How To Make Sure You Have The Right Keywords For Your Website
Posted on 9th February 2021
You’ve got a great looking website with fabulous images. It’s user-friendly, it’s optimised for various platforms, but it’s not showing up in online searches and not getting the hits you were expecting. It’s time to take a serious look at the content. If you’re not using keywords and phrases that are relevant to your target audience, it’s highly unlikely your website is going to show up on the first page of a Google search.
Creating great content is just half the battle to visibility online. SEO, or search engine optimisation, is the other half. Get that right and your website will start to attract the organic traffic you are looking for. Get the keywords right and your website will start driving revenue.
Keyword research
Let’s just clarify what a keyword or phrase is; it is the words and/or phrases that are entered into a search engine, such as Google, by users looking for a specific service or product, or sourcing information.
Keywords can be grouped into three categories: navigational, commercial, and informational. This is why it’s as important to consider the keywords and the key phrases that might be used by consumers.
A large part of deciphering the right keywords is understanding what the customer may be looking for online. So, if they’re looking for information they will happily read a blog. If they are looking to be directed to a specific location, they are more likely to use a keyword. But if they are looking to buy, then it will be a key phrase that will take them to a product page to make a purchase.
So, before you decide on the keywords, ask yourself who your customer is, what their goals are and any other questions that will help you to understand their search criteria.
One of the easiest ways to search for the right keywords and phrases is to use an SEO tool, such as Ubersuggest, which will provide a list of suggested keywords and key phrases based on the keyword you have entered. For example, if you enter website design and select a certain geographic area, the platform will show a list of keywords that are relevant to the search criteria. It will also provide other keyword ideas that are relevant.
The idea is to match keywords that have a high paid difficulty, i.e. the keyword is valuable in terms of paid ads, with those that have a low SEO difficulty rating. These keywords are for search engines to rank and generally lead to traffic being converted into customers. Just using the popular keywords may result in less conversion, and thereby less revenue.
There are a variety of keyword search tools available. Google Ads has their own tool but there are others including Raventools and SEMRUSH.
Look at your competition
What’s your competition doing? What keywords are they using on their website?
We all have competitors; reading the content on their websites, their blogs and viewing their metatags will help identify the relevant keywords you should be using.
It’s a useful checklist to ensure that you haven’t missed any keywords or phrases that you should be including on your list.
Think like your ideal customer
The phrase, ‘knowing your audience’ couldn’t be more apt when it comes to deciding on your website’s keywords. Once you’ve identified your ideal customer - your target audience - put yourself in their shoes.
If you were your customer and wanted to search for your product or service, what would you type into the search engine? Enhance that further by asking friends and family the same question. Get feedback from your existing customers; find out what they entered into a search engine to source the product or service you sell.
What’s the long tail keyword?
To use or not to use the long tail keyword? This is a combination of three or more words, or a short phrase, that consumers use in an internet search. When you use a keyword search service, you will find that the long tail keywords often don’t have a particularly high search volume.
However, these keywords often attract more traffic that is relevant to the product or service you are selling. They are also, generally, less competitive and are much easier to rank. Generating an abundance of keyword searches every month may look impressive on paper but if a high percentage of those do not convert into sales, that’s a lot of effort for little return.
Let’s take our website design keyword; if you use just that keyword, Google will list all the companies globally that offer website design services. However, if you use long tail keywords that are more specific, such as website design in Twickenham, or Richmond, or Kingston, or website design including hosting, they are more likely to convert to a sale.
Monitor, analyse, and adjust
As with any marketing initiative, particularly online, it’s critical that any activity is monitored, analysed and adjusted. The keywords and phrases used by consumers change along with the latest trends. New product lines, trending fashion, the latest craze; all of these influences will directly impact the keywords and phrases being used in search criteria online.
Keep an eye on what your competitors are doing; have they changed the keywords and phrases they are using? Do you need to do the same?
Don’t forget to use your keywords and phrases across all your online content and social media channels. Your blogs should include your most relevant keywords; they need to be in your metatag data as well as throughout your website’s content. However, don’t overload a specific area, such as a blog, by using the keyword too many times. Google has got wise to this and will not rank the blog in an online search.
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