Why is Keyword Research Essential For SEO?

Right now, there are close to 1.9 billion websites on the internet. So how do you make sure your website stands out? SEO. Search Engine Optimization is key if you want to benefit from organic search and get your website on the first page of Google.

Keyword research is an important part of any SEO strategy. In this post, you’ll learn why it’s so important and how you can use keyword research effectively. Ready? Let’s get started.

What is SEO?

In order to understand why keyword research is so important, it’s important to understand how SEO works. Google (and other search engines) “crawl” your website to see where it should rank against other websites.

If you imagine the web as a massive subway network, each stop would be a different web page. Search engines are finding all of these stops, which are connected to each other via links.

Pages that rank highly in the search results are those that are considered to be highly useful by those search engines. Read on to learn how it all begins with keyword research.

Why is Keyword Research so Important?

Keyword research is one of the most valuable and important activities when it comes to SEO. Your ability to rank highly in the search results for the right keywords can make or break your site, and potentially even your business.

When you research the keyword demand for your industry or market, you’ll not only learn which phrases and terms you should target, but what your customers are actually looking for.

One of the key things to remember with keyword research is that it’s not just about getting lots of visitors to your website. Instead, it’s more important to get the right kind of visitors. These are visitors who are looking for information from you and may go on to purchase your product or service.

When people are looking for information, they type a keyword into a search engine. These search engines then use their complex algorithms to sift through huge amounts of data. This data is made up of web pages which have been analyzed and indexed by ‘spiders.’

This is why keyword research is a must. If you choose the wrong keywords, you may get traffic, but it likely won’t be the type of traffic that contributes to your bottom line.

Choosing Your Keywords

The keywords you choose will determine what your business is known for. If you’re unsure which keywords should be leading back to your website, you can’t drive traffic, future sales, and a return on investment.

Worried that keyword research may be complicated? It’s not. Here’s how you can choose the right keywords for your website:

Understand Keywords

Before you begin researching the best keywords, it’s important to understand how the concept works. There are two principles you should know: Competitiveness, and traffic.

Traffic is how many people are searching for each keyword each day. Competitiveness is how many other websites are trying to rank with the same keyword.

Often, you may assume it makes sense to choose the keywords with the most traffic. But the more competitive the keywords, the more difficult it is to rank with them. That’s why it’s a good idea to find a low-competition search term that will bring you the right kind of traffic.

Create Your Initial List

If you know your customers, you can make a list of keywords that they may use to find your products and services. You can start by using this knowledge and your intuition to make a list based on what you assume people will search when looking for what you offer.

Think about the type of queries your visitors may use. These include what, where, why, and how questions. You can also begin typing related words into Google, and the auto-suggest feature will give you some of the most commonly used search terms which you can add to your list.

Refine Your List

Now that you have a shortlist, use either a free or paid keyword research tool to help you identify which keywords will work best. Remember, you’re looking for a word with low competition and enough traffic to make it worthwhile.

Google Adwords Keyword Planner is free, and one of the most popular tools for marketers searching for keywords. It offers a number of keyword suggestions so you can use a variety of keyword variations and synonyms. It also gives you the stats you need, including the competition and traffic, along with cost-per-click.

Don’t Forget Long-Tail Keywords

Long-tail keywords are hugely important for SEO. That’s because they allow you to get specific for your targeting. For example, if you’re interested in creating an SEO strategy and you type “SEO” into Google, you’ll have a wide range of results but most will be unrelated to what you’re looking for.

However, if you type “How to create an SEO strategy”, you’ll get much more targeted results, and will likely find the information you need on the first page.

The same goes for your visitors. If they’re looking for a real estate agent, they’re not going to type in “Real estate agent.” Instead, they’ll get specific about the type of real estate agent they want, or the city or state they’re looking for.

You can benefit from this by using similar phrases which will bring you plenty of website traffic. But this traffic will be pre-qualified so you can provide them with exactly what they want.

Wrapping up

As you can see, keyword research doesn’t have to be difficult. By using the above tips, you can choose specific, targeted keywords with low competition. This will give you a much better chance of ranking. You’ll also have a higher chance of converting the visitors who do land on your site.

Keyword research is the cornerstone of your SEO strategy, so it makes sense to take the time to do it properly. If you’d like more information, check out some of our helpful blog posts about SEO strategies today.