What are Keywords?

Keywords in SEO (Search Engine Optimization) are terms made up of one or more words that users type into search engines, such as Google when looking for information on the internet. They are used by search engine algorithms to determine the content of a website and then rank it against search results. For example, if I search for “diet”, the search engine will present me with the top-ranked results for that keyword.

SEO professionals use keywords to help improve a website’s position in search results. This is done by adding relevant keywords to the website’s content, as well as using keyword optimization techniques in the website’s title and description tags.

How to research and define Keywords? 

To find relevant keywords, you should research them and understand what your audience is looking for. To do so, simply open Google (preferably in an anonymous window, so that there is no influence on the results) and search for the theme you are going to develop. Let’s imagine you have a gym and want to publish an article on diet in your website’s blog. In this case, you can start by searching on Google, the keyword “diet”. When you type in the search bar, you will come across some suggestions provided by Google Suggest. These suggestions are given based on the most searched terms and the most used combinations for the keyword “diet”. These suggestions can be useful for choosing some keywords for your article, since they are suggested by Google itself.

Another factor you should take into account is the intention of your customers or visitors to your website. Most users go to a search engine to be informed, and only a small part has the intention to buy. With this information as a basis, you should adapt your content to your audience’s intentions. For this, it is necessary to have well-defined who your audience is and what they search for. This way you will be able to produce quality content that is relevant, useful and generates backlinks.

However, many of the terms searched for by users may be related to your products or services, but not match the keywords you think define your business. To avoid this, you should take into account the topics related to your business that spark interest in your audience. Going back to the example given earlier: if your business is a gym and your target audience is people who train to compete at a high level, you should, for example, choose keywords associated with that lifestyle and match their consumer profile. You could choose keywords associated with high-nutrient diets, for different types of preparation, with more carbohydrates or protein. Explore areas related to your main topic.

To build a strong keyword list, pay attention to the degree of competitiveness, i.e. the difficulty associated with them. Generally, this difficulty is associated with the length of the keywords.

Types of keywords

Head Tail keywords (main terms):

They correspond to a single word, have a high search volume and are generic. For example “Diet”.

Short keywords attract more traffic, however, they are more competitive which makes it more difficult to position them in the first search positions. Although they attract more traffic, conversion values are lower as they are more general and associated with informative content.

Body Keywords:

These are keywords composed of 2 words, more specific than Head Tail keywords. They have a considerable volume and less intense competition. For example “Healthy Diet”.

Long Tail keywords:

These keywords are composed of 4 or more words. They have a lower degree of competition and therefore a higher probability of conversion and lower costs and risks. For example “Diet for competitive athletes”.

This higher probability of conversion is because users use this type of keyword when they already have some knowledge and notion of what they are searching for. Using the example above, using the keyword “diet” will make it more difficult to position in the top places of the SERP (Search Engine Results Page) than a Long Tail Keyword, such as “diet for competitive athletes”, which is an easier keyword to position. The interesting thing about Long Tail Keywords is that they not only work on the positioning of the keyword in its entirety (diet for competitive athletes) but also the words that make it up (“diet” and “diet for athletes”).

However, you shouldn’t rule out more general words (head tail keywords), as these generate a higher volume of traffic and may be one of your brand’s goals.

In short, we recommend for a good content marketing strategy, to produce content that uses both head tail and long tail keywords. This way, you will be able to take advantage of the “best of both worlds”.

 

CPC

The CPC (Cost per click) is also an important aspect to analyse when choosing keywords. The CPC is responsible for calculating how much it costs to click on a particular keyword. It is given by the formula: investment in ads/number of clicks on the ads.

The Cost per Click allows you to evaluate the probability of users who search for a certain keyword spending money on it. It is interesting to understand if these keywords have a good ROI (Return On Investment), to check whether or not it is worth investing in ads for these keywords. Let’s take an example, if the CPC is £2, it means that advertisers will pay £2 each time a user clicks on the ad using a particular keyword. If the keyword has a high CPC, it is because it has a good commercial value, otherwise the advertiser would not be willing to pay that price. In this sense, it is important to analyse the CPC along with the search volume of that keyword and the level of competitiveness. If the keyword you want to use, has a high CPC, has a reasonable search volume and a lower level of competitiveness, it might be a good option to create content for this keyword.

Don’t forget the purpose and meaning of your business!

Keep in mind that you only justify investing or creating and optimizing content for a particular keyword if it meets the purpose and meaning of your business and translates into conversions that allow you to achieve your business goals.

Another method to find the best keywords for your content is through the suggestion box that google often presents when searching for a certain topic. You can find this box by scrolling to the bottom of the SERP. This box will give you suggestions for searches related to the search term you have chosen. Since the search engine itself suggests them, this is a great basis to start unravelling all the topics you need to cover and what answers you need to give your audience! Click on all topics and the box will grow and give you more options.

Use the biggest online encyclopaedia, Wikipedia. Wikipedia is the closest thing to a keyword goldmine. When you search for a particular topic, it encyclopaedia will present you with various contents related to your main topic and will also identify other keywords that are somehow related to what you have searched for. This way you will be able to address topics not only from your main theme, but also from other themes, which will allow you to capture more people within your target audience.

Final step

Now that you already have dozens of keywords, it’s time to create an Excel sheet, write down one by one in order of relevance, and record the place where you found them (Google Suggest, Wikipedia etc.). Once this is done, you should confirm the relevance of the keywords using tools available online. Here at oseubackoffice we use SE Ranking. Check the tool you chose, the search volume, competitiveness and CPC. At this point it is necessary to use your critical thinking to evaluate the keywords on the list you have made and keep track of trends in keyword searches and include them in your list. For this, you can use Google Trends.

Once you see which keywords make the most sense to use, start writing your content and use the keywords thoughtfully.