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Writer's pictureStuart Humphrey

Why Is Keyword Research Important for SEO?

Updated: Apr 6, 2023


Keyword research is essential because it can help you understand what people are actively searching for online. This information can be used to create content that is more relevant to your target audience, improving your website's visibility and rankings in search engine results pages.


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Why Is Keyword Research Important for SEO?


Additionally, keyword research can help you understand the competitiveness of specific keywords, so you can focus your efforts on the terms that have the most growth potential.


Now that's just the basic idea behind answering the question. The more in-depth answer involves understanding how keyword research can help improve your SEO efforts.


Keyword research can help you determine the best keywords to target for your website. By identifying the terms people are actively searching for, you can craft content that better meets their needs, resulting in increased organic search visibility and traffic. Additionally, keyword research can help you gauge the competitiveness of specific keywords, so you can focus your efforts on those with the best potential for success.

What is a keyword?


A keyword is a word or phrase that people use to search for information online. Keyword research is essential because it can help you identify the terms that people are actively searching for and the competitiveness of those keywords. This information can help guide your content marketing plan and increase your organic search visibility, rankings, and traffic.


As Yoast explains, keyword research is crucial because it can help you find the right keywords to target your website. If you use the wrong keywords, you'll never get the visitors you want or need.


However, use the right keywords. You can increase your website's visibility and rankings in search engines and attract more visitors.


Including the keyword phrases that people are actively searching for in your website's content can help your business thrive. When you use keyword research to guide your content marketing plan, you can create relevant and keyword-rich content that will increase your website's organic search visibility, rankings, and traffic.


What Is the Most Important Thing to Look For When Doing Keyword Research?

The most important thing to look for is the monthly traffic volume and competitiveness for a target keyword when doing keyword research. The monthly traffic volume will tell you how many people search for that keyword each month. In contrast, competitiveness will tell you how difficult it will be to rank for that keyword.


What Are the Types of Keywords?

  • Short-tail keywords are general and less specific. In contrast, long-tail keywords are more specific and usually have a lower search volume. Long-tail keyword phrases are often more targeted and more accessible to rank for than short-tail keyword phrases. Including a mix of long and short-tail keyword phrases in your content marketing plan can help increase your organic search visibility.

  • Middle-tail keywords are longer than short-tail keywords but shorter than long-tail keywords. They are typically 2-3 words in length and are more specific than short-tail keywords. Because they are more precise, they have a higher chance of being customers.

  • Long-tail keywords are keyword phrases that are three or more words in length. They are often less competitive than short and mid-length keyword phrases and, as a result, can be easier to rank for. Long-tail keyword phrases often have a higher conversion rate because they are more targeted and relevant to the searcher's needs.


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Types of keywords

Additionally, picking long tail keywords is a good way to improve your SEO fast To generate more traffic, it's important to include your target keyword in your content - but you don't want to keyword stuff. A good rule of thumb is to use your keyword once or twice in the opening paragraph and then towards the end. You can also use it naturally throughout your post, but make sure it sounds natural.


How Do I Choose Keywords?


When doing keyword research, it's crucial to think about search intent. What are people looking for when they type in these keywords? Are they looking for information, or are they looking to buy a product or service? Once you understand what people are looking for, you can cater your content to meet their needs.


When keyword researching, it's crucial to think about the different stages that a customer may go through when buying a product or service. You need to be aware of two main stages: awareness and consideration.


Awareness Stage

In the awareness stage, customers are just starting to become aware of a problem or need. They may not even know the solution yet, but they're starting to do some research.


Consideration Stage

In the consideration stage, customers have narrowed down their options. They are trying to decide which solution is best for them. They're looking for information about the different solutions available and reviews and comparisons from other customers.


Keyword research is vital because it can reveal critical information to grow your business online. Keyword research can tell you what terms people are actively searching for, and the competitiveness of those keywords and help guide your content marketing plan to increase organic search visibility, rankings, and traffic.


When keyword researching it's important to think about the different stages that a customer may go through when buying a product or service; there are three main stages: awareness stage (where customers just starting to become aware of the problem), consideration stage (customers have narrowed down their options and trying to decide which solution best) ‌and decision stage (keywords include keyword research importance).


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What makes a good keyword?

A good website will have content that meets all stages of the buyer's journey, from awareness to consideration to purchase. This type of content is essential for SEO because it can help you attract more visitors in the early stages of the buying process.


Keyword research is important because it can help you figure out what terms people are actively searching for, the competitiveness of those keywords, and how to best guide your content marketing to increase organic search visibility.


Do Keyword Research


The second step for choosing keywords is to do keyword research. This will involve using various tools to determine the popularity and competitiveness of the keyword. The most important part of this step is to make sure that you target keywords relevant to your business.


Once you have picked a keyword tool, open it up and start searching for your short-tail and middle-tail keyword ideas. For example, if you are a business that sells shoes, you may want to target the keywords "shoes" as your short-tail keyword and "leather shoes" and "women's shoes" as your middle-tail keywords.


Analyse The Competition


When doing keyword research, it's essential to pay attention to the competition. If a keyword is too competitive, it may be challenging to rank for it. However, if there is low competition, it may be easier to rank for that keyword. You can uncover these valuable insights and make data-driven decisions about your SEO strategy by doing keyword research.


Choose the Best Keywords


So, now that you've done your keyword research and analyzed the competition, it's time to choose the best keywords for you to focus on. You want to choose keywords relevant to your business, have high search volume, and low competition.


Once you've selected your target keywords, it's time to start creating content around those keywords. By including your target keywords in your content, you can help increase your organic search visibility and rankings.


Do Keywords Still Matter for SEO?


Yes, keywords still matter for SEO. However, keyword frequency is not as crucial as keyword placement. You want to make sure that you include your target keywords in the right places within your content. This will help improve your SEO rankings and visibility.


Summary

The basic principle behind doing keyword research is to find out what people want to read about and focus your content around those topics. By doing keyword research, you can uncover valuable insights about your target audience and create content that they will want to read. You can also use keyword research to determine the competitiveness of specific keywords and choose the best keywords for your business.


Here at Phoenix Media Marketing, we help dozens of clients discover their own unique SEO strategies every day. If you're looking for a boost in sales and want help with your long-term marketing strategy, get in touch with us today at 01444 523105 or hello@phoenixmarketing.uk.


At Phoenix Marketing, we provide an unparalleled keyword research service to help businesses. As part of our keyword research service, we work closely with you to determine what keywords you should target and create content, optimised to generate visits to your site and create leads. Our keyword research service, is incredibly personal, our expert team ensure that you receive a bespoke keyword research service, that meets your needs and helps your business grow.


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