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Most people know that it’s important to identify the keywords people are searching for when looking for you, but most forget all about the dark side of negative search terms. Say for instance you are a place that serves beer in Knoxville, and you want to be the first position for the following terms:
• Knoxville craft beers
• Knoxville craft beer market
Deal, click the link and you’ll noticed that thecasualpint.com has taken those positions. But don’t forget about the other side of the coin. Do you think The Casual Pint wants to come up associated with Knoxville overpriced beer? NO! Smoky Mountain Brewery, and a few other competitors wanted that position so we let them have it.
Know your customers and their search terms
It’s good to know what your customers are searching for to find you, and that starts by taking a good hard look at your analytics. If the web developers or marketers responsible for those took a look at their analytics they would see that a portion of their traffic is coming in from negative search terms. They may have to fight an uphill battle to remove that from urbanspoon and tripadvisor, but at the very least they can address those negative search terms in their communication efforts.
It’s easy to forget about the dark side of search engine optimization when doing web design and development, so make sure that at a minimum you are looking at your current traffic, who knows, you may come up for best beer place in Knoxville!