When it comes to search engine optimization for your site and attracting organic traffic, knowing how to choose the right keywords for your content represents half of the battle. The other part of the battle is won by creating unique, relevant, and informative content for your users.
Unfortunately, most marketers don’t know how to choose keywords for SEO. While this may seem like a daunting and time-consuming task, there are tips to make it easier. This article will help you better understand keywords for SEO and how to choose the right ones based on your industry.
Below are six easy steps to help you with keyword research:
Whenever you’re doing any keyword-related task, ensure you start with the fundamental task of researching for the right keywords. However, before we start checking keyword research tips, we must understand what a keyword is and its usefulness in SEO.
So what are Keywords?
A keyword in the SEO world is a phrase or a word that web users often enter into any search engine when looking for information about a particular topic or searching for products to purchase.
Most companies with big marketing budgets often hire SEO agencies to help them with keyword research. That’s because these agencies hire professional marketers who know the in and out of SEO marketing. They may also have access to state-of-the-art resources such as software tools to help them with keyword research.
There are many great tools in the market today to help you conduct keyword research. However, these software tools can be quite costly. If you decide to hire an SEO agency, ensure that it’s a reputable company with the right tools to conduct keyword research.
However, suppose your company can’t afford to hire an entire agency or pay for a keyword research tool. In that case, you should consider hiring a freelance professional SEO specialist on websites such as Upwork. This is a cheaper alternative to hiring an agency.
But, the quality of service and work they do may differ significantly. Additionally, it can be quite daunting and time-consuming to start looking for a reputable SEO specialist online and manage them.
Alternatively, if you don’t want to follow any of these paths, you can always conduct your own keyword research using free and paid online tools.
When conducting keyword research for your company, it’s essential to consider the search intent. What is the intention of the user behind every search or query? Search intent is a significant aspect of keyword research.
That’s because it helps you to plan and strategize your content based on your users. This enables you to meet users' and potential customers’ needs. For example, if you sell iPhones on your website, it’s advisable to post content related to the types of phones you sell.
A user who types “Buy iPhone 12,” on their search engine isn’t looking to read an article about the difference between iPhone 12 and Samsung A20. They intend to go directly to your site’s product page, where they can view the prices, check out the product and make a purchase.
In most cases, search engine optimization splits keywords into three important categories. These categories include;
This is a keyword typed into a search engine by a user to navigate to a different website. For example, a user could type “Instagram” on Google in order to reach the webpage Instagram.com. Navigational keywords are often used by users who know exactly which websites they want to visit.
Informational keywords are keywords used by online visitors to search and find specific information about a particular topic. An example of informational keywords include “Who is the richest man on earth?” A user could type that into their search engine to find information about the richest man on the planet.
As the name suggests, these are keywords used by online visitors who want to purchase something online. Some words such as “for sale” or “buy” are often seen as solid indicators that the user intends to make a purchase.
For instance, an online visitor could type “buy a new MacBook,” or “Rose gold iPhone 12 for sale.” Such phrases could be interpreted to show that the user is thinking about buying something online. Therefore, if you’re selling products, ensure you put a picture of the product, its dimensions, specs, shipping information, and price.
Before a customer decides to buy your products or services, they often pass through several stages. These stages are known as a buyer’s journey, and they start from the moment a potential client hears about your product to them making a purchase. In most cases, customers do not make a purchase the first time they come across your site.
Instead, the client will pass through several stages before choosing to buy. These stages include awareness, product consideration, and then decision making. At the last step, the customer will decide whether to purchase from you or not. Below are the three buyers’ journey stages:
The awareness stage is the point where a customer realizes that they need products A, B, and C. In some cases, potential clients may not even understand their problem or have a name for it. All they know is that there is a problem, and it needs a solution.
For instance, a factory worker may experience some back pain while they are at work. At this point, they don’t understand the diagnosis and the leading cause of the pain. The point when someone realizes there is a problem is called the awareness stage.
The consideration stage is when the consumer now starts to pay attention to their problem. They will do some more research online about the problem and look for possible solutions. For example, the factory worker with a back problem may search online to find out more about the pain during this stage.
They may also decide to find a reputable doctor to diagnose the problem. This is when they will discover that they have arthritis.
This is the final stage in the buyers’ journey. The potential client will have already researched different possible solutions and decided to settle on the best one. During the decision stage, the client will decide on the best course of action.
At this point, you can only hope that the client will be more inclined to buy your products instead of the competitors’. Therefore, when planning on the type of content to post, it’s advisable to consider your target readers.
Consider all these different stages in their journey and post content that will help them through each, primarily if you sell products they need. Hence, having an effective marketing strategy and including industry-specific keywords will help you turn a potential client into a buyer.
A long-tail keyword is often a combination of three and more words to form a phrase that can be used as a keyword. Unfortunately, research has shown that long-tail keywords often have lower search volumes. However, they are usually less competitive and often attract more relevant traffic to your website.
Additionally, a long-tail keyword is easier to rank on search engine result pages. Therefore, it’s advisable to consider creating content using long-tail keywords related to your industry. Ensure you choose a keyword that best represents your company and helps specify the type of products and services you offer your clients.
Analyzing the level of competition for your target keywords is an essential aspect of keyword research. When choosing keywords for SEO, ensure you start by typing the given keywords on different search engines to see the results.
Look carefully at what comes up after your search. The first item to check is the types of ads that show up. In Google, pinpointing an advert is easy; the results will be marked with “Sponsored” or “Ad.” Adverts are always displayed at the top of the results by Google.
It’s very crucial to assess the adverts setting before you choose to create content using the chosen keywords. The second step is assessing the sites that organically appear on the first page of the search engine result page.
Are they from Fortune 500 companies with substantial marketing budgets? Don’t expect to land the first website on search engine result pages with just one blog article if this is the case.
The last step is analyzing the results. Check whether the content is beatable. Can you create better content, more relevant to the users? Look for any gaps in their content and work towards filling them by producing high-quality, keywords-filled, relevant content for users.
Most people don’t consider the content format and how it plays out in their industry. For example, if you sell clothes and create numerous blog posts to help your clients’ fashion sense, including pictures in your content can be a game-changer. Visual images could be the difference between your site ranking higher on SERPs and not ranking at all.
For anyone searching for content about fashion, home décor, landscaping, and other visually-related topics, blog posts without supporting visual images may not meet all their needs.
When posting your content, ensure you consider whether clients prefer the content expressed in tables, graphs, charts, lists, maps, images, or infographics. If you’re not sure, consider using the help of software tools to identify whether your industry keywords perform better with additional visual content.
The last step of keyword research is mapping each keyword to a particular web page on your site. You can do this by keeping everything organized using a free and simple content schedule tool. A content schedule will help you avoid targeting the exact keywords twice and keep your work organized.
If you’re selling products and services online, you will want to use keywords with commercial intent. Therefore, it’s advisable to separate these keywords and ensure that different web pages target different keywords.
However, if you have a blog on your site, you could target informational keywords in your industry. This means that the content you post for your blog posts should have the intention to educate and inform your target market. The information could be about your products, how to use them, and the benefits clients gain by using your products and services.
However, when writing articles for your blog, ensure you don’t include two or more different keywords in the same article. This can be quite confusing for clients. For instance, you sell honey to consumers, and you want to write some honey-related articles. You can write an essay about the health benefits of honey and post it on your blog.
However, you can’t include another unrelated keyword such as “Uses of honey in the beauty industry.” This will confuse your readers and may even lead to a higher bounce rate, affecting your search engine result ranking.
Now you know how to choose keywords for SEO and the best keyword research tips. Keyword research will provide your business with essential answers to questions related to your industry-related keywords. For instance, at the end of the research, you will know what most people are looking for, what words they use, and how many are searching using that particular keyword.
Are you looking for a digital marketing agency to help you with keyword research for SEO? Then look no further. Contact us today at The Blue Creative, and we will work with you to help you grow your brand and achieve your business goals.
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