SEO Keywords

While Google's constant algorithm tweaks keep inbound marketers on their toes, one thing has been fairly consistent for digital marketers aiming to optimize their websites for search: keyword research.

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What are SEO Keywords?

Simply put:
SEO keywords are the words that people search for to find what they are looking for on a search engine like Google.
Elaborate please...

The keywords and phrases in your online content that allow people to find your site via search engines are known as SEO keywords. With SEO keywords that assist connect searchers to your site, a website that is well optimized for search engines "speaks the same language" as its potential visitor base. One of the most important aspects of SEO is keywords.


Why do I Need Keyword Research?

Keyword research can provide you a lot of information about what your target audience is looking for on Google. The knowledge you gain from these genuine search phrases can inform both your content strategy and your overall marketing plan.

When conducting internet research, people employ keywords to identify solutions. You stand to get more traffic if your content is successful in getting in front of your audience as they conduct searches. As a result, you should concentrate your efforts on such queries.

Furthermore, we should design content around what people want to discover, rather than what we want to teach them. To put it another way, our audience has come to us with the an expectation we should satisfy.

Avoid some of the common mistakes most beginning search marketers make when it comes to SEO keyword research:

  • Only doing SEO keyword research once,
  • Not updating or expanding their SEO keyword list, or
  • Targeting keywords that are way too competitive.

There are numerous advantages to conducting keyword research, the most common of which are:

Insight into Marketing Trends

Effective keyword research may give you insights into current marketing trends and help you focus your content on themes and phrases that your target audience is looking for.

Increased Traffic

The higher you rank in search engine results for the keywords that best fit the content you post, the more traffic you'll draw to your website.

Obtaining Customers

If your company has material that other business professionals are looking for, you can fill that need and create a call to action that will guide them through the buyer journey from awareness to purchase.

You may address the questions that the majority of your audience wants answered by studying keywords for their popularity, search volume, and general intent.

Keywords, on the other hand, have evolved beyond Google's exact-match algorithms and are contextual based. The user input of text or voice can now be conversational and Google will pick up on the nuances in order to find the most appropriate results.


What are Some Common Keyword Research Techniques?

Finding the best keywords for your content can be challenging. There are many tools and suggestions out there but it comes down to experimenting with the best combination for your project.

Generally we find keywords by following some basic rules. For instance, industry specific terms may provide access to professionals in your industry while broader terms uncovered in Google Trends may provide information about what categories of keywords to target.

Another rule I follow is to create a list of keywords that range from low to high in their search volume. Highly competitive keywords will take a lot of effort to rank while the low hanging fruit may be easier to acquire top positions for. If you rank for there related keywords you will have a better opportunity to try to rank the more competitive keywords in the future.

There is a growing list of SEO keyword tools that the professionals use and with the introduction of AI into pipeline we now how powerful applications that can uncover trends that went unnoticed previously.

Some of the popular SEO Keyword research tools include;

In Google’s Keyword Planner, you can get search volume and traffic estimates for keywords you're considering. Then, take the information you learn from Keyword Planner and use Google Trends to fill in some blanks and expand your possible long tail keywords.

Use the Keyword Planner to flag any terms on your list that have way too little (or way too much) search volume, and don't help you maintain a healthy mix of high and low competition keywords. But before you delete anything, check out their trend history and projections in Google Trends. You can see whether, say, some low-volume terms might actually be something you should invest in now — and reap the benefits for later.

Where do you use your keywords?

A marketer attempting to optimize a web page for the “best lighting designers” keyword group should consider doing most if not all of the following:

  • Using the keyword in the title of the page
  • Using the keyword in the URL (e.g., online-store.com/best-lighting-designers)
  • Using the keyword, and variations throughout the page copy
  • Using the keyword in the meta tags, especially the meta description
  • Using the keyword in any image file paths and in the images’ alt text
  • Using the keyword as the anchor text in links back to the page from elsewhere on the site

When optimizing your web pages, keep in mind that keyword relevance is more important than keyword density in SEO.

How Often do I Need to Update My Keywords?

Make sure to re-evaluate these terms every few months – once a quarter is a decent starting point, but some companies prefer to do it even more frequently. As your authority in the SERPs grows, you'll be able to add more and more keywords to your keyword lists to tackle as you focus on sustaining your current presence and then expanding into new areas.

How Much Does SEO Keyword Research Cost?

A comprehensive SEO strategy employs numerous tools (free and paid) to find the best keywords for your page. The tools themselves can be thousands of dollars a month but you can get started with things like Googles Keyword Planner for Free.

There is simply no substitute for experience and education when it comes to an effective SEO manager. Finding the right keywords has many nuances a seasoned marketing professional will be able to work through to come up with a successful list.

While there is no one size fits all answer for cost you can expect to put in some serious hours of research and testing to uncover what works for your business. Start small and gradually build your targets upon previous successes to get the best results.