What are keywords and why are they important? Keywords are search terms you try to rank for in online search engines like Google or Bing. They are words or phrases that are a crucial part of your website’s foundation and upkeep.
What are keywords in the larger picture of the internet? Keywords are how those large search engines determine how to rank your website in the search engine rankings. Keywords help your site attract organic traffic or optimize your pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns. Without keywords, your website will be hard to find and unlikely to attract anyone. This comprehensive keyword guide will show you why they matter, the different types of keywords, and provide strategies anyone can use for keyword research and implementation to help you make the most of your online presence.
The Ultimate Keywords Survival Guide
Table of Contents
- What Are Keywords
- Why Keywords Are Important
- Types of Keywords and Examples
- How to Find Keywords
- Strategies for Keyword Research
- Keyword Metrics
- Implementing Keywords Effectively
- Keyword Stuffing: The Dark Side of SEO
What Are Keywords?
In search engine marketing, keywords are how you find a website and how customers might find your website. Keywords are what you type into a search bar for information, products or services. For example, if you’re shopping for a sweater and type into Google or Bing “sweater” or “sweater for sale”, those are your keywords for your search. The sites that come up would include websites selling sweaters, because those websites have included your keyword into their website. Those websites have included the phrase you typed in to their website content with articles, meta tags, and the advertising campaigns about their products.
Why Keywords are Important
Studies have shown that on mobile phones, the click through rate (CTR) for the number one website of a Google search is 22.4% of the audience, but only 13% for the site just below it. The third website down only gets 10% of the audience. If your website is at number 10, you can only expect to get roughly 2.3% of the clicks.
Websites are covered in keywords because search engines present competition for your audience’s attention. Keywords make all the difference on whether there is even anyone seeing your website at all, let alone buying from you. By incorporating keywords strategically into your content, you can improve your chances of ranking higher in the search engine results (or SERPs) and reaching your target audience.
Types of Keywords and Examples
SEO keywords are what you target through search and research to optimize your website so that your site appears in unpaid organic website search results.
Pay Per Click (PPC) Keywords are search terms that you target through pay per click search campaigns, so that your website appears in the sponsored or paid results.
SEMrush has split up keywords into four categories of Informational, Navigational, Commercial, and Transactional.
- Short-Tail Keywords
- Long-Tail Keywords
- Branded Keywords
- Geotargeted Keywords
- Targeted Keywords
- SEO Keywords
- PPC Keywords
Short-Tail Keywords
Short-tail keywords are short general terms that are usually only one or two words long. Also known as broad keywords, they are inevitably going to show up on your website. While short-tail keywords have a high search volume, they’re also highly competitive and lack details. Examples of a short-tail keyword could be “sweater” or “marketing” or “home maintenance”.
Depending on only short-tail keywords to get your audience to read your site would be extremely frustrating because they can’t narrow down your audience for you and won’t be helpful in keeping the audience you already have.
Ranking online for short-tail keywords can take years, so it’s widely suggested that you use long-tail keywords instead.
Example of Short-Tail Keywords
- Plumber
- Restaurant
- Marketing agency
- Shoes
Long-Tail Keywords
A long-tail keyword is a longer and more detailed phrase that is around three or more words. They do have a lower search volume, but a higher return on investment because you will attract the right audience. For instance, instead of just searching for “sweater”, a long-tail keyword would be to include sizing, material, shape, and if there’s any pattern or solid color. For instance, searching for a shirt in Google will get you any type of shirt, for any size or aged person. But if you want to buy for a specific person, you’ll need more details than that. The long-tail version could be “green men’s wool sweater size XL”, and suddenly the search results would be much more helpful. It’s all in the details.
Examples of Long-Tail Keywords
- Emergency Plumber available now
- Mexican Restaurant with full-service bar
- Digital marketing agency located in Portsmouth, New Hampshire
- Women’s slip-on shoes black leather size 9
NAVIGATIONAL KEYWORDS
Branded Keywords
Some keywords should naturally already be written into your website, and branded keywords are one of them. Branded keywords are the name of a specific brand or company and are used by users who are already familiar with the brand. Examples of branded keywords could be “Nike shoes” or “Wal-Mart”. This also works for specific sites such as YouTube or Where is Costco located.
Geo-Targeted Keywords
Geo-targeted keywords are location-specific terms and are great for users seeking products or services in a certain area. These kinds of keywords are great for businesses that require a local audience. Examples include local restaurants, services like plumber or hairstylist, or exterminator. If your roof is caving in, you don’t want the best construction website from the other side of the world. You need someone today, in your building, to stop the roof from falling into your room. That’s when geo-targeting keywords come in.
Geo-targeting keywords are useful when you’re in tourism or hospitality because people planning a vacation need to know where to eat, sleep, etc. Examples of long-tail words include “hotels in Paris,” or “digital marketing specialists outside Boston”.
You can see if a website is highlighting their geo-targeting keywords by whether they’ve included things that are nearby, such as a list of restaurants or links to the nearest airport.
Examples of Geo-Targeting Keywords
- Towns or cities located near your business
- “Near me”
INFORMATIONAL KEYWORDS
People use informational keywords when they’re trying to learn about a topic or find more information. These are used in the beginning of the marketing funnel when they’re trying to learn more about a product or service, but they haven’t become invested in a specific company yet. You can turn this curiosity into customers by providing content that provides users with valuable information about your products or services. That could include how-to guides, blog posts, or educational articles. Ideally businesses would also optimize the content for search engines by including relevant keywords and providing clear and obvious calls to action.
QUESTION OR SEARCH INTENT KEYWORDS
Your user is looking for something to do with this information. “How to” type of keywords should be combined with a step-by-step guide or similar advice.
Examples of Search Intent Keywords
- Who
- What
- When
- Where
- Why
INSTRUCTIONAL KEYWORDS
While you may be able to give a generalized answer to question keywords, instructional keywords are used for tutorials or lessons on how to do something specific. These are the words used when people need direct answers to direct and clear-cut questions. This can help content creators to give precise responses to your searcher’s needs. They want a solution or a full tutorial.
Examples of Instructional Keywords
- Benefits of
- Tips
- Tricks
- How to
COMMERCIAL KEYWORDS
When to Use: Your audience is ready to buy and is now deciding who to buy it from. Salespeople know that this stage is the tipping point towards a sale.
Usage Ideas: Product reviews, sales, blog posts highlighting the difference between your products and your competitors, all conversion formats that will include calls to action (CTAs) that lead directly to a sales form
COMMERCIAL KEYWORDS
“Top” and “elite” examples of using commercial keywords, which are used at the bottom of the marketing funnel. Your customer is finally ready to make a purchase. Commercial keywords are used to indicate a user’s intent to research or compare products or services before making a purchasing decision.
When using commercial keywords, business should create content that gives users valuable information about their product and why it’s better than the competition’s product or service. That could be customer reviews, comparison guides, or further product descriptions. There should also be optimized content for search engines by including relevant keywords and providing users with a clear call to action (CTA).
Examples of Commercial Keywords
- Best
- Choice
- Compare
- Elite
- Expert
- Finest
- Greatest
- Highest
- Leading
- Loved /Most Loved
- Popular
- Prime
- Reviews of/Reviewed
- Supreme
- Top Quality
- Quality
TRANSACTIONAL KEYWORDS
By the time your customer uses transactional keywords, they have decided that they want this product/service. Using transactional keywords shows the user’s intent to do a specific action. That includes words like “buy,” “order,” “download,” “subscribe,” or “purchase”. Using these with a long-tail keyword can effectively improve your return on investment. Examples could include “buy verified iPhone online”, “order pizza delivery”, or “download free e-book on cryptocurrency”.
Examples of Transactional Keywords:
- Buy
- Sale/For Sale
- Discount
- Clearance
- Purchase
- Order
- Download
- Subscribe
STRATEGIES FOR KEYWORD RESEARCH
- Identify Your Target Audience
Keywords won’t help you if they aren’t geared towards your target audience. To start with, we’ll need to gather all the information on your target audience’s needs, preferences, and search behavior. The best salespeople find out their customer’s problems first and then show how the product can solve it. When starting keyword research, you’ll need to know the demographic information, interests, pain points, and what language your target audience uses when they’re searching online for information.
Tools: User personas
- Seed Keywords
You’ve probably already come up with plenty of words to use as keywords, because you already know what your product or service is, where you’re located, and the name of your company. These seed keywords are the foundation of your keyword list.
Tools: Basic knowledge of both your company and product
- Use Keyword Research Tools
Your product/service will help determine your related keywords, but you’ll need to see what is being searched for because common sense guesses aren’t always right. You need to know the relevant keywords, analyze search volume, competition, and identify any and all keyword variations.
Using preferred keyword research tools include Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, Ahrefs, or Moz Keyword Explorer will help you easily (and cheaply) discover relevant keywords, analyze the search volume, investigate the competition, and identify keyword variations.
Tools: Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, Ahrefs, Moz Keyword Explorer
- Check Your Competitor’s Keywords
Unless you are a unicorn, you’re going to have some competition. Get one up on your competition by conducting competitor analysis to identify what keywords your competitors are ranking for and leveraging in their content. This can provide valuable insights into potential keyword opportunities and allow you to bump them further down the Google search page while bumping your website up.
- Consider User Intent
Reverse engineering the keywords to figure out the intent behind them will allow you to align your content to match accordingly. Getting into the mind of your ideal user will help you determine if they’re looking for information, thinking of making a purchase, or seeking a solution for their specific problem.
- Prioritize Relevance
Right now, you might have a massive keyword list, but some of these keywords won’t apply to your goal. Now is the time to remove anything that isn’t going to work and focus on keywords closely related to your products or services. Long-tail keywords will allow better targeting and better conversion potential over generic short-tail keywords.
Keyword Metrics
Keywords metrics are the data points about specific keywords. They help you identify the best search marketing strategies for your business. The accuracy of the metrics and the availability depends on the keyword research tool you decided to use.
Here’s some of the most useful and commonly used metrics and how to find them:
Search Intent
Search intent refers to what usually propels a person to find your website. Those reasons can vary and have been divided into four categories. Usually, they were looking to be educated about your topic, or they were looking for a specific webpage or site, or maybe they wanted to make a comparison between products, brands, or services, or maybe they’ve done all this research already and are looking to make a purchase.
Some keywords have a mixed intent, meaning one keyword can attract more than one kind of audience. People searching to buy a raincoat and typing in just “raincoat” can also get the dictionary definition of what a raincoat is. Be sure to research what the customer’s intent is when searching for your keywords.
Search Volume
Search Volume is the average number of searches each month for that keyword. Now monthly searches can vary depending on a variety of factors, such as the season, world affairs, or the economy. For instance, if you’re in the business of selling something seasonal such as bathing suits or snow tires for cars, you’ll see an uptick in search volume when people start preparing for those seasons. Likewise, you’ll see that search volume goes down when it’s not the season to buy those things. To prepare for that, a seasonal business needs to be as close as possible to the top of the search pages before people start buying, which means ramping up your efforts online ahead of time. That way you can capitalize on your audiences before it’s time to purchase.
An excellent resource that doesn’t require signing up for anything, creating an account, or any of your information is Search Volume or for anyone using Google, the Google Keyword Planner.
Keyword Difficulty Score
Keyword Difficulty Score shows how difficult it will be to earn the top ten organic ranking in a search. This percentage is helpful when you’re choosing keywords for SEO. The higher the ranking, the harder it will be for your website to rank for it.
For instance, if Tim is running a construction company and is currently hiring, he will need to focus on getting people in the door. The word “Construction” has a Keyword Difficulty rating from SEMRush of 95%, making it one of the hardest keywords to compete for, and will require a great deal of time, effort, and funds to be at the top of a search engine page organically. You can also see how the intent is currently “Informational”, which isn’t what Tim is going for at this time.
“Construction jobs”, however, only ranks as 38%, making it possible to reach without that effort. Tim will get significantly better results if he focuses on using the two words “construction” and “jobs” together, instead of just the word ‘construction’. You’ll notice that the intent has also been changed from informational to commercial, which is exactly what Tim wants.
IMPLEMENTING KEYWORDS EFFECTIVELY
KEYWORD CLUSTERS
First, group your keywords by topic and category. These should naturally make up clusters of keywords. Known as keyword clusters, these groups of words share the same intent. This way you can target all of the terms within that group through the same piece of content, which is more effective than targeting one keyword at a time.
This also will help you avoid the notorious keyword cannibalization, which is when multiple pages on a website satisfy the same search intent. This is called cannibalization because your own page is fighting with itself (and eating the results). This hurts your results instead of helping. This is why it’s recommended that you create a solid list for your keyword strategy and arrange your long-tail keywords, so they don’t overlap or “cannibalize” themselves.
It’s helpful to include on your list the searcher’s intent, the keyword difficulty, and the search volume for each page. This will help you choose what should be a top priority and what can wait. This may involve having a list of primary keywords for each cluster for those pillar pages and subpages. (These are the ones you want to rank for.)
Your related keywords can become secondary keywords by extension, and they’ll help your primary keywords. As your website ages and your work expands off of the keyword clusters, you should see solid progress in website traction.
KEYWORD MAP
The keyword map is a single document that matches each of your keyword clusters with the target URL on your website. This target URL on your site should be optimized to match the cluster’s search intent.
ADD SECONDARY KEYWORDS TO SUBHEADINGS
Subheadings break down your content into sections and make it easier for search engines to understand your content. Your heading tags are usually <h1>, but your subheadings should be sized between <h2> to <h6>.
For example:
<h1> Heading
Introductory paragraph starting with keyword and why this topic is valid.
<h2> Subheading
Paragraph about related subheading and how it relates to main topic
<h2> Subheading
Paragraph about related subheading and how it relates to main topic
Use Proper Grammar
While people searching may use words that don’t make sense together, such as “raincoat yellow near Omaha for sale”, websites need to read naturally. That’s why to answer, “raincoat yellow near Omaha for sale”, a website should read “yellow raincoats for sale, near Omaha”. Remember, you’re writing for both the search engine and the readers!
SEO CHECKLIST
- On-Page Optimization
While ensuring that your content provides value to users and matches their search intent, you’ll need to put keywords where they naturally make sense. That means your website content, meta tags, headers, URLs, and image alt text.
- High Quality Content Only
If your content isn’t top tier, then your page ranking will suffer. Developing informative, engaging, and relevant content that addresses the needs and interests of your audience makes all the difference. I suggest incorporating your targeted keywords into your content while keeping it readable, coherent, and authentic.
- Optimize the Meta Tags
Meta tags are the snippet in your search engine results that explain what the website link explains or does. If you create compelling meta titles and descriptions that accurately describe your web page while using relevant keywords, you’ll influence the page’s visibility and click through rate.
- Monitor Performance to Refine Strategy
Using analytic tools like Google Analytics or Google Search Console will help you consistently monitor the performance of your keywords and campaigns. You’ll need to track metrics such as organic traffic, keyword rankings, and conversion rates. This way you’ll stay ahead of your competitors and refine your strategy based on the performance data.
Keyword Stuffing: The Dark Side of SEO
For the uninitiated who have just learned what keywords are, the first reaction is inevitably to suggest putting keywords everywhere! In white, so the words blend with the page! After all, if it’s read by computers in white but not the human audience, then what’s the problem? Plenty!
In the spaghetti western of search engine optimization, those are black hat tactics. You want to wear the white hat, and this town isn’t big enough for both of ‘em. Search Engine Page Results (SERP) punish any whiff of black hat tactics. You can’t put ten gallons of keywords in a five-gallon web page.
Keyword stuffing is when a website owner unnecessarily repeats keywords to improve their search engine rankings. It’s easy to spot and turns off readers, and search engines can tell when they’re used abnormally, like when they’re too close together. When this happens, the search engine will lower the website’s ranking in the search results. It does pump up your results initially but will burn out quickly and getting your website to recover – even back to where it was before the black hat tactics – will take years. It’s not worth it.
Keywords are a core part of getting real people to see your website. By understanding the different kinds of keywords, how to research and use them effectively, and how to avoid the pitfalls that come with them, you now know what it takes to attract the right kind of traffic, expand your brand’s awareness, and get meaningful results. Using keyword optimization as a building block of your overall digital marketing strategy will contribute to you staying ahead of your competition and achieve success. By now you should be able to answer confidently the question, “What are keywords and how to use them”!
Abby Schmearer 