like “skiing”, “downhill skiing”, “winter sports”, “winter activities”. Once it generated new ideas, I identified the top keywords, and then inputed them into Ahrefts Keyword Generator. The results concluded with 6 sets of keyword phrases with a range of easy and medium KD.
This picture shows examples of keyword ideas that are generated by google ads. Although I imputed the Big Sky Resort, skis for sale, and ski helmets from the list into the Ahrefts Generator, I did scroll down and use other ideas such as: ski shop, and apres ski.
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