What exactly are keywords in SEO?
Updated: Feb 17
SEO keywords, which are also referred to as "keywords" or "keyphrases," are terms included in online content to boost the search engine rankings for those specific terms. The majority of these keywords are identified during keyword research and are selected based on factors such as search volume, competition, and the intent to purchase. SEO is pretty much impossible to do if you don't find the right keywords. Finding the right keywords is the first step taken when doing SEO for a business.
Types of Keywords
Keywords are usually split into two types: Broad and Longtail Keywords. Longtail keywords are phrases usually having 4-6 words in them and they generate narrow matches while
Broad keywords generate broader matches. Check out this article to find out more about longtail and broad keywords.
How do you find the right keywords for your business?
Search for business on Wikipedia or any large forum that talks about that specific business you're talking about. It usually is a good place to start to find keywords. For example, if you're starting let's say a spectacle business you can even use keywords on Google Autocomplete (also called Google Suggest):
It's better to use longtail keywords if you're new to SEO. They usually have a lower keyword difficulty compared to shorter "head terms" consisting of one to three words. Fortunately, it's very easy to find these key phrases using tools that are both free and paid.
Here are some free tools you can use:
1. Ubersuggest
Ubersuggest is a cost-free SEO tool that gives you the ability to conduct keyword research, examine your competition, perform website audits, and other related tasks.
2. SimilarWeb
It's a great tool for analyzing a webpage and keyword analysis. There are also some amazing tools to find question-based keywords, which can be used for writing blogs, articles, and more
They provide valuable insights into consumer search behavior by visualizing the questions, prepositions, and comparisons that people make in Google and Bing. It allows you to see what questions people are asking, what topics they are interested in, and what words they are using to find answers.
4. SimilarDB
Another tool that does a similar job
The last two tools can be used to find longtail keywords that have low competition on Google's first page.
Once you have decided what the top 20-40 keywords are you still need to filter them down to find the best one-focused keyword. This is where a very handy tool called Google Trends comes in. It helps you compare different keywords and whittle your long list of keywords to the top five.
Congrats! You now completed 1/3rd the work in SEO and now you just have to make sure you use these words in your website copy, images alt text, image title, website URL,
Make sure you don't spam keywords because the search engine can figure that out and it won't necessarily rank your website higher. Spamming the keyword a 1000 times on the background behind an element will not work :)