At ADM we work a lot with organic traffic, and to be able to rank on Google with this strategy, we imply on-page and off-page SEO for our websites. When it comes to Search Engine Optimization (SEO), it seems there is always something new to be discovered, a new tool, a new strategy, or a new way to understand Google’s algorithm. For example, there are dozens of books written on the topic, hundreds of podcasts to listen to and also classes to take to help you investigate and solve the riddle that is Google Search. All to reach the ultimate goal – to be at the top of Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).
But to be able to reach that goal, you need to first have knowledge of the basics. Therefore we wanted to start a series that gives you an insight into SEO for beginners in 2020. First out is keywords!
What do search engines do?
Even though Google is the most famous and the primary search engine for many, there are other options out there. For example Bing and Yandex. Google is, however, the biggest one and the one that the majority of companies use to measure their rankings. But what all search engines have in common non the less, is how they operate, there are some essential functions:
- Crawling – they scrub the internet of content and coding for every URL the find
- Indexing – a page needs to be indexed to be able to rank on Google, and during crawling search engines organize and store the content they find
- Ranking – deciding how relevant your content is and placing it on the list of searches depending on how well it answers relevant questions
In summary, when you search for something online, search engines go through indexed content to present the most relevant options in hopes of helping you find the answer you’re looking for. When you see the list of results after a search, all websites are ranked by relevance. The top website is the one Google or another search engine believes is most relevant to your search and will give you the best answers to your question.
The importance of keywords
Now, let’s dive into our topic – keywords and keyword research.
What are keywords? Keywords are words or phrases that a lot of people use when searching for things online. And since Google remembers everyone’s searches they can see what words are most popular. These most searched words and phrases are what you want to include on your site and to find them you need to do keyword research.
Keyword research is the foundation of which great websites are built upon. To be able to find the right keywords and get the most out of keyword research, you need to understand your market and what people are searching for. You also want to know how many people are searching for a specific thing and what terms they are using.
Keyword research helps you answer questions and find data such as;
- What people are searching for
- The volume of people that are searching for a keyword
Keyword research and keyword optimization is a form of strategic SEO. And to be able to navigate through the thousands of keywords out there, we recommend you use a tool, for example, Keywordtool.io, to help you sort out the most relevant once for your business. When using a tool to find keywords you can also discover other variations of keywords that you can rank for, as well as popular questions asked and other topics that you can relate to your business.
For example, if you have a website about vegetarian food in Malta, you might search for obvious keywords like “vegetarian food”. What you can discover with a keyword tool is that there are many related searches to this, such as:
- vegetarian foods high in iron
- what vegetarian foods are high in protein
- easy vegan recipes
There are many sites that you can use for keyword research, some that we recommend are:
Some key aspects you want to look for when searching for keywords
So, you found a tool to help you bring out relevant keywords and made a search. Now it’s time to dissect the result and see what matches your website. Here are some of the things you want to look at:
Search volume – a high search volume for a keyword shows you that many people search for it and you will most likely need to put in some work to be able to rank for it. If you go to Google and type in the high volume keyword you will find that well-established websites are at the top when it comes to ranking. To be able to compete with them you will need a thought out organic ranking strategy and to put a lot of time and effort into your site.
If you want to start out easy, the ideal keywords you should be looking for are ones that are specific to your business and has a lower search volume, these are called long-tail keywords.
Long-tail keywords – when you are looking to convert, long-tail keywords with lower search volume are often ideal. These contain more specific words in searches. An example is someone searching for “vegetarian and dairy-free meals at a restaurant in Malta“.
Questions – another simple way to improve your SEO is to use questions with keywords in them. When you find what types of questions people ask you can add them to your site and of course answer them, for example in an FAQ-section.
Don’t forget about the content
In-depth keyword research helps us to find out what our customers are looking for. But remember to not just pile on popular words, phrases, and questions in your text. You still need to produce good and unique content and include your keywords in a meaningful way.
Google always search for original, engaging, and educational content and content like that is also what will help you rank better.
Keyword cannibalization
One important thing you need to remember is to optimize the different pages of your website with unique keywords, and not use the same ones on all of them. This can lead to something called keyword cannibalization.
To avoid this you need to make sure that your pages and sub-pages aren’t all targeted with the same keyword. Instead, you need to find other similar keywords and variations of keywords during your keyword research and spread these on your pages. This way Google will index multiple keywords from your site. Good luck!