Every business with an online presence has one goal in mind: to rank high in search results. The road to online engagement is not easy and it requires knowledge, passion, and perseverance. Especially when Google keeps changing algorithms to keep websites aspiring to the number one position on their toes! However, regardless of how many algorithm updates Google sends their way, marketers know that one thing will never change: the need for efficient keyword research.
Why do you need keywords for your website?
Keywords lead people to your website. A well-optimized website abounds in keywords that appear in search results and resonate with what people enter into search engines to find what they are looking for. They are one of the main elements of search engine optimization and play a vital part in the exposure of your website. Keywords reveal the most popular queries, as well as their ranking difficulty and other aspects that can help you better position your website in search results.
To find out what keywords you need to rank higher, you need to know what and how people are looking for the products or services you offer. Keywords make it easier for them to find your brand in the sea of Google results. Well-chosen keywords lead to increased organic traffic that leads to the success of your business. They facilitate access to the topics trending online and help organize your content accordingly.
Before diving into keyword research, make sure you understand the differences between head terms and long-tail keywords. While head terms are short and generic keyword phrases, long-tail keywords contain more than three words. You need both for successful keyword research!
How to choose keywords for your website?
Keywords should be selected according to your site architecture, category pages, and landing and sales pages. Every page and blog post should be optimized to drive targeted traffic to your website. Moreover, keywords play an important part in any SEO campaign and need to be updated accordingly to keep up with the trends.
One of the most important rules for finding viable keywords is to avoid targeting popular keywords. The competition is too high for popular keywords which means you have fewer chances to rank high for these keywords.
Make a list with every important topic related to your business you want your website to rank for. Based on their monthly search volume, you can then proceed with identifying keywords that you think you need to rank for. Your target customer will probably use these keywords when searching online.
Once you have a list with general keywords, you should focus on the newest aspect of SEO keywords: user intent. Google focuses more on what the searcher intended to find with their query than on what keyword they used. You can simply enter a keyword of your choice into a search engine and check the results to properly understand the intent.
How to find keywords for your website?
Marketers know that SEO keyword research is not a one-time thing. Keywords need to be regularly analyzed and updated either by replacing them or by extending them with longer, more specific phrases. Your goal, as a marketer, needs to be to attract the right audience and not any audience. To achieve this, you need targeted keyword research, always evolving, always growing. Your keywords need to be diverse.
Extend your keyword list by adding related search terms suggested by Google. You can be creative or rely on keyword research tools like Keyword Planner, Ubersuggest, or Ahrefs. They will help you get access to a more diverse range of keywords and give you alternatives.
Choose your keywords based on relevance, authority, and volume. Relevant keywords come from a successful analysis of user intent. Find relevant keywords that add value to your content and answer the needs of searchers. Google also appreciates authoritative sources that provide helpful and valuable content worthy of backlinks. Include the monthly search volume (MSV) in your analysis because it’s no use ranking high for a keyword if no one is searching for it.
Another popular method used to rank high for certain keywords is to analyze the competition’s keyword strategies. You can check their keywords by manually searching for keywords to see your competition’s position or use a keyword research tool that allows you to see the top keywords for the domain of your choice.
Nevertheless, if you want to stand out in the crowd, you need unique keywords different from the ones your competition is using. You need to balance your keywords and the ones used by your competition. Remember there are no best keywords for a high ranking website! There are though keywords searched by your target audience!
