The link between smart keyword usage and high search engine rankings has been mentioned throughout this course. However, you need to use the ‘right’ keywords and phrases to get the most out of your SEO efforts. How do you discover what keywords you should be using? This information is made available to you through keyword research. Keyword research helps you spend time making content which focuses on those words and phrases that deliver your most targeted prospects.

These are the people who are looking for exactly what you have to offer, and smart keyword research helps you find them. A small amount of relevant web traffic will always outperform larger amounts of web visitors that are not interested in what you have to say.

What is a Longtail Keyword?

Longtail keywords usually deliver a lower amount of traffic than basic keywords. However, they are highly relevant to a particular topic. For instance, “body weight training programs for seniors” is going to deliver less web visitors than “body weight training”. On the other hand, that longer keyword phrase is further along in the buying cycle. The person typing that longer search term is much more likely to buy a relevant product than someone who types in the shorter, more general search phrase.

People who search for “body weight training programs for seniors” are looking for a very specific piece of information. By including that longtail keyword on your website, that web page will still be ranked for the shorter-term, “body weight training”, but will also draw the more specific traffic. Be sure to include longtail keywords and phrases, as well as shorter, relevant search terms, in all of your web content.

How to Perform Keyword Research

Performing simple keyword research is relatively easy. Pull up a Google search engine box, and type in a keyword or phrase that you want to rank for. Make sure you enclose your search term in quotation marks, such as “your search term”. After you hit enter, you will see a phrase at the top of the search results which says how many results your search has revealed.

Searching for “custom military dog tags” may yield 40,000 results. What does that number actually mean? It shows the number of different web pages that contain that exact same search term, with the words in your search phrase listed in exactly that order. Generally speaking, if there are fewer than 50,000 pages targeting a specific keyword or phrase, this is considered a medium to low level of competition.

(There are plenty of excellent free and paid keyword researching websites and pieces of software, which are listed at the end of this module.)

Targeting the ‘Right’ Keyword

If you perform the exercise listed above and find a low competition keyword, does that necessarily mean it will be easy for you to get a lot of traffic by targeting that word or phrase? Unfortunately, low competition is not the only guarantee of consistent traffic. Enough people have to be searching for that particular word or phrase for your marketing efforts to pay off.

People may only search for the phrase “custom military dog tags” 500 times per month. Even if you could obtain one of the top 3 or 5 search engine listings for that term, you would only be guaranteed a portion of that traffic. So in addition to medium or low competition, you want to see significant monthly searches for a particular word or phrase.

If you don’t already have one, open a Google Adwords account. It is free to do so. This gives you access to the Google Keyword Planner tool. This free tool lists how many times each month people search for particular keywords and phrases, as well as the level of competition you are up against.

Start researching keywords and phrases relevant to the products and services you offer. In most cases you want a minimum of 100 to 500 searches a day on average, or 3,000 to 15,000 searches per month, for any particular word or phrase. When those parameters overlap with little to no competition, you have found an excellent target for your SEO and keyword marketing attention.

Judging Keyword Value

A longtail keyword is an example of a search phrase that usually has a small amount of traffic. However, because the keyword is so specific, it delivers targeted traffic that you can tailor your content to. These people are much more likely to become customers in the future than if someone is searching for a shorter, much more general term.

That is why longtail keywords are often more valuable than keywords with much more traffic. Another way to judge keyword value is by identifying “buyer keywords”. If a search phrase includes words like “buy,” “price,” “availability,” or other similar terms, that keyword phrase is showing buyer intent. You can end up with more sales from low traffic with these types of search terms, since they show that someone is ready to make a purchase.

Popular Keyword Research Tools

Keyword research is a viable way to uncover exactly where you should focus your SEO efforts, and has been for some time. Because of this, many keyword research tools have been developed. The following applications, pieces of software, and websites make keyword research easy.

SEMrush

Moz Keyword Explorer

LongTail Pro

Google Keyword Planner Tool

Google Trends

BuzzSumo

Microsoft Bing Ads Intelligence

MarketSamurai

Wordtracker’s Free Basic Keyword Demand

Keyword Density

How often you use your keywords used to be very important to achieve high search engine rankings. Keyword density is the term which expresses how many times in every 100 words your target keyword or phrase is mentioned. A keyword density of 10% means that your keyword can be found 10 times in every 100 words.

These days search engines will penalize you, or refuse to index your content at all, if you mention a particular word too often. This is called keyword stuffing, and you definitely want to steer clear of this behavior. There is no secret keyword density which guarantees high search engine rankings for a particular term.

Generally speaking, using a keyword, related word, or synonym once or twice every 100 to 150 words is plenty to get your message across. Write for quality and readability, not to hit some particular keyword density.

Common SEO mistakes

Mentioning your target keyword over and over again is one of the most common search engine optimization mistakes. Another equally common problem is creating “fluff” instead of quality content. Never waste your time making a piece of content that doesn’t deliver quality information.

Other deadly SEO errors include not taking the time to develop relevant backlinks, not creating a site map, and not adding fresh, new information on a consistent basis. Always add internal links connecting your site’s pages to one another. Your next course module will help you avoid one of the most prevalent SEO mistakes.