If you ask any SEO expert about getting your website to rank higher on Google, we can pretty much guarantee one of the first words out of his or her mouth will be “keywords.” Now, you could get the nerds here at Post Launch to do all the work for you, researching keywords and applying them to your site, but that would be no fun at all, would it? Here are some of our simplest keyword strategy tips for all of you do-it-yourself-ers out there.
What to Know about Keyword Strategy
In the past, keyword stuffing would get you where you needed to go. But, with Google’s RankBrain update, keyword strategy is now all about context. No matter how many different keywords you target, it won’t be effective if your content isn’t relevant to what your user is looking for. We’re here to help you learn a little more about keyword research and analysis. The keywords you choose to utilize should revolve around four metrics:
Search volume
Search volume answers the question, “How many people are searching for this term?” The keywords you use should ideally have a high search volume and low competition. Start targeting keywords with about 50-100 searches. Then, after your digital marketing campaign is growing and your site’s authority becomes more established, try those more difficult ones.
Keyword difficulty
Keyword difficulty introduces you to your competition. The web nerds here at Post Launch have a variety of keyword analysis tools we use to determine said competition. With tools like this, you can enter many keywords at a time to check the difficulty, search volume, number of results, and more. It’s a good start to give you an idea of where to go with your keyword strategy.
Search intent
Keyword search intent answers, “Are people searching for this term looking to buy a product or service, or for another reason?” Google’s RankBrain algorithm allows us to understand the purpose of a search. It’s crucial that the intent of your keyword matches the purpose of the content on a web page or blog post. Otherwise, that page won’t rank.
Keyword intent includes the following categories:
- Commercial/Transactional: users are looking to buy product or service
- Informational: users are searching for information about a topic
- Navigational: users are searching for a specific website
If you find intent difficult to figure out, do a Google search for a particular keyword phrase. Do the results provide you with businesses trying to sell a service, or do the results give you an answer to a question?
Relevancy
Relevant keywords are crucial. You don’t want your site to rank for “cat pictures” if you sell new-age headphones. Select keywords that are relevant to your business. Also, make sure your keywords are relevant to a specific page or blog post.
How to Perform a Successful Keyword Search
Determine which keywords go where on your site.
Your company’s home page should target the more difficult, broad keywords that describe your goods or services. Services pages and blog posts should shoot for the more specific long tail phrases.
Do some keyword research for each page.
Do a search to find out which of your pages rank for which keywords. Focus on a specific three for each page, and make sure you have optimized content for that page’s intent.
Learn which keywords can be used for blogs and additional pages.
Research information related to your website’s main pages. Once you find additional related keywords, you can build a strategy to grow your website with more content that ranks for those new phrases.
Put Your Research to Work—or Let Us
At Post Launch, we are experts at doing all this keyword research and building a proper keyword strategy for each of our clients. Contact us for a free consultation to find out how proper digital marketing can improve your web presence.
