How to Choose the Right Keywords for Your Website

Here are some tips we're often asked about...how to choose the right keywords for your website. When a person types in a word into a search engine, like Google or Bing, to find information, shop for online products, or locate a business, they’re using a search term commonly known as a keyword.

How to Choose the Right Keywords for Your Website

Here are some tips we’re often asked about…how to choose the right keywords for your website. When a person types in a word into a search engine, like Google or Bing, to find information, shop for online products, or locate a business, they’re using a search term commonly known as a keyword.

In search engine optimization (SEO), the name of the game is to perform keyword research to see what keywords people are using and implement them on a website. When Google sees that a website pairs popular keywords with great content and an exceptional website experience, they’ll provide a satisfactory ranking.

keywords for your website

SEO starts and ends with keyword research, but choosing any old keyword isn’t going to improve your strategy. Here’s how you can choose the right keywords for your website. 

Don’t Prioritize Search Volume

One of the first things you’ll notice when performing research on keywords for your website is the search volume column. Search volume is defined as the amount of traffic each keyword gets. Generally speaking, if a keyword has a search volume of 11,000, that’s the amount of people searching for that keyword.

So, all it takes is to find the keywords with the highest search volume and use them, right? Of course not! This is not how keyword research works. Popular keywords are almost certainly used by all of your online competitors. Ranking for them will be difficult.

Instead, try creative ways of using different keywords for your website. 

Focus on Search Intent

Search intent is a valuable concept in SEO. It’s simply the intention of the user when searching for a keyword. Let’s explain this further. What do you think someone is looking for when they search for the keyword “Dell laptop”.

The easy answer is that they’re looking to buy a laptop. Now, no one is going to buy a laptop immediately from a company they know nothing about, unless they’re the official manufacturer. 

Therefore, the search intent behind the keyword “Dell laptop” could be that the user wants to read blog articles on the different perks of the product. Then, they’ll be ready to buy.

Understanding search intent will go a long way towards creating content your audience will want to read. After all, if you create irrelevant content for a keyword, Google will ignore it and rank more suitable articles. 

Look at the Competition

Remember how it was stated that all of your competitors could be vying for popular keywords. On most keyword research platforms, users can check the competition level of each keyword.

This value is quantified by the level of difficulty it will take to rank using the keyword. Watch out for competition. You could end up wasting a lot of time and resources ranking poorly for one single keyword.

Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket and instead distribute your efforts across many different keywords for better results. 

Long-Tail Keywords Matter

A long-tail keyword is simply a long keyword. Short keywords like “buy laptops” and “marketing software” are normal and used by thousands of people every day. Long-tail keywords, like “buy Dell laptops for cheap” are less common but still popular.

What this means is that long-tail keywords have numerous variations. For example, the previous long-tail keyword can be used the following ways:

  • Buy cheap Dell laptops
  • Buy Dell cheap laptops
  • Buy laptops cheap Dell
  • Buy laptops Dell cheap

As you can see, internet users all have different ways of typing in a keyword. You can expand on this by using long-tail keyword variations and ranking for several different search terms with minimal effort.

Our Website Care plans include monitoring of multiple keywords so you can monitor performance over time. Each website design project we undertake is done using good SEO practices to help ensure your website will rank well for your target keywords.

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