fbpx

What is a keyword?

When using a search engine like Google, the words you type into the search bar are key to finding what you’re looking for. The terms and phrases used for search queries play a vital role in what websites are shown on search engines. For this reason, search engine optimisation (SEO) is adopted by many businesses

What Is A Keyword?

When using a search engine like Google, the words you type into the search bar are key to finding what you’re looking for.

The terms and phrases used for search queries play a vital role in what websites are shown on search engines. For this reason, search engine optimisation (SEO) is adopted by many businesses wanting to climb the internet ladder and increase their organic search ranking.

They do this by incorporating keywords into their content strategy.

But, what is a keyword? What are the best keywords for digital marketing? How many keywords should you use?

Find out the answer, and more, by reading our guide.

What are searchable keywords?

Keywords are words or phrases that are typed into search engines to find content that matches the search queries.

As keywords come from search queries, they must be incorporated into a website’s content strategy to improve the chances of it ranking highly on search engines, thus increasing reach and organic traffic.

Whether running a campaign for SEO or PPC, keywords are integral to any success.

But, what is a keyword? For example, if you search ‘cars for sale’ on Google, this will direct you to websites selling cars. Searching ‘World Cup goals’ may show you the most relevant videos, and so on.

Why are keywords important?

Keywords are important as they help companies understand exactly what their target audience is searching for, allowing them to tailor their content strategy.

Targeting keywords for digital marketing allows websites to create content defined by a primary keyword.

This means they can incorporate the most relevant keywords within their content to increase their ability to rank high on search engines.

Keywords For Digital Marketing


Different types of user intent on search engines

Behind every keyword is a search intent that falls into one of four categories: informational, navigational, commercial and transactional.

  • Informational – The search intent is to learn something; ‘how to’, ‘what is’, etc.
  • Navigational – The intent is to find a specific website; ‘Facebook’, ‘BBC Weather’, etc.
  • Commercial – The search intent is to look for information to purchase a product.
  • Transactional – The intent is to buy something at that moment; ‘pizza delivery’, ‘car insurance quotes’, etc.

By focusing on the search intent when using specific keywords, you can tailor your content to provide value to users who find you via search engines.

When strategising, you will want to use a combination of short-tail keywords and long-tail keywords.

What are short and long-tail keywords?

A short-tail keyword contains one or two search terms, such as ‘Nike trainers’.

A long-tail keyword contains a more specific and intentional search with three or more terms, such as ‘black Nike trainers for children’.

Using a free keyword research tool like Google Keyword Planner allows you to discover both short and long-tail keywords with varying monthly search volume for your content strategy, allowing you to tailor your website copy to attract users for specific search terms.

Keyword Research - Paramount Digital


What keywords does my website rank for?

Before discovering keyword ideas for your website, you must first understand how good keywords can improve your search engine marketing, and how to find a specific keyword to create relevant content for your users.

How to find keywords

First of all, you simply won’t find the best keywords for digital marketing without solid and in-depth keyword research. It is the staple of every successful content strategy. Every website you see at the top of Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs) will have incorporated specific keywords into their content to make it easy for their target audience to find them.

Using a keyword research tool, you can search keyword databases and filter specific terms by search volume and keyword difficulty.

Whatever your niche is, you can look it up and find related keywords during your keyword research. Using keyword research tools, you can then check how those keywords appear on search results pages, and start to conduct an SEO strategy to ensure your website shows up in place of your competitors.

What is a good keyword?

‘Good’ SEO keywords provide the ideal balance between relevance, competition, search volume and search intent based on your website’s domain authority.

Using keywords that combine all of these key aspects gives your website the best chance possible of ranking highly on search engines.

When incorporating your keywords into content on your website, you’ll want to ensure they appear in meta titles, meta descriptions, headers, throughout blogs and on-page content.

Key considerations during keyword research

When conducting keyword research for your website’s SEO strategy, there are three key factors to consider: monthly search volume, intent and relevance, and keyword difficulty.

Monthly search volume

The search volume is the number of times a particular term has been searched per month. This figure gives a good indication of how popular certain keywords are and how you can tailor your content strategy around them.

It can feel tempting to just opt for the most popular keywords when conducting your keyword research, but that isn’t always the best option.

These are likely to be hugely competitive and, thus, difficult to rank highly for.

To gain SEO recognition, you should incorporate less competitive keywords, and ones a lot more niche to your specific industry, service or product into your strategy. This can set you apart from the major competitors who may already have a strong hold on keywords with huge search volume.

Search intent and relevance

Relevance is essential when Google reviews content. You could find relevant keywords but the content has to be relevant to the subject or it will be marked down.

For example, if you run a dieting website and want to target a keyword like ‘best diets for women’, but the blog you write doesn’t cover that particular subject, Google will mark it down.

Relevance is just as important as finding the right keyword.

Keyword difficulty

Keyword difficulty measures how challenging a specific term is to rank highly on search engines. This involves a few aspects, including how many pieces of high-quality content already rank for the keyword, your domain authority and the paid search volume.

The higher the number shown on your keyword research tool, the more difficult the keyword will be to rank – no matter how good your content is.

How many SEO keywords should I use for digital marketing?

Picking the optimal number of keywords has been a constant question posed in the digital marketing industry.

There is, however, a set structure that you should aim to follow for every piece of content.

  1. Have one primary keyword per page/blog – Content that uses one keyword is likely to rank higher because everything – meta title and descriptions, headings and copy – is easier to focus on.
  2. Secondary keywords – Using a couple of secondary keywords allows you to cover a topic more in-depth. It also opens up a possible avenue for more traffic.
  3. Keyword density – It’s widely thought that for every 100 to 200 words of content, a keyword should be used once or twice. When the content reaches around 400 words, two to three keywords per paragraph, and up to eight in total for the entire page are ideal.

Need an expert digital marketing agency to help with keyword research?

If you’re a business owner who wants to climb the search engine rankings on Google, but you’re unsure how to find the right keywords, we can help you.

At Paramount Digital, we are experts in finding the best keywords for digital marketing campaigns for a wide range of industries. Whatever niche you work in, we can either take control of your digital marketing or assist your in-house team in finding keywords that can improve your online visibility and enhance organic traffic figures.

Want to know more about us as an SEO agency and how we can improve your content marketing? Contact us today to find out. Simply call 01744 747474 or send an email to marketing@paramountdigital.co.uk.

Author

  • Senior Content Executive

    Experienced Content Editor with a demonstrated history of working in the retail and sports industry, with plenty of experience of working in social media on the side. Skilled in content management systems, as well as social media. Strong content management professional with over 7 years of experience editing and writing content.

We’re An Agency That
Can Help You!

1. Let’s Talk

Book a 30 minute consultation call with one of our team so we can understand your goals for digital marketing and what services you need within your budget.

2. Let’s get strategic

Once we know where you want to get to, we’ll put a plan in place to get you there. You’ll get a clear outline explaining all the costs and what results you can expect.

3. Let’s start growing your business

Once we’re all pointing in the right direction our expert team will get to work delivering what we’ve promised and getting you the best ROI possible.

Name(Required)