Finding a niche or industry for your online business, defining a target audience for your website, studying the competitors' content to see what value could be added to your website: these are a few of the important steps one has to take in order for defining a fitting content strategy, and, by researching keywords, you can cover each one of them!
As an important aspect of SEO, Keyword Research helps identifying the terms and phrases your target audience is searching for, allowing you to optimize your website's content accordingly. This type of research is useful in identifying relevant keywords and phrases with high search volumes and low competition.
There are two important types of keywords:
Short-Tail Keywords:
Also known as head keywords or seed keywords, short-tail keywords are typically brief and general terms consisting of one or two words. These keywords have high search volumes but are often highly competitive and vague in terms of user intent. Examples include "shoes", "make-up" or "travel”.
Long-Tail Keywords:
Long-tail keywords are longer and more specific phrases that typically consist of three or more words. These keywords have lower search volumes but are more targeted and have less competition. Long-tail keywords often reflect more specific goals that the users have set and are valuable for attracting highly relevant traffic. Examples include "best running shoes for beginners", "how to apply eyeliner” or "Chinese restaurants in Paris".
There are several reasons that emphasize the importance of doing a Keyword Analysis for your website:
Improved Visibility
The likelihood of your website appearing in search engine results pages (SERPs) when users search for specific terms increases when targeting relevant keywords, thus improves your website's visibility and attracts organic traffic. While conducting a keyword research is not the only way to improve your website’s visibility, it is a crucial step. Using appropriate keywords will help push your website to the top of search engine results pages.
Google, for example, is using programs called crawlers to constantly explore the web, adding pages to its index. Here is where keywords become important: during the indexing process, Google will look for any similarities between pages, determining if one page is a copy of another page. By exploring different keywords, you will discover what are the most used keywords in your niche, therefore you can tailor your content to incorporate these keywords, making sure at the same time that your content is not very similar to other pages or websites.
Understanding User Intent
When searching something on the internet, users are looking for information, products, services, or solutions to their problems. Keyword research helps you understand what your target audience is searching for and why. This way, by analyzing search queries you can determine the intent behind them. This is also allowing you to tailor your content to match the intention of users and provide valuable answers and solutions. Disregarding this intent will bring bad results in the ranking of your website pages and your traffic can decline if you fail to research keywords aligned with the user's search goals.
Here are some common types of user intent:
Informational Intent:
Users with informational intent are seeking knowledge or answers to specific questions. They may be looking for explanations, tutorials, definitions, or research on a particular topic.
Navigational Intent:
Users with navigational intent are looking for a specific website or web page. They may enter the name of a brand, company, or website into the search bar to quickly navigate to their desired destination.
Transactional Intent:
Users with transactional intent are ready to make a purchase or complete a specific action. They may be searching for product reviews, comparisons, pricing information, or looking to buy a product or service online.
Commercial Investigation Intent:
Users with commercial investigation intent are in the research phase of the buying process. They may be comparing products or services, reading reviews, or seeking recommendations before making a purchase decision.
Local Intent:
Users with local intent are looking for businesses, products, or services within a specific geographic area. They may include location-based keywords in their search queries, such as "near me" or the name of a city or neighborhood.
Brand Awareness Intent:
Users with brand awareness intent are interested in learning more about a specific brand or company. They may search for brand-related terms, such as brand names, slogans, or specific products or services offered by the brand.
Comparison Intent:
Users with comparison intent are comparing different options or solutions to meet their needs. They may be looking for product comparisons, reviews, features, or pricing information to help them make a decision.
Understanding Search Volume
Search volume refers to the number of times a particular keyword or search query is entered into a search engine over a specific period, usually measured monthly. It indicates the level of demand or interest in a specific topic, product, or service as expressed through search engine queries. High search size indicates that a keyword is relevant to a large number of users and is frequently searched for. Targeting keywords with significant search volume ensures that your content has the potential to reach a broad audience.
Being up to date with what people search the most every month will attract more visitors to your website, as keywords that are searched often generally have greater traffic potential. Search volume could also be a useful tool for your content strategy: by focusing on topics and keywords with substantial search amount, you can create content that addresses the interests and needs of your target audience effectively.
It reflects the level of demand for a particular topic, product, or service within your target market. Understanding these trends can help you identify popular topics, emerging trends, and areas of interest among your audience.
Better User Experience
Aligning your content with the keywords sought by your audience enhances the user experience. Users are more likely to find your website valuable and relevant if it addresses their search queries effectively, leading to higher engagement, longer time on site, and lower bounce rates.
A website or page with original content will raise the interest of its users, as they might have already found different web pages that offer information that’s so similar to one another. With the right keywords on hand, you can optimize your content in such a way that the user will find navigating your page/website more facilitating than other websites. Knowing where to add a specific keyword in your page will help your users find the information they are looking for more easily, because they won’t have to scroll multiple pages in order to discover what they need.
High Conversion Rates and a Better Return on Investment
When your website ranks well for keywords with commercial intent, such as product names or specific services, you're more likely to attract visitors who are ready to make a purchase or take a desired action. These actions, such as subscribing for a newsletter or making a purchase from a website, are called conversions. You can get high conversion rates by using different trending keywords that could bring commercial opportunities.
You can measure the ROI (Return On Investment) by keeping track of conversion rates, the revenue your website brings and organic traffic. This will help you identify soft spots, improve your SEO results, validate the SEO investments and determine the appropriate budget allocation for future search engine optimization efforts.
Competitive Advantage
Studying potential keywords allows you to identify keyword opportunities that your competitors may be overlooking. By targeting niche or long-tail keywords with lower competition, you can gain a competitive advantage and attract targeted traffic to your website.
By doing an analysis on the keywords used by your competitors, you will get an idea about what their strategy is when it comes to search engines ranking. This can also bring you an insight on what you are doing wrong and what opportunities your website has to become more successful.
In summary, conducting a research on keywords is essential for understanding your audience, optimizing your content, gaining a competitive edge, and ultimately driving targeted traffic and conversions to your website. It forms the basis of an effective SEO strategy and is crucial for achieving online visibility and success.
You can check your website's keyword density with our free Keyword Density Checker Tool.
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