Importance of Keyword Selection in SEO Campaign
Since the advent of algorithms and SEO, keywords have been the crux of every digital marketing strategy. These phrases help one create content that aligns with search intents and ensure searchers find exactly what they are looking for.
However, as of 2021, about 92.42% of keywords only get ten monthly searches or even fewer. This is why marketers tend to conduct thorough research to select the ideal keyword to garner much-needed traffic.
However, before you understand the importance of keyword research in SEO for your website, let’s discuss what it stands for.
What is Keyword Research in SEO?
In search engine optimization, keyword research stands for the process of discovering search terms that one’s target audience might use in the search engine. The main search engines webmasters target while looking for these terms are Google and Bing.
It is generally the first step in any content marketing strategy, be it paid or organic. So, one cannot skip it and start with optimizing content directly.
But in the current times, many have started to question its importance.
Is Keyword Research Still Important for SEO?
If you have been dealing with SEO for at least a year now, you would know about a popular phrase, “keywords are dead”. However, it has been in circulation for quite a long time, and it is not ideal to ignore its existence altogether.
Instead, let’s understand why that statement is not at all correct and the reason behind the everlasting importance of keywords in digital marketing.
They are Clues
If you got to know how your target audience feels and what sort of things they like, will you change your business according to that?
In a practical setting, any same business owner would restructure their company to keep it in line with what its target audience wants. And keywords convey precisely that to the digital marketers.
These phrases are usually queried that searchers are looking for, and if you can provide that, you will be on their SERP.
This helps you build positive visibility among individuals who want what you have to offer now or would eventually want it in the future. So, these are not only clues for the present but the potential future as well.
It is like Personas
Some key phrases are so accurate that is don’t target a group but a particular persona. Of course, a company would not just cater to a single niche client but a mass with similar interests.
However, creating such personas with keywords will help your content become more relatable for the readers than others.
You will also get an insight into how they think and feel. This will further strengthen your marketing strategy bringing overall success.
How Does Proper Keyword Research and Selection Affect Your Website?
If you can successfully find the right keywords for your site, they will:
Better Brand Visibility
Proper optimization of key phrases can significantly increase organic search traffic and help a page rank high on the search results. This will ensure more people come across your brand and site which will, in turn, improve brand awareness.
You can also use branded keywords in your site to improve internal linking and overall dwell time. The more an individual will spend time on your site, the better they will remember it.
In 2020, improving organic presence was the top priority for about 61% of marketers, and this number has only increased in 2021. So, if you are not using the proper keyword for optimization, you will not just miss out on potential customers but lag behind your competitors.
It Negates the Influx of Negative Audience
While everyone wants to bring as much traffic as possible to their site, garnering negative traffic will only increase the bounce rate.
The negative traffic refers to individuals who have stumbled upon your site as it was on their search result page. However, their search intent is not at all the one your page is written for. As a result, such visitors get disappointed and instantly click away from your page, reducing dwell time and adding up to its bounce rate.
The importance of keyword research in SEO is also because it helps website owners find the phrases they do not wish to rank for. Then, you can list them before writing your content and tell Google not to rank your page for them.
Explains the Context Better
Continuing with the point above, accurate keyword usage can help you better convey your page’s content to the crawl bots and the readers. Since algorithms are just AIs, it appreciates a little assistance when it comes to interpreting the content of a site or page.
When it comes to understanding the context of a topic, LSI or latent semantic indexes are your best friends. For instance, if you simply search PC, the first thing that Google will show you are search results related to personal computers.
However, if you provide it with a bit of help and add “Jonas“, the results change to Priyanka Chopra.
So, if you do not put such LSIs in your content, Google might confuse your content with something else.
How to Do Keyword Research for Your Website?
Now that you understand its importance, it is time that you start practicing it. And the following steps will ensure that you conduct thorough and fruitful keyword research.
1. List Your Relevant Topics
Even though you do not know the ideal key phrases for your site, you know what it is about. So the first step is to list all the topics you discuss on your website or plan to discuss in the future.
These can vary from the primary topics to simple elements of your products and services. Keyword research is a critical component of SEO strategy building. Hence, it is best to list every plausible pointer and miss nothing actively.
2. Buckets Those Topics
Now that you have a long list of all the things you will discuss on your site, it is time to segregate them.
Create small groups of similar topics to understand what are the broader terms that you might need to look into. These small groups are called buckets, and the more buckets you have, the better.
Fill these buckets with all the keywords you can find related to them. And while filling them, try to only include terms that you think your target audience would search.
If you are doubtful about specific terms, just include them.
3. Understand Search Intent
If anyone is still wondering why keywords are important, it is because they help a content meet its search intent adequately. However, to achieve that, you would have to understand the search intent of your targeted customers yourself.
Think from a consumer’s perspective; what would you search, when looking for the products or services you provide.
You can also conduct competitor research to gauge how they fulfill search intent properly.
Lastly, study the patterns of your audience to understand how search intent can affect your site and make your decisions accordingly.
4. Look for Related Search Terms
Considering you are new to keyword research, you might struggle to find a substantial amount of key phrases for your site. Under such circumstances, you can refer to the related reach sections of your already listed keywords and find similar terms.
Especially the new PAA (People Also Ask) section provides a vast insight on the related terms users search after searching your targeted keyword.
The more variety you have, the more pages you will have to secure a rank in. So, never skip on this inventive step as it will reduce the effectiveness of the entire research process.
The importance of keyword research in SEO is also because of the vast ideations one can find through it.
5. Utilize Keyword Research Tools
With innovation in every corner of the internet, there are several SEO and keywords research tools available in the market solely to help you find key phrases. Leverage the aid these applications or plugins provide and create a keyword base like no other.
There are several free keyword research tools in the market, such as keyword surfer, Semrush Keyword Magic Tool, Ubersuggest, etc.
However, keep in mind that these tools are just an aid to your research process, and you should not base it entirely on them.
If you are still doubtful about your keyword selection skills, here are some steps that can help you find the best ones.
Steps to Select the Ideal Keywords
Follow the steps given below to further enhance the effectiveness of your keyword research process.
1. Look for Authority, Relevance, and Volume
You will find similar versions of the same keyword floating on the internet. But there will always be a version that is performing significantly better than the rest.
So look for words that have a significantly high search volume, provide authority to your content, and are relevant to your site.
If the phrase fails to meet even one of these criteria, it is not the word or term you are looking for.
2. Check for a Mix of Head Terms Per Bucket
Once you have such high authority keywords in your list, the next step is to improve the buckets. Earlier, for your ease, it was suggested to make buckets with similar terms.
But now, in the advanced stage, you can have buckets with mixed head terms. This will help you diversify the probable key phrases and help you gauge all the different aspects of the topics in our buckets.
3. List the Keywords You are Already Ranking for
Professional marketers always recognize the importance of keyword research in SEO because it helps one open different facets that they did not know existed.
A step that professional SEO service provides never skip is listing down the keywords where their content was successful. You list them not to target them again but to create room for it to maintain its high rank.
You can further support such content by creating relevant backlinking and interlinking. Here the phrases on which you wrote content should be related to the main subject, and listing keywords makes it easy.
4. See How Your Competitors are Ranking for Them
You cannot create a proper strategy if you do not know how your competitors are performing. So make sure while conducting competitor analysis, you also check who is already ranking on your targeted phrases.
Check the position of all your competitors where you are already ranking high. And lastly, check the pages where you failed to rank, but your rival company managed to acquire a position.
5. Make use of Google Keyword Planner
Among all the keyword research tools in the market, the one you cannot skip is Google Keyword Planner. Because Google itself develops this tool, anything it suggests is what “Google” deems to be ideal. So using it as your final checking point will help you figure out which works to use and which you can do without.
Conclusion
The importance of keyword research in SEO is something that will almost every optimization expert believes is her to stay. It has not changed in the past few decades and considering the indexing and ranking patterns search engines follow, it will not change in the future as well.
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