Any SEO specialist needs to understand why is keyword research important. You must know what keywords are and how to use them to create an SEO-friendly product. SEO is one of the most important aspects when creating a blog post or website.
A well-optimized website will get high SERP rankings which will boost its traffic. More traffic means bigger profit margins; thus, SEO through keyword research is crucial. Let us get into the details and understand what keyword research is and how it works;
Why Is Keyword Research Important?
Keyword research is important since it can help an SEO specialist figure out vital information that will grow the business. Keyword research will show specialists the words users use to search for the products they want.
This knowledge will guide the content you create and get a better SEO ranking, more traffic, and higher profits. You will know the words to add to your website or blog, so it gets a better ranking.
What Is Keyword Research?
While learning about SEO, it is inevitable to come across keyword research since it is the foundation of SEO.
You must understand what it is and how it works before you can get into more SEO tips. So let us get into it and help you understand it;
So it’s lunchtime, and you are famished, but you don’t know where to eat. The most convenient thing to do is go to Google and search for something you want, such as tacos or Thai food restaurants.
You will get a series of options from Google and most likely go to the first or second option on the list.
You will probably not look at the fourth and fifth options, which is why keywords matter. A business has to stand out to make it to the top of that SERP list.
Keyword research is trying to understand what users will be entering into a social media platform or search engine to try and find you.
These could be attributes for a job or a service you offer. These are words that relate to the content you offer.
Before going deeper into SEO, you must understand the role keywords play. Keywords are words customers type into search engines to find a service or product they need.
SEO professionals like those at The Michigan SEO company will research to find the most popular keywords.
Using these keywords will increase the chances of conversions and sales. SEO professionals will add keywords to blogs, web pages, and other types of content.
Keyword research is crucial for SEO success since search engines use keywords to get web pages.
Start by brainstorming some keyword ideas. You can think about how other people search for your services and products. You can look at competitors to see their keywords and add to them.
You can then look at each keyword and how popular they are to know the best ones to use. You should focus on three major aspects; the first one is keyword volume. This refers to the number of users that search for the keyword monthly.
You should also consider the keyword’s cost per click, CPC, to see if it will be worth it based on the keyword’s volume.
You also need to check on the competition. This refers to how many of your competitors use the same keyword and how often they use it.
After going through these steps, you will know the best keywords. This summarizes what keyword research is all about, and you need several tools to accomplish it. SEO companies will offer all these tools and help you optimize your website.
Mistakes SEO Content Creators Make With Keyword Use
Finding keywords is important, but it’s only half of the problem. Keyword research seems simple, but it is much more complex and easy to go wrong.
It takes a lot of tools to end up with the right keywords, and you need skills to use them correctly.
You might have a correct pool of words, but then a few wrong choices lead you in the wrong direction. Here are some common mistakes SEO specialists make with keywords that you should avoid;
1. Doing a keyword search once
Keywords appear to change daily, and the results will change with them. It is crucial to regularly monitor what is trending with the users and where your business ranks. If the popular keywords change, you should change your content to match them.
This will ensure your blog or webpage stays relevant and is always on top of the SERP. If you don’t update the website, some keywords might change, and your position will drop. Keyword research is a continuous process so treat it as such.
Source: Onehourprofessor.com
2. Not updating the keyword list.
The digital world is constantly changing, and it happens fast. Something might be important today, and there won’t be as much interest in it in two days. If you take too long to turn your content around, you will have a problem.
Timing is everything; changing the words every user searches for is crucial. This is more important for bloggers since the content in this niche changes constantly. Medicine and a few topics will retain their keyword relevance for weeks or even months.
3. Not expanding the list of keywords enough.
You need to dive deep into the keyword reports and find keywords and phrases so you can rank more easily.
These long tail keywords are often easier to find, and you will get better results than using single words. Don’t put all your content in a single set of keywords.
Get at least 15 string keywords and develop content around these keywords. The more keywords you have in the article, the higher your chances of getting a hit. You can use more than one tool to ensure you get the most accurate long-tail keywords.
Sometimes incorporating long-tail keywords in your text might affect the grammar. You can afford to compromise on grammar if it is an eCommerce or service website. You will get a higher ranking, and most conversions will come from your services.
4. Targeting keywords that are too popular
You should get keywords that have a less than 70% difficulty ranking. It will be easier to move the needle in these words rather than fight against big websites for higher-difficulty words. The best range for keyword difficulty is between 40 and 60%.
You can also try to stand out and use keywords that target a specific group of people rather than popular ones.
Popular keywords will be on all websites, so they won’t be much of a boost. But by standing out, you will get a few extra points and a better position on the SERP.
Advanced Keyword Research Tips
Getting keywords might seem easy, but you need to know how to use them to get any benefits from them. Here are some helpful tips to guide your keyword SEO journey in a better direction.
1. Avoid using head keywords.
Head keywords are single words like printer, basketball, car, or ball. Such keywords are ambiguous and will be hard for the search engine to link them to a user’s search. There are thousands of possibilities, so it won’t work well.
2. Keep the search intent in mind.
There are 5 categories of search intent you should look into, and these refer to why the user is using a search engine.
These include informational, investigative, comparison, transactional and navigational search intent.
Knowing how a user will get to you will help you understand your intent category, which will give you better keywords.
Source: Conductor.com
3. Consider visual intent
These will work if your website has images or you sell items that a user can describe in a search, i.e., black shoes. Search results for such keywords will bring a prominent image pack above the traditional links.
You should consider how you will optimize your page and images, so you get a good ranking in Google images.
Use unique images and optimize the images to get the best result. The same thing applies to videos; a good YouTube ranking will increase Google ranking.
4. Take advantage of Google site search.
Go to Google Analytics, and under behavior, you will find the site search option. Click on the search terms option to see the phrases users search for on your website.
Such words are indications that you should add them to fulfill the searches. It could also mean that users can’t find answers to their questions on your website, so you need to change it up.
Conclusion
So, why is keyword research important? Keywords are the foundation of SEO, and you must get them right to create optimized content.
Keywords are the only direct way to have customers search for your specific services, and you have to think like a customer.
Keywords and their value in your content change regularly, and you might not remain on top with the same content.
You need to regularly update your content based on new keyword research reports. By doing this, you will always get a better ranking, and your traffic will increase.
