Keyword Modifiers Will Help You Beat The Competition On Google

If you want to beat the competition on Google you have to try something different.

Yes, you could try running naked down Main Street, but I have something a little bit different in mind. Something a little simpler.

Keyword modifiers.

Sounds kinda boring, right? Like Newtonian Physics or Ancient Egyptian Basket Weaving.

But trust me when I tell you that this is going to take your SEO (and Google traffic) to the next level.

First, What Are Keyword Modifiers? (And Why Should You Care)

Quite simple really: Keyword Modifiers are words that you add to your main keyword to produce more specific longtail keywords.

Although quite concise, that is maybe not as clear as you would like, right?

Let me give you a concrete example:

Say your main keyword is dancing shoes.

If you look up dance shoes you will find that there are around 40 thousand searches per month!

Now, if you are selling dance shoes then this is a pretty darn awesome keyword, right?

Wrong.

What? Confusing. I know.

The problem with this keyword is twofold:

1. It is a high competition keyword that most stores selling dance shoes are competing for
2. It is not very specific (so the people using it on Google are not yet sure what they want)

Let’s Find More Specific Longtail Keywords With Modifiers

If you go a little deeper with something like

Best Dance Shoes  (400 searches a month)

You will start to get people who are really looking to buy. After all, they are now looking for the “best” dance shoes, so they are probably shopping for some shoes, right?

If they just typed in “dance shoes” they could be looking for anything

• what are dance shoes
• how do dance shoes look
• who wears dance shoes
• what color dance shoes can I find

You don’t know what these people really want. And maybe they don’t either!

But honestly, “best dance shoes”, although a better option, is still not quite specific or low competition enough.

What about:

Best Dance Shoes For HipHop  (20 searches a month)

Now you have a far lower volume keyword BUT it is also far lower competition. (Give me a “hell yeah!”)

Not only that, but anyone using this in Google is a seriously focused shopper. Someone who is into Hip-hop and looking to buy some dance shoes, right now!

This my friend, is a buyer, not just a Googler.

(Remember this guy? Go Hammer!)

 

So, What Are These Keyword Modifiers?

Now that we have a concrete example in our hands (or at least on the screen) you can start to see what I am talking about.

You start with Dance Shoes.

You add on “Best”.

You tack on the end “For Hip-hop”.

And you get super specific keywords by using keyword modifiers. These little babies have “modified” your original broad keyword and produced some juicy, easy to rank and very valuable keywords.

How To Find And Use Keyword Modifiers

Now that you have a basic understanding of what keyword modifiers are and why they are so useful (and important), let’s see how we can come up with some for your niche.

Understand Your Niche

The first thing you need to do is truly understand your niche or area of focus. This will help you see how you can use the concept of modifiers to your advantage.

Because in the end, it varies from niche to niche and product to product. So, it is up to you to create the list of modifiers. I can only be your guide here.

Let’s take another example: Laptops

If you have a website selling laptops, you will need to know all of the variations (and reasons) people use laptops in order to find your keyword modifiers.

Here are a few I came up with:

• Laptops for gaming
• Laptops for students
• Laptops for video editing
• Laptops for business

You would only know these (and more) words if you know your industry or niche well. Which I presume you do :>

Same goes for dancing (and dance shoes for that matter), there are:

• Dance shoes for hip-hop
• Dance shoes for flamenco
• Dance shoes for ballet

What we are really looking for here are the main applications or categories in your niche. I suggest you brainstorm them and put them in a column in a spreadsheet (we will need them later).

Figure Out The Main Modifiers

There are a whole bunch of keyword modifiers you will find in many niches that can be applied almost everywhere. But you also have to see if they make sense for your website because sometimes they just don’t.

Let’s start with some simple ones like

• Best
• Cheapest
• Smallest
• Biggest
• Lightest
• Fastest

You are looking for words that narrow down the “best” option for the products in your niche. Best is the most commonly used one, but there are others that more specifically apply in your niche.

For cars, it would be “fastest” or “cheapest”.

For tennis rackets, it might be “lightest”.

Again, you need to know what the customers in your niche care about.

Keyword Modifier Endings

As well as the category endings I mentioned above (flamenco, hip-hop etc) you can also go a little deeper using more broad categories like:

• women
• men
• kids
• teens
• adults
• students

If they make sense for your niche.

Another way or narrowing down the keywords is to add limits like

• under $1000
• under $100
• under 1 pound (or kilo)
• over 2 ounces

Again, you have to put these words in context. People looking for “cheapest” are also looking for “under $xxx” (the exact price ranges depend on the product of course). People looking for light tennis rackets are looking for weights.

Location can also be another good one for restaurants or other location specific services.

For example:

• In Paris
• In Australia
• In Nevada
• In Timbuktu

Depending on how specific you want to get (country, city, suburb, county, town).

The Best Bit: How To Create Longtail Keywords From The Modifiers

Having all these sexy keyword modifiers (I know they are not really sexy, but I like using that word) is great but how can you use them?

The trick is to take them and either:

• put them in a spreadsheet and auto-generate keywords
• use a handy tool

Lucky for you guys, I have created such a tool which is super easy to use and generates the keywords for you. All you have to do is put the modifiers and main keyword in the boxes! And then hit “Create Keywords”.

You can then download or copy them for use in keyword tools (to check volume).

*Note: The tool is in Beta (aren’t they all) so if you notice any issues please (seriously) let me know

 

More Keyword Tips & Tricks

This is the kind of powerful keyword technique I use all the time to find longtail keywords I can rank for without having to build dozens of links.

So I seriously recommend you give it a try. It works like a charm and can really help you beat the competition (most people are going for the shorter and less creative keywords).

And if you want to dive even deeper into keywords and really learn to beat the competition you can check out my detailed keyword course. This is just one lesson from that course!