What are SEO keywords?
SEO keywords are the exact words for which you’d like your article to show up on search engine results pages (SERP) when people type their queries into the search engine. Besides that, the SEO keywords or phrases should be the central words that describe the content of your articles.
The importance of SEO keywords
Years ago, keywords were the most important factor for search engines. If keywords were accurate and put in the right places, your content was likely to rank for these keywords. Unfortunately, it led to various sorts of misuse of keywords, amongst them so-called “keyword stuffing”, until Google changed their algorithm to penalize such practices.
Over the years, search engines have evolved, and the importance of SEO keywords has decreased. Google now uses over 200 ranking factors in their algorithm, and looks for meaning rather than keywords.
Search engines interpret the data on your website, and try to understand what a particular article is about, and the nature of your business as a whole. It became almost impossible to rank for keywords that are not closely related to your business. You cannot just come up with 50 or 100 keywords and expect an SEO expert to do their magic, so your website would rank for these keywords in a short time.
Search Engine optimization became all about writing quality, relevant content following the Google SEO guidelines, rather than trying to outsmart algorithms.
Everything starts with a keyword
Although the ranking factor power of keywords decreased, they still play a major role in Search Engine Optimization, as a starting point upon which to build your content.
It is preferable to first define keywords and then create content, rather than to adjust existing content to fit the chosen keywords.
When selecting keywords, the first step is to conduct keyword research, which will help you determine value and competition for specific keywords. The second step is to tailor the content of your top level pages, keeping the chosen keywords in mind. For a start, you should concentrate on only a few keywords, depending on the number of pages and posts on your website.
How to choose the right SEO keywords
To choose the right keywords, ask yourself four simple questions:
- Is the keyword relevant to your business?
- Will the keyword attract the right audience?
- Will this audience find your content valuable or feel tricked when landing on your website?
- Can you monetize traffic drawn by this keyword?
Common mistakes when choosing keywords
The best keywords are usually phrases composed of two to four words that are highly relevant to what your business is about. The chosen phrases shouldn’t be too common or too specialized. Also, they should be simple – something your target audience will likely type in the search box.
These are the most common mistakes many businesses make when choosing keywords to rank for:
- single-word keywords
- terms that are not highly relevant to your business
- keywords that are too specialized and rarely searched for
- highly competitive keywords
SEO keywords best practice: Quality over quantity
Quality over quantity is the number one rule, and the SEO tactic that provides the best results. Search engines prefer content that is valuable and useful.
Using shortcuts, SEO tricks that are in the grey zone, or worse – “black hat” SEO techniques, can have only temporarily results.
Rules to follow
- choose your keywords wisely
- publish only quality, relevant content
- follow the official SEO guidelines and avoid all bad practices
Follow the rules and concentrate on providing the best possible experience to your visitors, and you should have no problems getting the SERP rankings your website deserves.
