What Are Keywords & How Do You Use Them For SEO?

Do you have a good understanding of what keywords are?

Do you know how important keywords are if you run an online business?

Consumer purchasing habits have shifted considerably as the online space continues to experience advancement though technology.

People nowadays use the internet to conduct research on a product they want to purchase or service they wish to use.

When conducting this research, users enter a certain keyword, which can be a “word or a phrase,” into Google or any other search engine, and they are presented with a list of pages based on their search.

So, keywords are extremely significant in this digital era;  because a lot of consumers uses the internet to find a local business and if you want to drive quality traffic organically to your site, it begins with the right keyword.

According to studies, 95% of users only glance at the first page of search results and the first three results receive half of the clicks.

You should also be aware that you will not always be able to rank for every keyword, which is why it is critical to search for keywords that are relevant to what you offer and optimize your website for that keyword.

If you have an online business or plan to start one and grow the business, then, you must understand what keywords are.

Do you want your website to rank high on Google and other search engines?

Do you want to drive quality traffic organically to your site?

If yes, then, you should continue reading this article and you can also register for our 90% digital marketing course and get all the strategies needed to rank your posts or pages online and start driving quality traffic to your website.

What are keywords?

Keywords are often referred to as focus keyword, it’s a word that best describes the information on a particular page or post on your website.

It’s the search term for which you want a particular page or post on your website to rank for.

Keywords are ideas and subjects that define the subject matter of your article.

They’re the words and phrases that people type into search engines, often known as “search queries”

What are search queries? 

Search queries are actual words that a search engine user types into the search box, it could be misspelled, out of order, or have other words tagged to it or it could be identical to a phrase.

As a website owner and content writer, you want the keywords on your page to be relevant to what people are looking for so they can find your content easily among the results.

This is because search engines utilize keywords as a starting point when filtering results, so, it’s vital to know how to use keywords appropriately in your content so that it’s found, indexed, and rated.

For instance, if you own an e-ecommerce website where you sell bags. Then, write a blog post about different types of bags, include your customer reviews, and create a product category page about the bags you sell. But while doing this, you should consider the following:

What type of search term do you want to appear for?

Which words do you believe people will use to locate you in Google and other search engines?

How would the search query be written?

Keywords are essential when writing contents or when you want to run ads on Google or any other search engine.

For example, here is a search result for the phrase “Digital marketing institute in Nigeria”

If you notice, we are ranking for this keyword;  so if you want your website to rank on Google or any other search engine platforms, then, you need to register for our 90% digital marketing course.

Why are keywords important?

Keywords are important because it makes it easy for people to find your website on search engines and they get to know about your product or services.

A search engine optimized website speaks the same language as its potential customers (what they want, and what they want to hear) and one of the most relevant parts of SEO is keywords.

Therefore, you need to understand how people search for the products, services, or information you offer, so that you can make it easy for them to find you.

And, this can be achieved by Implementing the right keyword. Creating a keyword list is crucial for successful search marketing because it boosts your website’s ranking, attracting free traffic.

Keywords are integral to SEO, and they must be highly relevant to your target audience. Remember, keywords serve both your content and your audience’s needs. To generate organic traffic, you need to understand your target audience’s language and search behavior.

The keywords you target also shape the type of traffic you receive in search engine rankings.

Short-tails and Long-tails keywords

Keywords are extremely important for search engine optimization ( which is the process of optimizing your web pages to rank on Google’s organic results) and selecting the right keywords to target is critical to the success of your website.

When it comes to keywords, there are two types: short-tail keywords (head keywords) and long-tail keywords.

Short-tail keywords

Short-tail keywords are general search queries with one or two words while long-tail keywords have three to five words or more.

When conducting a keyword research, it is easy to be drawn to the short tail (head keywords) because these keywords are high in search volume.

When there is a high search volume then there is a lot of competition because a lot of marketers will be competing to rank for that same keywords.

Short-tail keyword may appear to be your main goal in order to rank your website on Google or any other search engines, however they usually face extremely tough competition.

You may want your e-commerce bag store to rank for “bags” but competing with Jumia, Asos, and Amazon will be very difficult because these are big brands or store ranking for “bags” on Google.

Since, a Google search for the word “bags” will return  billions of results, it will be impossible to get your website or the product page for bags on your website to appear on the first page of Google search engine results for that keyword.

Long-tail Keywords

Long-tail keywords are detailed search queries that convey not only what people are looking for but also why.

Instead of targeting a short-tail keyword like “bags,” aim for specific long-tail keywords like “affordable designer bags for ladies.”

Targeting a long-tail keyword that is more specific to your business would be far less competitive, and the traffic generated will be more likely to lead to conversions.

For example, “affordable designer bags” is a long-tail keyword.

Long-tail keywords, with less competition, offer small business owners a chance to rank on search engine result pages.

These keywords not only boost your website’s ranking but also attract a more targeted audience. These audience are then more likely to make purchases. New online marketers might favor short-tail keywords for their high traffic but should also remember their intense competition.

For example, we as a digital marketing skill institute aren’t ranking on the first page of Google for the keyword “digital marketing”. That’s because there are lots of competition surrounding that keyword, but we are ranking for “digital marketing skill institute”, “digital marketing skill”, and so many other Long-tail keywords.

When doing your keyword research, always look for keywords associated with your products or services. Because, if the keywords you use to optimize your website aren’t aligned with what you offer, you will be driving the wrong traffic.

Characteristics of a Keyword

The main characteristics of a keyword include:

• Search volume.
• Competition.
• Price (cost per click).
• Word count.
• Intent.

Search volume

It allows you to determine how popular a specific Query is and how much traffic that query could drive to your website.

For example, when you use Google keyword planner to search for the keyword, “digital marketing”; it has about 14,800 average monthly searches in Nigeria in the month of August.

Using a keyword with a high search volume has the potential to increase the number of visitors to your websites. However, this is not easy-peasy, there are processes to achieving a great result.

Competition

You should be aware of the competition regardless of how large a keyword search volume is. The more popular a search term is, the more likely it has a high competition level.

No matter how impressive the search volume of a keyword is, you should be mindful of the competition.

Highly sought-after keywords attract intense competition, with numerous websites and marketing agencies vying for the coveted top spot.

You should be aware of the competition regardless of how large a keyword’s search volume is.

Popular terms attract more competition, making it challenging to secure a top position. High search volume keywords can boost website traffic, but checking out for competitiveness also matters.

How to use keywords to optimize your website

To effectively connect with your audience and potential customers, you must grasp the use of keywords for SEO.

In the past, stuffing pages and articles with keywords could secure good search engine rankings, but not anymore.

However, a document that has a lot of the same words is not enjoyable to read. Because users dislike reading this type of copy, Google dislikes it as well. That’s why, thankfully, ranking on Google simply through keyword stuffing has become difficult. Nowadays, you’ll need to include your keywords into your content in a natural way.

If everything mentioned appears unfamiliar or if you are still a novice in this process, then you should consider enrolling in our 90% practical digital marketing course.

Conclusion

Keywords are essential when writing contents with a goal to have it optimized for search engines. Or if you want to run ads on Google platforms or any other search engines.

Every day, thousands of people search online for answers to various queries. You do want to position yourself as one of the right platform to these inquiries.