Having quality and effective keywords helps websites attract more traffic and rank higher on search engines. In this article, let's explore what is keyword and how to choose optimal keywords with On Digitals.
A keyword is a word or phrase that users enter into a search engine. When a website achieves higher ranking, it is due to the keywords that you have built before. Therefore, you must not overlook what users are searching for or interested in to find quality keywords.
Let’s say you want to search for travel information in the Netherlands. You can enter keywords like “Netherlands travel destinations,” “travel to Netherlands,” etc. into search engines. They will search and provide you with the most relevant results.
Also, here are some common terms related to keywords:
Keywords are an important factor in marketing in general and SEO in particular. Once you have quality and high-value keywords, you can bring in good traffic to your website without having to pay. Additionally, keywords help websites appear at the top of search results.
Moreover, you can expand your site’s coverage by using paid advertising (PPC) to push your page’s keyword to the top.
For SEO, you need to delve into and understand users’ search intent. This will help you choose and use the words that they often search for the most. It is considered a wise way to get a high ranking naturally.
However, if you research and use keywords incorrectly for your page, it will lead to a decrease in page traffic and ranking as it does not meet the needs of users.
This shows that keyword research is an important step that plays a decisive role in SEO Keyword results. Therefore, doing careful keyword analysis will help optimize results in the best possible way.
There are two ways for keywords to appear at the top of Google search results:
Pay Per Click advertising is the fastest way to display your website at the top of search results. You can bid on the keywords you want to compete with other competitors on Google.
For example, when a reader clicks on a website that uses PPC, Google will automatically charge you a fee.
This is a way to attract natural traffic without advertising. However, you need to invest time and effort to research and optimize the keywords that users often search for. The SEO implementation process for a website takes time to achieve the desired ranking.
As mentioned above, Google will review and evaluate a website as “good” if it meets the requirements for content, keywords, etc. Through this, the website will receive natural traffic from users.
There are many ways to find keywords. The simplest method is to use keyword research tools such as Google Search Console, Semrush, Rank Checker, etc. These tools are relatively easy to use and operate in a similar way.
You need to enter broad keywords related to the topic you are building, and the tools will suggest related keywords. For example, Ahrefs will provide related keywords, as well as traffic volume and many other SEO indicators.
The issue is how to use tools to choose high-quality keywords from thousands of them. Here are 9 ways to help you identify the most suitable keywords for your website’s goals.
Search volume helps you understand the popularity of keywords. In addition, the data also provides the popularity of a specific query, especially the potential traffic you can target for your website. Furthermore, keyword research tools will also show you information on the “difficulty” and “competitiveness” of keywords.
Search Intent allows you to learn the intention and purpose behind users’ searches. In SEO, it plays an important role in directing readers to the most relevant search results. Search Intent is divided into 4 main types:
The equivalent value compared to PPC ads is also an effective factor to choose keywords. Data can show how much advertisers pay per click on average in their marketing campaigns.
Keyword difficulty is usually evaluated on a scale of 0 to 100. The higher the difficulty score, the more competitive the keyword is, and it requires more resources to rank. Therefore, when choosing a keyword, you may want to consider easier keywords to help you rank faster.
The number of words or length of a keyword is a factor to consider when choosing it. Typically, short keywords such as “marketing field” will target a broader search intent. This keyword also includes smaller topics like the development of the marketing field, what is included in marketing field, etc.
Therefore, when selecting a keyword, you need to determine whether short or long keywords are the target of the website in order to optimize them properly.
Branded keywords are a way to advertise effectively and build trust with readers. These are queries with brand names embedded, such as “On Digitals marketing.”
Long-tail keywords, despite not having high search volume like short keywords, have very specific purposes. If a website has articles containing long-tail keywords, it will have more chances of boosting both traffic and conversion rates.
In addition, targeting long-tail keywords helps users easily search and get significant traffic. When readers enter the keyword on the search engine, Google will screen and provide the most detailed and specific results. This method alone also shows that your website is more unique and attractive than your competitors.
Targeting by geographic location is a way to determine your target audience based on where they are. This method allows local businesses to better understand the target audience through SEO and advertising.
For websites that mainly do business locally, implementing Local SEO is essential. You can see the role of Local SEO when searching for keywords such as, for instance:
Negative keywords help prevent a certain word or phrase from triggering your ad. This means that ad will not be displayed to anyone searching for that phrase.
For example, a business is running ads in their “Women’s Fashion” campaign. However, when readers type in the search bar, they may get results for children’s fashion as well.
Therefore, it is necessary to add the keyword “children” as a negative keyword. This helps customers who want to search for women’s fashion avoid seeing ads for children’s fashion from the business.
There are typically three steps to conduct keyword research for an SEO campaign:
Firstly, to understand and grasp customers’ behaviors, it is necessary to research and identify the more engaging topics compared to other websites.
When the website determines its target to deploy, it not only provides valuable and high-quality content for readers but also demonstrates its unique and attractive features. This helps the website have a higher chance of receiving more traffic than its competitors. Determining the objective and target of the website is necessary to move on to the next steps in keyword research.
After determining the main objective, the next step is to create a list of keywords related to the topic being developed. To create that list, you can use keyword research tools. Once you have the list of keywords, filter out the truly relevant ones for the website to receive good traffic and rankings.
Note: If you choose wrong or irrelevant keywords, readers can easily leave the website because they cannot find what they are looking for. This can reduce the credibility, traffic, and ranking of the website.
Tools help businesses reduce the difficulty of keyword research. After creating the initial keyword list, leverage these tools to get your official keyword list. Use the aforementioned 9 ways to choose keywords to get the best quality keyword list.
With this article, On Digitals have talked about what is keyword, its roles, and effective ways to choose keywords. In addition, the article provides a guide for keyword research for an SEO strategy.
Stay tuned to On Digitals for the latest insights about SEO in particular and Digital Marketing in general. Contact us if you need advice on solutions for your business.
