Picking the right keywords and keyword phrases is one of the most important steps in successful website execution. Boosting website traffic is crucial, yet drawing in the appropriate audience is imperative.
There are many ways to do keyword research, either manually or using a keyword research tool like Keyword Tool. But whichever way you choose, there are several important steps that you need to take.
The process of choosing the most suitable keywords for your website holds significant importance as it greatly impacts the success and effectiveness of your online presence. Targeting incorrect keywords will escalate the effort required to achieve desired outcomes. It all begins with a strong keyword research strategy.
1. Think like a customer
Before commencing keyword research, it’s essential to pinpoint your target audience, understand their specific challenges, and requirements, and how your product or service caters to those needs. Then, see what information you can gather on their online behaviour. Popular tools like Google Analytics, Google Trends, and social media analytics can provide valuable insights into your audience’s preferences and behaviours.
After gaining a thorough comprehension of your audience and their interests, step into their perspective. Engage with friends, family, or existing customers to generate a list of pertinent topics and phrases related to your business or industry. These identified subjects will form the foundation for conducting keyword research.
2. Study the competition
Reviewing your competitors’ websites can be beneficial in understanding their targeted keywords. Analysing their content and meta tags can reveal the specific keywords they’re prioritising. This process not only aids in identifying potential oversights in your strategy but also expands your repertoire of ideas by incorporating insights from your competitors keyword choices.
3. Understand the long-tail keyword
When choosing keywords, it’s beneficial to prioritise long-tail keywords comprising three or more words or phrases. These precise phrases are tailored to meet the needs of users with distinct and explicit intentions.
For instance, instead of using a broad keyword like “apartment for rent,” opt for a long-tail keyword like “pet-friendly studio apartments with utilities included in (City).” Utilise tools like Google’s Keyword Planner, Moz Keyword Explorer, or SEMrush to uncover associated keywords and phrases for each subject.
While long-tail keywords tend to boast lower search volumes, they generally attract more relevant traffic, are typically less competitive, and are easier to rank well on.
Ensure to select specific long-tail keywords that accurately describe your product or service.
4. Analyse Keyword Metrics
Before finalising your keyword list, it’s essential to assess the metrics associated with each keyword. When utilising Google Ads, make use of their keyword tool to explore potential target keywords for your campaign.
Tools such as SEMRush, Moz, RavenTools, and others offer crucial insights into various metrics, including trends, search volume, keyword difficulty, and click-through rates.
Strive for keywords that strike a good balance between search volume and competition. Additionally, take into account keyword seasonality as certain terms might perform better at specific times of the year.
5. Monitor the results and make adjustments
After choosing your keywords do not forget to monitor them and analyse the results. Trending keywords or phrases commonly emerge, along with recently adopted keywords may be employed by your competitors.
Regularly revisit and update your keyword strategy. Keep an eye on emerging keywords, shifts in user behaviour, and industry developments. SEO tools facilitate the automation of this process by delivering alerts and suggestions. By staying adaptable and informed, you can maintain a competitive edge in the world of keywords.
Bonus Tip
Do not forget to utilise your keywords wherever possible! Incorporate your keywords into blog entries, social media posts, meta tags, and the content of your website. The increased utilisation of keywords within your content will enhance the discoverability of your platform for your intended audience.
Bring it all together
Choosing appropriate keywords forms the foundation of every effective SEO strategy. Although it requires time and research, the outcomes will prove the effort worthwhile. Keep in mind that keyword research is a continual endeavour.
The tools referenced herein serve as your companions in this quest, hence utilise them to their fullest extent. Happy keyword hunting!
Once you have found and organised your keywords, the next step is to figure out the correct way to implement them. The approach to employing keywords for SEO will differ based on your website’s current stage of development. (e.g. pre-launch, redesign, SEO overhaul, ongoing content strategy, etc.) but in many cases, the following concepts can be universal best practices worth adopting.
While it might sound counterintuitive to use keywords that are already working for your site’s SEO, this proven technique is worthwhile to help maximise momentum and harvest low-hanging fruit. For effectively harnessing keywords that already generate organic search traffic to your site, follow these steps
Initially, thoroughly examine the keywords where you currently hold a position on the first page of search results. Subsequently, start integrating target keywords (that you haven’t secured a ranking for yet) into both existing pages and, potentially, more fittingly, new pages.
Incorporating fresh target keywords will assist in generating new content that can be ranked, attracting traffic from different audiences, and filling in any content gaps within the keywords you’ve already established rankings. They’ll also paint a clearer picture of what your website is all about.
In most cases of growing SEO performance, utilising new keywords is the primary area of focus. If you don’t identify new potential targets, you’ll likely miss out on big opportunities to grow your search visibility and keep your site up-to-date with relevant content.
Your current rankings may be good, but what if additional keywords of interest will move the needle even further? You never know until you try!
Ensure that the selected keywords are naturally integrated into the heading tag (visible title or Header 1), subheadings, and content of each page for every URL. If you incorporate media elements such as images and videos, it’s important to include relevant keywords in their descriptions, such as image names and alt text.
Wondering how many keywords are good for SEO? Well, in today’s evolved SEO world, less is more. The necessity lies in featuring your primary keyword a limited number of times within a content piece. Often, the emphasis is on its placement (such as in the title, headings, metadata, etc.) rather than the frequency or quantity of its occurrence.
If your target keyword is very general, like “carrot cake,” then you can certainly use it more times throughout each webpage where it’s natural. But just keep in mind that Google can penalise your website and drop your ranking if it detects that you’re using nonsensical keyword inclusions to cheat the system.
In addition to using keywords in the page’s content, you’ll also need to ensure they’re mentioned in your metadata. Website metadata refers to the meta description and title used on each page.
While these components remain unseen and operate in the background for website visitors, they serve as the primary headline link visible to users on search engine results pages (SERPs). Ensure that your main keyword or key phrases are incorporated into the title tag, preferably placed towards the beginning of the tag, and if feasible, include them in the meta description as well.
Do note that keyword relevance of the meta description is not a ranking factor, however, it can appear in the search results and shape how users view and engage with your content.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Keyword research involves identifying the specific terms individuals utilise while searching on the internet. These keywords are pivotal in crafting content aimed at drawing traffic from search engines.
To get more traffic from search engines, you need to understand what people are searching for online and produce content that targets popular keywords. If you produce content without doing prior keyword research, your chances of getting meaningful traffic from search engines are slim.
Start by brainstorming topics related to your business. Use keyword research tools (like Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, Ahrefs, etc.) to find related keywords, search volumes, and competition. Analyse these keywords for relevance and search intent.
Short-tail keywords typically comprise one or two words and are concise and general in nature. Long-tail keywords are more specific phrases usually containing three or more words that target a particular niche or audience.
Analysing competitor keywords can provide insights, but blindly copying them may not be effective. Focus on creating unique and valuable content while understanding the keywords that work well in your niche.
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