In your research to drive more traffic to your page or increase its relevance, you might have come across terms such as "SEO" and "Keywords" or "SEM."
SEO, friendly keywords are the backbone of any website. They carry the pages forwards onto the page ranking system of Google so that users can find what they are looking for. When customers look for a specific product or service, the phrases or words they type in the search bar essentially become the keywords that search engines would use to rank relevant pages.
How high your website ranks on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) determines how much traffic and users your website will see. This becomes tied to your website revenue as the higher the traffic, the more one profits. This leaves the webmaster, i.e., you, thinking about what SEO keywords to use for your own site. Well, that largely depends on your topic and industry.
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It is what lets Google know what your site is about. It is a process that helps you rank your website higher on the Google result pages as websites that are on the first page have a higher chance of getting traffic.
Most users rarely check further than the first page of the rankings- increasing the importance for website owners to make sure their site ranks high in relevancy.
SEO Keywords are short or long phrases that the users type into search engines like Google, Bing, Naver, etc. They are very important when one wants to figure out what terms and phrases to use so that Google would recognize and rank your page. High relevance to the topic of the keywords is also important if you want better results.
The best way to make sure that you have the right keywords in their right places is to optimize them using SEO tools. You could make use of both free and paid services offered depending on your need and budget.
So, how does one even begin to look for the right keywords?
Before you venture on a search for the right keywords to include on your website and in your content, you must set your goals correctly.
You have to decide what your niche and area of interest is going to be. What your products and services are and how will you be displaying them.
Will you be beginning with the intention of just spreading awareness of your brand?
Or are you looking to turn users into market leads that would buy your services or products?
These are the intents that will decide what kind of keywords or key phrases you will need to properly optimize your site for search engines.
SEO keywords differ based on their length and use. They also differ based on where you place the keywords.
Mainly, there are two kinds of SEO keywords- Short Tail and Long Tail keywords. Short tail keywords are of one or two words and are highly competitive with higher search volume, bringing in more traffic.
Long-tail keywords are of three to ten words or even more and have low competition and generally lower traffic. But these are the keywords you should focus on if you are building a fairly new business or website and don’t have years of experience and presence.
Generally, short-tail keywords are more used by businesses and pages that have been around for years.
It is important to know that the keywords' difficulty is calculated based on the paid search traffic and not the natural search traffic.
Short tail keywords may rank well, but there is a high level of competition that makes it harder for newer pages to rank well. Long-tail keywords are specific and more distinctly related to your topic, so even though they have lower traffic, your chances of ranking increase significantly.
If you are using a PPC- Pay-per-click campaign with Google ads, then Google Keyword planner becomes one of the best tools to use. It not only lets you see the ranking and the competition of each keyword and their relevance but also the volume. It is also fairly easy to use and understand.
It is important to analyze your keywords before you use them, and a site that displays the competitive, volume, and relevance of the keywords helps you decide on that.
After setting your goal and narrowing down your purpose and niche, begin with extensive SEO keywords research. This will give you important words and phrases that you would then need to use throughout your website and its content.
Begin your research with brainstorming. Think from the perspective of your user or customer. Think about what they may type when they get to the search bar.
Make a list of the phases and words you can think up. After this, you can use various tools to find even more words to add to your list.
Use various paid and free tools to find SEO Keywords. There are many websites, apps, software, and add-on extensions that would let you expand your keyword research. Some of them are;
Finding keywords is important but where you use them on your site is even more so. If your keywords aren’t on the relevant pages on your site, then you will probably not rank well.
Placement of the keywords lets Google and your viewer know that your site is relevant to their query.
To begin with, place them in the most obvious place- your title tag and then move on to other ones;
Your title must contain the keyword closer to the front. Make sure that the title isn't too long, keep it less than 65 characters.
Keep your content fresh and original so that it may drive more people to you.
Higher relevance to the topic and the product discussed and displayed on a page counts towards how it will rank.
If your page has all the appropriate and relevant keywords but empty and fluff content, it could work against you as Google algorithms are smart and ever-evolving. So do your due diligence because keywords are here to stay.
