What is Keyword Strategy?
Although many people simply talk about doing keyword research to determine what terms to use, what you do after that is just as important: this is your keyword strategy. Creating a keyword strategy requires making decisions based on your keyword research findings, whether it’s about the content you’re going to write or how you’re going to track the results in Analytics. The keyword strategy describes how you want to target those keywords, both now and in the future.
Why is keyword research important?
Researching keywords can provide valuable information about the queries your target audience actually searches on Google. Your content strategy and larger marketing plan can be informed by these actual search terms.
Searching for solutions online often involves the use of keywords. Your content stands to gain more traffic if it is successful in getting in front of our audience as they conduct searches. To do this, you need to target those searches.
Moreover, in the inbound methodology, we create content based on what people want to discover, not what we want to tell them. We create content for our audience, not the other way around.
Elements of Keyword Research
Conducting keyword research requires paying attention to three main elements.
Relevance
Relevance determines how Google ranks content. Intent determines how Google ranks content. If the content you write meets the searchers’ needs, it will rank for the keyword. Moreover, the content you provide must be the best resource available for the query. If your content provides less value than other content available on the web, then why would Google rank your content higher?
Authority
Authoritative sources will be given more weight by Google. Thus, you should do all you can to establish yourself as an authoritative source by creating helpful, informative content and promoting it to gain social signals and backlinks. As long as you have exceptional content and you’re seen as authoritative in the space, or if a keyword’s SERPs are crowded with heavy hitters (like Forbes or The Mayo Clinic), you have a better chance of ranking.
Volume
Even if you rank on the first page for a specific keyword, if no one searches for it, your site will not receive any traffic. Imagine having a business in a ghost town.
Volume is determined by MSV (monthly search volume), or the number of times a keyword is searched across all audiences in a month.
How to adopt keyword strategy?
In order to make informed decisions about your keyword strategy, you need plenty of insights. Conduct an in-depth analysis of your company, your product, and your competitors.
Looking at yourself
Starting with yourself and your business is the first step to a good keyword strategy. How and why are you using keywords? For what purpose? What makes you unique? What message do you want to convey? What is your brand? Why should someone visit your site? By getting better insights into your goals, you can avoid wasting resources. Getting distracted is not good for your business.
Looking at search intent
Now that you’ve figured out your uniqueness, it’s time to figure out how. The reason people search for your site is based on the search intent. Who is your target audience? Can people buy stuff as well as get information? Is it possible to target specific intents with focused content to influence this?
Looking at words
Everything revolves around words. When you perform keyword research, you will gain a lot of insight into the words people use to find what they are looking for. Now you must create user-centric content that perfectly matches their intentions and goals.
Looking at competition
Take a good look at your competitors as you write up your keyword strategy. What is their approach? What keywords are they ranking for? Are they publishing any content? Could that be improved? Could the long tail be considered?
Looking at the search engines itself
It’s always a good idea to use search engines to find out how your competitors are doing when looking at them. Such searches can provide you with valuable insight into the strategies of your competitors. Additionally, it gives you a good idea of what happens when you type your main focus keyword. Do you have a lot of screen space? Could you target featured snippets? What other rich results are available? Do you offer local packs?
Observing trends over time, you will find that search engines are increasingly providing answers that do not require a click in some markets. Keeping an eye on search engines is always a good idea, but don’t obsess over every little update.
Looking at data
Your keyword strategy will be successful if you analyze data. Insights into the performance of your site are available both before and after using Google Analytics. There are many opportunities to consider and pursue even in Google Search Console!
How are you targeting your keywords?
You can’t have performance without content tailored to the specific needs and goals of your SEO strategy. You should monitor your analytics regularly to keep an eye on your SEO performance. You should know what you should target and how you should go about it if you’ve followed all the steps and done the thorough keyword research. These insights can help you create the content that will make your marketing strategy successful. Here are some things you can do:
- Make landing pages
- Create specific types of content for the different search intents
- Making content specific for featured snippets might be a good idea
- Or maybe voice search is something that might fit your strategy?
- Or apps?
- Video?
- Something else entirely?
Rome can be reached by many roads, but some are more difficult than others. It is true that you can reach Rome the fastest by highway, but you might run into traffic jams because everyone wants to take that route. You might be surprised with the results if you take that rarely traveled mountain pass!
Update your keyword research
Your keyword strategy should take that into account as there’s a lot that can happen along the way. Reevaluate your keyword strategy frequently.
Do you need to assess whether significant changes have taken place in the world around you? This may be due to a change in your users’ language or the addition of a new competitor. Monitor and adjust your strategy as needed!