Keywords And Keyword Research for SEO | Episode 3 | Digital Marketing 101

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Introduction

Hi Everyone!

In the previous blog post, I gave an introduction to SEO. I discussed a bit about what is SEO, On Page SEO, Off Page SEO, and keywords.

And I decided to do this blog post about Keywords And Keyword Research for SEO first before we discuss about On Page SEO and Off Page SEO. The reason is because keywords are very important for the success of your Digital Marketing.

And you need to find keywords that can help your content be found by people by using using them effectively for your website, your ad campaigns, and any online marketing efforts. As such, keyword research is critical.


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Watch: Keywords And Keyword Research for SEO | Episode 3 | Digital Marketing 101

If you prefer to watch a video about this topic, you can watch it below. Please remember to subscribe to the channel as well as like the video, too!

Or if you prefer to Read, continue from here.


What are Keywords?

When people use a search engine to find things, they type a word or phrase into the search field. Then they click the search button.

After that, the search engine will find websites or web pages related to that search. And the search engine will produce a pages of lists of these websites or web pages that are relevant to what the search the person doing the search is looking for.

The word or phrase are called Keywords. The pages of search results showing lists of websites or web pages are called Search Engine Results Pages. A common term of reference is SERP.

Example of lists of websites or web pages on Search Engine Result Pages (SERP)

Why Are Keywords Important?

The keywords are used by searchers to find what they need. It can be searching for information, product or service.

As such, you must find out what keywords they are using. Particularly what keywords they are using to find products or services that you are selling.

Then you use the correct and relevant keywords for your website or web pages. This is so that when consumers are searching, your content is relevant and matches their search, and they can find your website or web page.

You can find out what keywords people are using by doing Keyword Research. You will need a Keyword Tool to do that.

After you find the best keywords, you use them on your website or web pages. It can be on the site title, page title, headers or even the image alternative text tag. In other words, you do On Page SEO.

On Page SEO techniques will help your website to get ranked high on Search Engine Results Pages. Ranking high increases online visibility, which will enable consumers to be aware of your brand.

Of course, the best situation would be that your website or web page is ranked on the 1st Page of Search Engine Results Pages. That is because it is known that 91.5% of people searching on search engines will click on a link that is on the 1st Page.

When searchers click on your website or web page link that is on the 1st Page of search results, they go to your website. As you can see, this means that keywords can help drive traffic to your website or web page.

When people go to your website or web page, you have the opportunity to convert them to customers. And that would result in increased sales.

Essentials to Perfect Keyword Research

Now that we have established the importance of keywords, let us discuss the Essentials to Perfect Keyword Research.

Your Unique Brand

You started a business. You created a brand. You spent valuable time, effort and money to build and grow your brand. And it is important that people see your brand, recall your brand, and have good association with your brand.

To achieve that, you need to do keyword research and SEO to gain online visibility for your brand.

Products or Services You Offer

Besides your Brand Keywords, during the Keyword Research phase, think about what you are offering to the consumers.

Is it a product? Is it a service? What kind of product are you offering? What kind of service are you offering? Is it something that your target audience needs?

I am sure you must have found something that they really need, right? And if it is, you must deliver it to them. And keywords are a way for your target audience to find your business and products on search engines.

Products you can offer to your target audience

Keywords That Match Your Products or Services

So now, put yourself in your target audience’s shoes. What words would they type into a search engine to find a product or service like yours?

Think of as many as you can. Write them down. This will be your initial list of keywords.

Next, you have to find out whether the keywords are the best and suitable for your website. What do I mean by this?

Well, you will need to use a Keyword Tool. Enter the keywords into this keyword tool. Find out if the keywords have a good amount of average traffic using this keyword to search.

Then find out how competitive this keyword is. This will help you get a clear picture of whether the keyword can rank high, and even on 1st Page, easily.

Also, it helps you with online ad campaigns. Competition affects whether your ad is delivered as well as the advertising costs.

Types of Keywords

There are various types of keywords. Each has its unique use in your digital marketing strategy. You will need to understand each of them to decide how to use them in your marketing efforts.

Brand Keywords

When people have heard or know of your brand, they may go to a search engine and try to find your website using your brand name as a keyword. They will type your brand name into the search field and click the search button to begin the search.

Ideally, your website and anything other online assets (e.g. Facebook Page) should appear on the list of search results. Preferably on the 1st page of search results.

Being on 1st Page gives people the idea that your brand is of importance. That is important enough for search engines to recognise your brand and place it on the 1st pages of their search results.

This can give your brand good reputation and authority. When people find your website on the first page of search results, they then click on the link and visit your website to learn more about your brand and business.

I have had a few clients who did not have their websites on the 1st pages of search results. They had come to me to help them improve their SEO.

The first thing I always check was to see if their websites appear on the 1st page of search results using their brand name for the search. When it does not, it will be one of the first priority of the SEO work I do for them.

As you can see, brand keywords are very important. It improves your brand’s online visibility.

Do make sure you use Brand Keywords, and also check once in a while to make sure that your brand website and online assets appear on the 1st Page of SERPs.

Generic Keywords

Generic Keywords are words that have a relatively wide scope. For example, words like Dog, Cat, Business, and Training.

Notice that Generic Keywords are usually just one word. And it is a word that is used by many many businesses.

As such, Generic Keywords usually have higher competition. And due to the higher competition, there can be lower conversion rates. For example, it can result in fewer people visiting your website or even lower sales.

Plus, using Generic Keywords for ad campaigns can be very costly. That is because there’s such high competition that everyone is trying to beat more in order to get on the first page of search results.

Long-Tailed Keywords

In contrast, Long-Tailed Keywords are when a searcher types in three or more words into a search query. Sometimes, the words can form a phrase. For example; Organic Dog Food, Best Cat Toys, How to Start An Online Business, or Where Can I Learn Digital Marketing.

As you can see, when someone uses Long-Tailed Keywords, they are looking for exactly what want with a higher intent. It can be an intent to learn, or to buy, or to do something.

Studies have shown that those people that are using long-tail keywords, they have an intent to buy, and the intent to buy is higher. In almost every case, when you use a Long-Tailed Keyword for your article, it can result in higher conversion to sales.

Low Hanging Fruit Keywords

Speaking of higher conversion rates, you can raise the chances of getting more sales by using Low Hanging Fruit Keywords. What are these?

Well, think of fruits that are hanging lower on a tree than those higher up. Isn’t it easier to pluck them?

It is the same for Low Hanging Fruit Keywords. These are keywords that have a relatively reasonable amount of traffic, low competition, and high chances of getting ranked on the 1st Page of SERPs.

To know what these keywords are, you will need a very good keyword tool that can give you those exact data. I know of such an excellent keyword tool. And it is the same one I use for all my websites and web pages. And it is also why I can get many of my web pages ranked on the 1st Page.

I will share about this excellent keyword tool further down this article. Keep reading.

Local Keywords

Many people search for local businesses using various apps such as Google, Bing, Yelp, TripAdvisor, etc. It is then very critical for you to optimize your website and web pages with Local Keywords to attract these searchers.

Local Keywords can be a country, city, borough or even a district. For example; Bakery in Singapore is using country as a search term. But this can be a little too broad, and may not help you get ranked high.

So, try a more local keyword. For example, in Singapore there are many districts and neighborhoods. If the bakery is actually in a district called Ang Mo Kio, then a good Local Keyword to use would be Bakery in Ang Mo Kio.

This is just one of the many permutations that the bakery can consider. The store can try other Local Keywords such as Best Bakery in Ang Mo Kio, Healthy Organic Cakes and Cookies in Ang Mo Kio, or even Bakery near Ang Mo Kio Central.

Conversational Search Keywords

Today, voice interfaces and sophisticated AI (Artificial Intelligence) have created a new type of keyword – the Conversational Search Keyword. In this day and age, consumers can speak a natural speaking sentence into a device, and the device can reply with a full sentence.

This is now applied for searches too.

In the past, searches mostly analyzed individual keywords. Technology today looks at the entire string of words.

For example, in the past, we may use keywords such as Car Dealer Singapore. But today, for the purpose of Conversational Search, it is better to use Where Can I Find The Best Car Dealer in Singapore?

There are more and more people using voice search these days Here are some statistics about voice search usage today (reported by techjury).

Can you afford to ignore Conversational Search Keywords?

Statistics for Voice Search in 2020

Best Keyword Research Tool

Which is the Best Keyword Tool to Use?

Now that you understand more about keywords and the importance of keyword research, the next thing you need is to know which is the best keyword tool to use?

Let’s start with a bit more details about what a keyword tool is.

What is a Keyword Tool?

A keyword tool helps you to find out if the keyword you plan to use has good amount of traffic, whether it has high, low or medium competition, and many other data to help you decide if it is suitable for your web page or ad campaign.

The tool uses Google tools such as Google Autocomplete and Google Suggest to do the keyword research for you. The Google Suggest extracts keyword suggestions for you.

What this means is that the keyword tool will produce a list of more keywords for you. This list are suggested keywords based on the main keyword you have started with.

For example, if you type Restaurant in Singapore, the keyword tool will show you how many people are using this search term, what is the competition for this keyword, and many other useful data. In addition, it will show you suggestions such as Best Restaurant in Singapore, Chinese Restaurant in Singapore, Good Food in Singapore, etc.

These also show the traffic, competition and other data. The data is to help you decide if the original keyword you intended to use is perfect, or maybe one of these other suggestion on the list is better choice.

What are the Keyword Tools Available?

There are many keyword tools or other keyword research tools in the market. For example; there is the popular Google Keyword Planner, ahrefs, and SemRush.

To be honest, I have tried many, including the few that i just mentioned above. And I found them lacking. The data provided is either too vague or lacks enough information to help me decide if the keyword is the best for my website or web page.

For example, Google Keyword Planner gives a range of numbers for the Average Monthly Searches. When I did a search for Womens Watches, it returned the numbers as between 1,000 to 10,000.

I mean, come on. Is it nearer to 1,000 or nearer to 10,000?

The difference is huge, and can affect how successful my online marketing campaign will be, right?

Search result using Google Keyword Planner, shows wide range of data for keyword – Women’s Watches

What is the Best Keyword Tool?

After years of research, I finally found the Best Keyword Tool. To me, it gives you the exact number of Average Monthly Searches, and the exact number of Average Traffic.

It also advises you how many competitors are there for that particular keyword, and how many other websites are ranking for that keyword. The latter tells you what are the chances of your website or web page ranking on the 1st Page.

Isn’t this awesome?

It is a keyword research tool known as Jaaxy.


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Keywords And Keyword Research for SEO | Episode 3 | Digital Marketing 101

Timotheus Final Thoughts

After you have found the right keywords, you are ready to do some On Page SEO and Off Page SEO. This means placing your keywords strategically on your website. You should also use keywords for your Off Page SEO efforts, too.

In next blog post, I will start with more information about On Page SEO. Remember to join my I Love Passive Income Community to get updated whenever I publish it.

If you have ANY questions, or anything to clarify, please drop a comment below. I will be happy to help you.

I wish everyone great wealth and success.

Timotheus
Digital Marketer, Lecturer, Amazon Bestselling Author & Cancer Survivor

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