Keywords are words and phrases within the theme of your topic.
When your goal is to attract traffic to your website, the content on your site or within your blogs should focus around topics related to your brand. To be more specific, those topics should be something you can act as a knowledgeable source of, and your potential customers are already searching for.
By creating authentic content around the phrases and themes around those topics, you’ll already be using keywords to your advantage. It’s been a long time since the web 1.0 days, and much of the keyword loading tactics to artificially boost your incoming search traffic will actually hinder your position.
In fact, Google and most other modern search engines continue to change how they position websites in search results. The quest to provide users with valuable content means they’re on the lookout for the right answers to questions.
Since 2018 the world of search engine optimization (SEO) has been focused on what Google and others are calling E.A.T. Simply put by Ian Booth on Moz.com, it’s “Google’s way of protecting searching from low-quality content… detrimental to a searcher”.
This means your content not only needs to include well researched keywords, but must showcase expertise, authority, and trustworthiness.
Rather than including the same keyword x amount of times within a given piece of content, you should be more concerned your content is written naturally, is grammatically correct, and is part of a larger content strategy on your website.
That strategy should include supporting those keyword themes with accurate and valuable information for your readers.
Regarding search engine marketing (SEM) keyword themes will play an important role when creating and maintaining your paid search campaigns. SEMrush is still one of the most trusted sources of learning, and has an updated guide on the specifics of keyword research.
Because keyword research is such a large component in your marketing strategy compared to a decade ago, your website’s ranking and traffic need to factor into your overall plan. Many people subscribe to SEO or inbound marketing software that aids them in monitoring, analyzing, and collecting data around keywords and search terms.
In addition to resources like Google Ads and Google Trends marketing giants like HubSpot offer CRMs, software, and a wealth of training that can tie in everything we’ve mentioned about keywords into your business goals.
As a brand or business owner/operator your ideas about keywords and keyword research might have changed since the last time you’ve developed a digital marketing strategy. Whether you’re managing it yourself, have an in-house team or hiring an agency, it’s a good idea to build foundational knowledge about why keywords matter to your business.
