If you want to understand what people are searching for and how this relates to your business, you need to understand keywords. Keywords are words and phrases that describe the topics you write about whilst also identifying what people are searching for.
It’s incredibly important to undertake keyword research to be able to bridge the gap between your content and your audience. And we all know just how important a good content strategy is to SEO, so if you’re looking at updating your keywords, you want to make sure you’re targeting the right terms.
The old SEO technique of keyword stuffing is a thing of the past, and now more often penalised than rewarded. So where do we begin?
The first step to targeting the right keywords for your website is to brainstorm the kind of information your user needs. If you are a business owner, you will already have a great understanding of the niche information your consumers will be searching for and therefore have a foundation to begin upon.
Following this, Google Analytics and Search Console are your friends. Through the acquisition section, you can find search queries that will help you refine your keyword list.
A great strategy to refine the perfect keyword list to target is to monitor your user activity. For example, see what hashtags your users are using when they’re sharing on social media or particular topics that frequently arise in your blog comments. By forming a keyword list based on user activity, you are sure to capture relevant and important terms that will bring in traffic to your website.
Now you’ve got a keyword list, you need to understand the competition you have. You want to put effort and time into writing content about the keywords you know you will be able to compete in the rankings for.
Just because users are using a particular search term, doesn’t mean you’ll always rank for it. So to ensure you target the right keywords after forming your list, you should keep up-to-date with your keyword research every so often to keep up with the changing market.
[First published 26/02/19. Updated 27/08/20]
