Almost all online users make use of search engine to look for information on the web. They type in a keyword and a complex set of algorithms of the search engine starts looking through the enormous amount of webpages indexed and analyzed by its robots and in no time you have the information displayed on your screen. These robots are software that crawls through the content of these webpages, which search engines match with keyword phrases used during searches. So if you want to your website to appear in searches that your prospective customers are looking for then you must choose the right keywords and create good quality content.

When to start with keyword research.

Many think keyword research should be carried out only when you are in the process of search engine optimisation (SEO) of a website. But why limit it to only websites? Be it an article, white paper, social media post, website copy or any other content, whatever it may be, if it is to be published on the web it must have a keyword list. So the keyword research should be carried out before you even start writing your content.  This helps you choose the right keyword to weave into your content.

The objective of keywords research

The objective of keyword research is to generate a large number of terms that are highly relevant yet non-obvious to the given input keyword. The process of keyword research involves brainstorming and the use of keyword research tools.

Points to keep in mind when you choose the right keywords:

• Keywords should be closely related to the subject of the website as search engines use an internal quality system to check website relevance related to possible keywords. A non-relevant keyword is unlikely to rank well for a website.
• A highly competitive Keyword is less likely to help you rank to the top.
• Keywords that have low or no monthly searches generate no traffic and therefore are useless for SEO.
• Maintaining keyword density is important but keyword stuffing on a web page should be avoided.

To achieve the best SEO results, it is important to optimise a website as well as backlinks for the most relevant keywords. It is good practice to search for related keywords that have low competition and still a high number of searches. This makes it easier to achieve a higher rank in search engines which usually results in higher web traffic.

Selecting the right keywords

Once we have created the master list, it’s now time to choose the best keywords for each keyword group. (Keyword groups are created based on your core brands/products/services). Following points will help us choose the right keyword:

Relevance: You should consider the relevance of each keyword to your keyword group. Sure, it might have high traffic and low competition, but will it be forwarding the type of traffic your website needs?

Search Volume: “Search volume” refers to how many times a particular phrase is searched for. It’s a handy way to gauge how much traffic you’ll receive from a specific query, though you should know that volume tends to fluctuate over time.

SEO difficulty: Next, look at the level of competition for each keyword. It’s no coincidence that the highest-volume keywords also tend to have the highest amount of competition, and of course, the higher the competition, the harder it’s going to be to rank for that keyword. You’ll need to strike a balance between the two.

Longtail keywords: Keywords with more than 2 words are called longtail keywords. Longtail keywords are more specific than keywords with one or two words. It may have low volume but have a better conversion rate.

Current rankings: It’s worth checking to see if you currently rank for any of these terms — if you do, that might help you build early momentum.

Pick your top keywords: At this point, your top candidates should be a matter of personal taste. You’ve narrowed your list down to keywords with the highest likelihood of earning you the results you want, so for now, pick a handful that you’ll have an easy time optimising for (or the ones that seem the most attractive).

Even after taking so much efforts to choose the right keyword for your content, your first blend of keywords may not be perfect, but it will give you a solid baseline you can use to improve your level of traffic even further. Pay close attention to how your results develop over time and make necessary changes whenever there is a need. SEO is an iterative process, so do not hesitate to make necessary changes if you do not get desired results.