You must choose keywords that align with search intent. That way, your content speaks to the needs of your audience and executes your business goals. The best way to find these keywords is by using keyword research tools and competitor analysis. These tools can give you a ballpark estimate of traffic potential, but they aren’t perfect.
Keyword research
The first step in choosing the right keywords to rank for is to understand how your audience is searching for information about your products or services. This is a critical strategic planning step that too many businesses skip. But it can help you avoid common keyword research foibles and create content that meets user and search engine needs.
Start by making a list of potential keywords that relate to your products or services. Include the terms that people are searching for most frequently, and those that are generating the best results in your niche. Once you’ve identified a few buckets, run them through a tool like Ahrefs or Semrush to see how competitive they are.
You’ll want to find a balance between head terms, which are broader and more competitive, and long-tail keywords, which are more specific but have lower search volumes. Aim for a mix that offers some quick wins with longer-tail keywords, and work toward more difficult head terms over the long term.
Another important consideration is search intent. For example, if someone enters “bike shop” into Google, they may be looking for something more generic, or they might be interested in buying bicycle parts. If the searcher is specifically searching for a bike shop in their area, you should consider adding that location to your target keywords.
Competitor analysis
If you’re in the process of identifying keywords to rank for, it’s important to take into account the competitiveness of the terms. You don’t want to spend all your time and energy pursuing rankings that you cannot achieve. You also don’t want to miss out on opportunities to move up the search engine results pages (SERPs) for easier-to-rank keywords.
The first step is to create a keyword list with your website’s core topics in mind. Then, use a tool like WordStream to help you find related keyword ideas. This will give you a good idea of the keywords that your competitors are using and their respective search volumes.
Next, divide your keyword list into buckets based on the intent of each topic. For example, if your keywords include the phrase “how to make apple cider,” it’s clear that searchers are looking to learn how to do something. This is different from a sales activation query, where searchers are already in-market and ready to buy.
Finally, analyze your competitor’s content to see how they’re addressing the search intent of each keyword. You should be able to identify their key content pieces by viewing the title tags of their pages, as well as their internal and external links. You can also look at their social media posts to see how they’re engaging their audience.
Relevance
Choosing keywords that are relevant to your audience is one of the most important aspects of SEO. It can help you produce content that satisfies the needs of your customers and drives traffic to your website. It can also be a powerful way to differentiate yourself from competitors and boost your search engine ranking.
When it comes to evaluating keyword relevance, there are two main factors: search volume and search intent. Search volume is a simple statistic that reflects how many people search for a particular phrase on Google. Search intent, on the other hand, is more complex and reflects the purpose behind a search. Search intent can be divided into 4 broad categories: informational, navigational, commercial, and transactional.
Search intent is often visible from the search query itself, but it can be difficult to determine for certain words. For example, “how to train a dog” is an informational search and requires different content than “buy trail running shoes.” When choosing keywords, consider the business potential of each phrase and the type of content that would best fit its search intent.
It’s also a good idea to check out your competitor’s search performance to see what phrases are working best for them. This can give you some ideas for new topics or improve your existing content. Another great place to look for keyword opportunities is the meta description, which appears in the search results and should be tailored to the phrase being searched.
Competition
Choosing the right keywords for SEO is critical to your content strategy. You want to choose keywords that are relevant to your business and that will attract qualified traffic. This will increase the likelihood that searchers will convert into customers or leads. To do this, it is important to understand the intent behind a keyword. Intent can be determined by analyzing the search volume and Keyword Difficulty of the keyword.
Search volume is a good indicator of how popular the keyword is, but it is not the only factor to consider. It is also important to note the Click Potential, which is a percentage that estimates the number of organic clicks you can expect to receive if you rank for the keyword. This is a rough estimate that factors in SERP features like ads, featured snippets, and People Also Ask results.
It is also important to know that if you already have a page on your site that ranks well for the keyword, it will be difficult to create another page and compete with it. This is known as cannibalizing SEO, and it is important to avoid it.
To prevent cannibalizing your SEO, use tools like Ubersuggest to find keywords that are similar to the ones your competitors rank for. These keywords can serve as seed keywords for your content strategy. Once you have a list of seed keywords, you can start creating pages that target them.