Guide to SEO Keywords – What You Need To Know for Search Engine Optimisation?

Keywords are a must if you want your website to succeed. However, having the correct type and literal keyword is a must if you want to rank properly. Your bookshop ranking for keywords around car parts won’t work. In this post we will talk about what kind of keywords you have to know about and what they mean for your business and its success.

There are multiple types of keywords, each with their own elements and nuances. We will break each of these down below and will have you fully prepped for your SEO efforts.

Long-tail and short-tail keywords

A long-tail keyword is a keyword with 3 or more words in it. They are very accurate and targeted keywords and they let you focus in on the exact market you want to reach. This accuracy and niche interest helps make it easier for you to rank for these terms as they are less competitive.

On the other hand you have short-tail keywords which are usually seen as less than 3 words. These are very general terms with lots and lots of competition due to their broad nature. The lack of specificity means that you could get lost in the swamp of other competitors and never be found.

Geo-Targeting

These keywords relate directly to services or products based in a certain area. Due to the specificity of the Google search term the search volume is quite low, however so is the competition. Ranking 1st for these terms can be better than ranking 11th for a bigger term. These terms usually look like “x in y area” will help your local search efforts.

These keywords usually have good conversion rates and can help drive your business in a certain area.

Fresh or Evergreen Keywords

Fresh keywords that have come popular very recently and very quickly. Usually though they burn out quite quickly, organic search result volumes will fly up and then rapidly decline. This means that the terms you rank for will rapidly get to the very top and then traffic will fade away.

Conversely, evergreen terms are searches that are always popular. People will always search for these without ever really having a popular moment or season. They may

not have the massive volumes of fresh keywords but they will always have a decent level of searches. Read more about low priced website creation.

Intent Targeting

These are some of the best keywords you can target. They are searches with an action attached on to them like “buy reusable water bottle” or “best reusable water bottle.” These go past learning about the topic and show that you have an intent to make a purchase or action. Having a great website means website upkeep all the time.

Generic

These terms have massive search volumes and are usually the most competitive to rank for due to their broadness. On top of this can be kind of useless for your business due to how broad they are. More focused digital marketing can be better but really it is on a case by case basis that this can be evaluated.

How to find SEO Keywords to target?

There are lots of ways to find different keywords to target. Picking the right one is vital for your website to succeed online. Too competitive and you won’t rank but typically uncompetitive terms do not have big search numbers so it is a fine line for you. See your ways to find keywords below.

Competitor research

The simplest way is to think of your competitors both locally and nationally and see what are they targeting. Typically the homepage will be the page with the main keywords on it so this would be your main place to look. Be sure to look at the meta titles and headings to see what they are trying to do with their website. Looking at a wide variety of sites on the search engine results page will give you the most options. See what terms appear most often and this will give you a fair idea of what to target.

Keyword Planner

Using Google’s Keyword Planner will give you an idea of the keywords you need to target. It is mainly intended to be used for ads but gives you a strong idea of the terms and related searched for certain keywords. You can use this data to know what you need to include for your on-page SEO work and SEO strategies. One top tip is to look at the cost per click (CPC) for every term. The ones with the highest CPCs are typically the most valuable and useful terms for you to target.

Paid SEO tools for Google search

There are paid tools that will offer you more information and guidance on what you need to target for the best search engine marketing strategies. The likes of Ahrefs or Screaming Frog will give you pretty accurate information on search numbers and keywords you need to target. They are a very powerful keyword research tool that are used by top SEO agencies to see what people search online.

Your website will probably already rank somewhere for these searches as you will have used it in your site somewhere. The popularity of this search term though will probably mean that the effort to rank at the top will be too great for the return and you’d be better off ranking for more niche searches.

If you would like to optimise your website, then get in contact with us today for SEO deals.