Learning what keywords are and why they are important is integral to implementing any successful online marketing campaign.
You have most likely heard the term “keywords” if you are a regular Internet user or interested in any kind of online marketing or traffic building. This article will look at what keywords are, why they are important, and how to find them.
The term keyword refers to the word or combination of words that people use to search online. When you enter a phrase or word into a search engine, let’s say for example Google, the search engine will list results relevant to the keywords you have searched for.
It is important to understand the basic difference between a keyword and keywords. A keyword or single search term is likely to return a lot of information spread over possibly millions of pages. Refining your search to keywords, or a keyword phrase will allow the search engine to return more in-depth results.
For example, if I type the keyword “pie” into a search engine, it will return a broad result of all websites with the keyword pie. If I want to be more specific with my search I would use keywords such as “How to make an apple pie.”
Finding the right keywords is important if you want to drive traffic to a website, blog, or article. How the search engines display you in their results is dependent on how well you have used your keywords. Most traffic these days comes from search engine results. Your keywords will be like big arrows pointing potential customers your way.
To find keywords that are relevant to your business website, blog or promotional articles, you will need to write down all the keywords and search terms that people may use to find your site. Put yourself in the position of a potential customer. Imagine they are at their computer, the search engine is blank in front of them; what will they search for, what terms and phrases would best describe what your business website, blog, promotional articles or service has to offer?
Another way to find keywords is to use Google’s free keyword tool. You simply type in your keywords and it will tell you how many searches there were for that term on a monthly basis and the level of competition for that term. It will also show related searches to the keyword you typed in. This is a very useful tool as you may find keywords with a higher volume of searches that relate to your website. Make sure that you check the competition as some keywords may be highly saturated and not worth using as the competition is just too high.
Once you have a list of keywords that describe what you are offering customers you can optimize the content to use these keywords. Keep the use of keywords consistent throughout your content, but do not overdo it. Your content still needs to have a natural flow and make sense to the reader.
Understanding what keywords are, their importance in driving traffic to your website, and how to use them will greatly improve any promotional or marketing strategy.
