If you’re new to search engine optimisation (SEO), then you might be unfamiliar with the term “keywords” and their importance when it comes to digital marketing. So, we’re here to provide some clarity and help you understand what keywords are, what they do and how they work. 

Keywords: What Are They?

Keywords are the words/phrases that searchers enter into a search engine; they play a big role in connecting your content to your target customers. As such, they’re a vital asset for increasing your brand awareness, maximising outreach, and simply existing within the world wide web.

What Do They Do?

When a potential customer searches for something on Google, they will typically enter just a few brief words. Google will then crawl the web for pages that feature these terms, before displaying the most relevant results to the searcher.

Once the customer has been presented with the search results, they will often only browse the first few listings. Statistically, just 25% of shoppers visit the second results page, so if your site isn’t among the top 10, chances are that your store is going to gather some digital dust. 

How Does It Work?

You Need to Use the Right Keywords

In order to get into the top 10, it’s critical that you incorporate the right keywords into your content.

For instance, if you own an online mountain bike store and recently launched a new range of bikes for kids, you’d need to ensure your page is easy for consumers to find. The page is titled “Kid’s Bikes” but most of your customers are actually searching “beginner mountain bikes for children” or “Children’s mountain bikes”.

So, although you sell the products they’re looking for, a large portion of your audience won’t even know you exist.

How to Use Keywords In Your Content

If you’re going to get your page ranking among the top 10 results, you need to add the right keywords to the right places. 

In the above example, instead of titling your page “Kid’s Bikes”, consider calling it “Children’s Mountain Bikes”. Don’t expect the heading to do all the work though: you’ll need to write a short, four-line description enriched with the right keywords. Along with this, try to include a brief explanation of the product. 

If you’re unsure of which keywords to include, you can use one of the many free keyword research tools available on the web as a way to get started. This should help you get a better understanding of what keywords are right for your page.

Keep It Organic

One of the biggest mistakes made by first-time SEO practitioners is keyword stuffing. Creating content that is organically written with a sprinkle of word-dust will work much better than filling your pages with flow-less buzzwords; less really is more. 

 

• Organic: High-quality mountain bikes for children, give the gift of adventure this Christmas.

 

• Inorganic: Mountain bike bicycle kids bike riding high-quality durable bike cheap multi-gear bike

 

Keywords can be the difference between sales and no sales: they’re a powerful marketing tool and utilising them strategically can provide many benefits. Set aside some time to study your market and remember to keep your content organic, real and relevant. 

Find Out More

To learn more about how SEO and digital marketing can benefit your business, take a look at our collection of blog posts. Alternatively, get in touch with our team of specialists and see how we can grow your business.