Trying to figure out the best keywords for your online marketing campaign can be pretty tricky, especially if you have a brand new jewelry website.
We know that all jewelry stores want to advertise "bridal" or "engagement rings" but those phrases are so tough to conquer. You're better off permutating those phrases into "local" versions by simply including your town name.
For example: "engagement rings in springfield" or "springfield engagement rings"
As you write content on your website, as long as you add your town name right next to your money phrase, you will be able to tackle the local market.
While we're on the topic of "bridal" we 'd like to give you some valuable advice. Don't try to target the keyword phrase "bridal jewelry." This is a worthless phrase for jewelry stores because it triggers SERP matches for topics ranging from "bridesmaids corsage" to "wedding handkerchiefs."
The best keyword research comes from your own website log files and analytics after you have a few months of good data. But if you are in a rush, you can sign up for a Google AdWords account (but don't put money into it) and find your best phrases using the keyword research tools they give you in there.
Using the research tools inside AdWords you can enter your website address and a generic phrase (like "engagement rings") and the tool will return dozens of valuable ideas. Naturally, they want you to create ads and spend money on the phrases they give you, but the other alternative is to write articles or blog posts using those phrases.
Eventually the search engines will find the organic content you write, and eventually the traffic will arrive. You just have to be able to wait long enough. The benefit of organic traffic is that once it starts coming, it never stops. Unlike paid advertising through PPC, which will always bring a range of customers as long as you keep paying for them.
There is one really good filter built into the AdWords Keyword research tool. When the report says there are 60,500 Local Monthly Searches it is referring to the number of people within your country and language that have searched for the phrase. The AdWords team has taken extra special care to build a filter into this estimated number of searches that can strip out when a website owner searches for their own keywords as a test.
In other words, using tracking and cookies, they are able to determine when you, at your store, search for the phrase "antique engagement rings" and they filter you out of that monthly reporting total. We don't know how they accomplish this filtering; it's a little like magic, or "big brother" depending on your point of view. But it's good to know their reports are not tainted by people doing their own rank checking.
On a final note, the estimated numbers they give you are always rounded.