Which Keywords to Use in SEO Marketing
Marketing your business online has always been challenging but now, with more the eCommerce brands than every before, the competition is fierce. Keywords are an effective way to boost your SEO marketing but success depends upon knowing how to use different types of keywords strategically to attract customers at every stage of their buying journey.
In this article, the Outsource Your Marketing SEO team looks at what keywords are, and how they can drive more traffic to your website. We look at the different types of keywords available and consider when to use them to best effect.
What are Keywords?
Keywords are the words or phrases online shoppers use when searching for your product. If these keywords are used in your web content, the search engine algorithm will potentially match your site to appropriate online searches.
SEO marketing uses keywords to create content that will be matched successfully with online searches. This requires a knowledge of the different types of keywords, their functions, and how searchers use them.
Types of Keywords
Some SEO marketers will tell you there are 20 types of keywords, others will say there are just 4 that matter. In this article, we will look at the 6 basic keyword types that provide what you need in order to develop an SEO marketing strategy:
- Keywords by Search Intent
- Short Tail Keywords
- Long Tail Keywords
- Niche Keywords
- Keywords That Are Questions
- Your Competitors’ Keywords
1. Keywords by Search Intent
These are the keywords that chart your customers’ buyer journey. Informational keywords are used right at the start. Commercial keywords are about checking out their options. Transactional keywords come into play when shoppers are looking for the best buy, and navigational keywords are when shoppers are looking for a specific store or area from which to buy.
- Informational Keywords. This is the browsing phase when keywords may include phrases like ‘what’s a browser?’ or ‘how to choose a new phone’.
- Commercial. The search is getting a bit more specific. Commercial keywords may include things like ‘mobile phone companies’ or ‘where to buy a new phone’.
- Transactional. These are the types of keywords designed to target shoppers who are close to buying something. They may include ’best mobile deals’ or ‘buying new phone’.
- Navigational. Keywords that direct shoppers to a specific site, such as ‘Bensons’ top mobile phone deals’.
2. Short-Tail Keywords
These keywords are short (1-3 words) and tend to deal in broad terms with a product, or sector. Because they’re so general, they normally have a high search volume, and this makes them attractive, but they’ll also be highly competitive and difficult to rank for. ‘Mobile phones deal’ has an immense search volume but is unlikely to bring you quality traffic.
Short tail keywords tend to get used as an anchor term, which is then broken down into a number of long-tail keywords that can achieve a higher ranking.
3. Long-Tail Keywords
Long-tail keywords are made up of 3 or more words and are much lower volume than short-tail keywords. They’re also far more specific, and this offers search engines a clear indication of your site’s focus.
A long-tail keyword may only offer the potential for 10 searches per month, but there is a far higher probability of ranking high for the term. An example of a long-tail keyword would be “4 must-have features in affordable phones”.
4. Niche Keywords
A niche keyword is all about differentiating your product from your competitors. They tend to be specific and appeal to a niche group of customers within a larger sector. These keywords are easy to rank well for and they’ll attract the searchers you are targeting. They will also be low volume, but that’s not a problem because of their precision.
A good example of these types of keywords would be ‘mobile phone package for children’.
5. Keywords That Are Questions
When you search in Google the results include a panel headed ‘People Also Ask’. Underneath is a list of questions related to the search term you have entered. These keywords are often used either as the title of blogs, or as subtitles acting as navigational prompts through the content.
Question keywords are also useful for generating potential ‘snippets’. Web content that gets selected for ‘snippets’ answers the question clearly and succinctly, in no more than a paragraph, and is likely to include a bulleted list.
6. Your Competitors’ Keywords
Who wouldn’t want to know what keywords their competitors were using? Once you have a comprehensive list of their keywords, you can use them in a number of ways:
- Check out keywords you’ve not yet used.
- Search for keywords that will differentiate your business.
- Consider an SEO strategy that focuses on a different geographical area, or product range.
- Compete for the same keywords.
Looking For Help With Your SEO Marketing Strategy?
The Outsource Your Marketing SEO team use keywords to optimise web content. We implement a range of techniques using types of keywords that make websites easier for search engines to ‘read’. An SEO marketing strategy increases your website’s visibility in search engine results, which improves the possibility of your target customers finding you.
