In the terms of the search engine, Keywords are the words and phrases that people type into search engines to obtain desired results of what they’re looking for.
Most people would also call them queries or Google searches because they are synonyms of the keywords.
For example, if you want to know about Digital marketing, then you will probably write “what is digital marketing” in the search engine.
Now, from the above image given you can easily identify the keywords and the results of your questions.
And in this very engaging article, you will get to know about all desired information like why keywords are important, how to find the right keywords for your business, how to use them in your website pages & the types of keywords you can use in your pages. So, without wasting your precious time, you should move further and grab the knowledge.
Why Are Keywords Important to SEO?
So, as we all know that when we organize the content properly on our website & perfectly achieve the optimization of the words, topics, and services of the webpage as our target audience is looking for, then we have a greater chance of showing up in the search results & also to grab organic traffic on your web page.
But when we will start using the optimized keywords for our website it will help the search engines to get the data about your webpage. And that can increase the chances that a search engine will find your webpage relevant for a particular query.
Keywords also help many website owners like us by:
- Driving more qualified traffic to appropriate webpages.
- Creating useful content for the target audience
- Helping Google understand the webpage content.
- Showing relevant results in front of the right people at the right time.
So this is how keywords help you in making a great SEO strategy for your website.
Two Types of SEO Keywords You Should Know
Short Tail Keywords: Keywords that are much more general search queries consisting of one or two words. For ex- Dog, Dog Food. These keywords have extremely high search volume, which means lots of people search for them each month.
So, if you’re trying to select short keywords for your site, this may sound like a good thing. Because you want to get your business in front of as many people as possible. But, short tail keywords have very high competition, meaning that it will be difficult to rank well for them.
That’s why short-tail keywords aren’t preferred keywords for the SEO of businesses who are starting to optimize their websites. A company that’s been using SEO for years, in comparison, may target short-tail keywords without hesitation.
Long Tail Keywords: On the other hand, Long tail keywords can range from three to 10 individual words, and sometimes even more. For example, “Best breed of guard dog for families” is a long-tail keyword.
These kinds of keywords have lower search volume, but also have less competition as compared to short-tail keywords. That means fewer people will search for them every month, but you have a better chance of reaching those people.
Additionally, long-tail keywords tend to have a much clearer intention than short-tail keywords.
For example: If you will try to rank for the term “dog,” it is going to be almost impossible to know what your visitors were looking for, whereas if you want to attract visitors searching “best breed of the guard dog” then you have the exact knowledge of what to cover on your website page.
How to Choose Keywords for SEO That Increases Traffic
Luckily, there are plenty of methods and tools to help find the best keywords for SEO, so let’s discuss them.
1. Use Keyword Research Tools
There are a variety of online tools you can use to research the best possible keywords for your business.
Google’s Keyword Planner is one of the best options if you run pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns with Google Ads. Because it pulls data straight from Google Ads & also provides accurate information on the search volume and competition levels of each keyword.
It also recommends keywords based on the content present on your site, which is a beneficial starting point for keyword research. But everyone doesn’t have an active Google Ads campaign, so you also choose several keyword research tools.
Here are some free tools for keywords research:
- KeywordsFX
- Keyword Tool
- Answer the Public
2. Focus on Long Tail Keywords Rather Than Short Tail Keyword
After identifying possible keywords for your site, it’s important to keep the focus on long-tail keywords.
You may also select a few shorter keywords for your company’s name, for your homepage, and other company-specific pages. But setting up long-tail keywords should be your primary goal.
If you take a long keyword that has only been searched 50 times per month, but competition for that keyword is low. That means 600 searches per year from people that could finally become your customers.
3. Look for Keywords With Low Competition and High Volume
As we all know that long-tail keywords serve low competition, still you have to check the volume and competition of each keyword while you are going to do keyword research.
Nowadays industries are more competitive than others, and even long-tail keywords can be challenging to rank for. This is especially true if your company is part of the drug & alcohol, legal, insurance, rehabilitation, or online education industries.
So, you need to find keywords that carry some relevance to your business page & then you can apply them to your page to increase your chances. This can be easily achieved by the tools we have discussed above in the article or you can use the paid keyword research tool named Ahrefs.
How to Use SEO Keywords on Your Website
Once you have finally decided on perfect keywords for your website then you will need to use them throughout your website.
Many of the experts say that it’s very important to focus on one keyword per page, this allows search engine crawlers to easily recognize the main focus or topic of any given page and provide it as a result for related searches.
And also you must start using your best SEO keywords in certain locations like:
Keyword in the URL of Your Website
First, you should make sure that each of your URLs is SEO-friendly.
If they are not till now then work on your URL structure, add relevant keywords in your new URLs and set it up for your pages.
Keywords in Meta Tags
In the second step, you can include keywords into your meta tags, like your meta title & meta description. Each heading tag should be informative about your page data.
Also, heading tags are subheadings on a page not only tell search engines what your page is about but also make it easy for visitors to examine the information they want.
Keywords in Your Content
After adding your keywords in your URL and tags, now you have to also include keywords in your content that will come up in front of your readers, but make sure that your target keyword is used naturally in the content.
If you will start using keywords in places that are irrelevant or don’t make sense, then your content will not be helpful for the readers & it would be considered as keyword stuffing.
Keyword stuffing is a search engine optimization (SEO) technique, considered as webspam, in which keywords are forcefully inserted into a web page’s meta tags, visible content, or backlink anchor text to achieve an unfair rank advantage in search engines
And it is against all major search engine guidelines that can also appear in a penalty that restricts your site from showing up in search engine results.
To avoid this situation you should use keywords on each page where it makes sense, if it doesn’t make sense anywhere, then it isn’t the right keyword for your page. For the best results, try and use your SEO keyword in your first paragraph of the content.
In Your Images
As we all know that search engines can’t see your images, but can read them. So this is the reason you have to optimize your images for your SEO keywords.
You can add the keyword in the filename of your image & also in the alt text but while adding the keyword in alt text make sure it’s natural and makes sense.
That means your alt text should explain your image but if stuff or force your keyword into your alt text, it can impact your SEO efforts, which means lower rankings & less traffic.
Final Thought
In the end, to sum it all up, I would like to say that keywords are not just important for the SEO of a website. And it is important to focus on creating content that is unique, high quality, and relevant while still using your target keywords when it is appropriate. Also, focus on the long-tail keywords search volume and its monthly traffic with the help of keyword research tools. I hope you enjoyed the article.
Author Bio : Hi, I am Brack Nelson
I have good SEO experience working with different companies and clients on a long-term basis. Currently, I am working as a marketing manager at Incrementors web solutions. I enjoy creating and implementing new marketing strategies as well as utilizing social media. Apart from that, I love to spend time with children and books, that’s what makes me feel alive.
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