SEO Keywords

Keywords are the foundation of SEO work.

When a person types a phrase into a search engine, they are using what we call “keywords.” Keywords are the foundation of SEO work. When your website incorporates certain keywords, it is more likely to show up on search engine result pages.

In order to optimize your pages for search, you need to understand the keywords someone might use to find your page. The goal is to use these keywords so that your site will show up on specific search queries. We often do keywords research to find applicable keywords for your site (and we recommend that you do too). While researching keywords, keep in mind their frequency, relevance, and competition.  When you understand the keywords available to you, along with these three factors, you can begin to decide which keywords you can use to give you the best search return.

Understand User Intent

Before you start thinking about keywords, you must understand intent- or the motivation behind a search. Words and phrases used in a search say a lot about the intent of the query. When you’re starting out, begin by typing a phrase into a search and see what comes up. Then try again in a few different ways or make it more specific. You will find that there are many ways to search for something and different results will come up every time. This is why intent is important to consider in order to help you narrow down keyword options.

Relevance

Search engines want to provide relevant results to users and keywords are a great way to convey your relevance. Keywords that are very relevant are usually more descriptive. The more closely your keyword matches a search query, the better. Ideally, you want to find keywords that are an exact match to what your audience or customer is searching for.  To find relevant keywords, try to understand a potential customer’s intent. What terms might they use to find what you offer? Relevant keywords are more likely to turn into conversions.

Frequency

Keyword frequency is how many times a keyword might be used for a search. High frequency key words are often simple and broad, meaning that there are many reasons why someone might use them. When first starting out with keyword research, these phrases might not be the most useful to you. We recommend starting with keywords that are more targeted but don’t appear as often. Using lower frequency keywords means you have a much better chance of showing up on a results page.  

Competition

Keyword competition is a measure of how difficult it will be to rank for a keyword on a search engine result page. High frequency keywords can be very competitive as many sites are optimizing for those keywords, meaning more search results to choose from.  Refining your keyword options so that they are relevant to your content might help to find less competitive phrases and allow your site to appear higher. The most useful keywords to you will be the ones that are less competitive but extremely relevant.

Long-Tail Keywords

Long-tail keywords are the search phrases that are lower frequency and very specific. These incorporate the ideas of relevance, frequency, and competition in a way that will be favorable to you. These keywords are often less searched for and very specific and targeted, which means that when used your website is very likely to be shown on a results page. Often, incorporating many long-tail keywords in your content can be just as effective are using one popular one.