Importance of Keywords for Website SEO Optimizations

There are so many blogs by well-known SEO experts, who claim search engine optimization to be a piece of cake. However, it is only true for those who know a little bit about the different nuances of SEO and the SERPs. Any basic optimization strategy will need to understand the needs of their target customers, algorithm changes of the search engines and how other sites link to your website.

Here's what you, as an SEO beginner, should be doing to perfect your strategy:

Do you know what your customers want from you?

SEO does not need to be all about technicalities. You can start working on your website optimization by understanding who the customers are and what they are looking for. Here are a few ways you can do so –

1. Go through the comment section of your website.
2. Go through the emails from your customers (both appreciative and criticizing).
3. Interact directly with your customers using activation ideas.
4. Engage a customer service team or software that can monitor the chatline and hotline.

Keep an eye on the kind of language they are using. This will give you an idea about the leading key phrases and keywords in use. Using keyword searching tools, rank tracker tools and online keyword suggestions can also help you find the terms your target customers are using most. The easiest way is to explore social media using tools like HootSuite to find out what your target groups are saying about your brand on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

What’s auto-complete saying?

As per the experts at Tayloright.com, the easiest way to find the trends of auto-complete or search suggestions is by using Ahrefs. This will save your time and a lot of effort. It will give you an exhaustive list of keyword suggestions as per Google auto-complete trends. This comes with real-time metrics and valuable data. While you are using a keyword suggestion tool, do not forget to check out the related keywords section to find out about the LSI keywords that can populate your content.

Why are you using a particular keyword?

This brings us to keyword intent. This is a comparatively newer classification, but a very old concept. The intent behind the keyword often decides what the user will do next or which website the user will browse from the resulting search result list. This is true for all search engines irrespective of geographical locations, demographics and user statistics. There are several kinds of intentions behind the use of several keywords. For example –

1. Navigational – they might be looking for a website, a web store or simply information on a place, monument, product and person. For example – “New York people."
2. Informational – this is where they are looking for something more in detail. For example – “What to eat in New York?”
3. Transactional – people are looking to buy or sell products online. This can also be the search for a specific service. For example – “Book 5 star hotel in the New York”.

Since you are here, we are guessing; you are focusing on the keywords of commercial interest. Now, you need to focus on keywords that will direct any potential searcher to your website. There are minute differences you should focus on. For example – there are hotels all across the New York, but if you want to highlight a specific feature that you offer or people might be interested in, you should target more specific keywords like "5-star hotel in New York with infinity pool". This is just an example that shows how the use of a few added words can change the intention of the transactional phrase.

Professional keyword research

Professional keyword research is a huge part of SEO. We know, we started with SEO for beginners, but with time you will realize the essential keywords and search terms bear for websites. As SEO is indispensable for all sites, learning professional keyword research is a worthwhile investment indeed.

This usually includes mastering keyword searching tools and keyword suggestion tools, creating keyword maps and keyword plans for your page, designing content as per keyword trends and vice versa. Once you have your keyword placement, keyword density and plans in place, you will need to move on to content structure.

It is true that keywords form the first step towards attracting the leading search engines to your site, but it is also one of the most critical steps that contribute to organic traffic. Organic traffic is the bulk of users you cannot buy using PPC, CPC and other forms of sponsored ads. They are the visitors, who have found your website, web page, and your products or services because they were exactly looking for it or something similar. Therefore, organic traffic brings with it the promise of a high conversion rate.

Author bio: Maria Jones is an SEO strategist who has been working in collaboration with some leading SEO companies. Her work at tayloright.com has earned her widespread recognition in the website design and optimization analytics community.