What are Keywords? #keywords

byKerryAnn61

3.5K followers

Updated 5 years ago

What are Keywords?

A keyword or keyword phrase is simply the word or words that someone might type or speak into the search bar when searching for information. “How to bake a cake” is a keyword. So is “where to buy a hat” and even “hat”.

How does knowing about keywords help my blog?

Knowing what information people are looking for, helps us to write content in our blog that answers the question or solves the problem for these people. Demand and supply.

The people actually doing the searching are our audience.

We need to determine whether people are looking for information in our niche and what problems they need to solve. Keyword research help us find out.

How can search engines understand our content?

Today the search engines are artificial intelligence with awareness. Search engines understand the content we write and can also understand synanons. In the past we needed to repeat words or phrases in order to emphasize what our ‘topic’ was about. However, repeating ourselves and not providing good content can now be harmful to our search engine ranking.

There are still some advantages to having a targeted phrase to write about and knowing what to look for. It is just that whilst we search for keyword information in the same way, we write a little differently.

Where can I find keywords?

There are many tools to help us discover what people have been trying to find information on.

1. I use Jaaxy, the lite version comes free with my Wealthy Affiliate membership.

2. Ubersuggest is a free tool put together by the great Neil Patel, a well-known You Tuber and SEO expert.

3. Google Keyword Planner, a part of Google Adsense which can, by looking at the cost per click, show us popular search terms. I do prefer the other two, however.

4. Google search bar. As we start to type, Google will suggest additional words. If we type without grammar Google will suggest words to complete the sentence both before and after the typed wording.

5. Once a selection is made, Google will list possible websites and then add related searches. On a mobile device, as soon as you click on one ‘people also ask’ suggestion, more will appear.

There are often keywords using synonyms or similar search phrases on the same topic.

All of these tools offer variations on the wording to give us some idea of what people might be asking for information on. Jaaxy and Ubersuggest also analyze the keyword and give some indication of the search volume and competition for each keyword.

BUT

I say some indication, because as the search engines have become more aware a keyword may not seem to have competition. Yet when entered into search, the wording may be autocorrected to a more popular synonym changing the final result. I tested “cycle tyres” which had a lower volume, cost per click and competition when compared to “bike tyres”, yet when entered into search, they bring up the same results on page one. This is why exact keyword matches, with low competition, are no longer as effective as they have been in the past.

Should I still target a keyword?

Yes, in that you should still research wording that people may use within the search bar. It is especially important that this does make grammatic sense because the search engine is likely to correct it anyway. If you avoided a keyword because it had high competition and went for one with lower competition that didn’t make sense – then you will probably have wasted your time.

You may have been better to target a completely different keyword phrase. I believe it is more important that your content is directly about the topic of your post or page title. As your title should be answering a question or solving a problem that people are searching for information on, then this keyword and supporting content is I believe, the keyword strategy for 2019 and beyond.

As we build our blog or website with good content that will give the searcher (user) the answer they are looking for, then we will build a relationship with the public and our site will gain ranking and authority with time. The search engines also consider the about of time users spend on our website and if they are immediately leaving, then it will be assumed that our content is not good.

We must, therefore, make our website look and feel good and easy to read and understand. A user must know by their first impression that they will find the answer to their enquiry, so that they stay and read.

Why hashtags?

Many people now use hashtags on social media. This helps the platform categorize the content within the post of photo. As we begin to use video, I believe hashtags will also help understand the overall topic of video as well.

People also seach by hashtag on socal media so it stands to reason that they will eventually move to use hashtags instead of typing large sentences in search engines as well.

Should we use long tail keywords?

I believe that as speech is becoming more popular because you can speak a longer more direct question and generally get a closer match which saves sorting through serp results to find the answer you are looking for. Therefore, using long tail keywords and having a post that relates directly to that topic will be more important than shorter 'big keywords' as we move forward.

Are keyword tactics likely to change in the future?

Maybe, but it is hard to believe so especially if we provide quality content that solves the problem or provides the information a search user is looking for. If we answer potential questions before the user discovers that they will need to know more, then they are likely to remain longer on our website.

Search Engine Optimization points may change, in that users may look for links to resources, links to further information, how to diagrams or video, sub-titles on our video content, language translations and generally even more content within each page.

However, these are more cosmetic rather than content changes and as we evolve our website moving forward these changes can give additional value without requiring complete rewrites to avoid suffering from algorithm upgrades. Quality content should remain the focus as we move into the 20’s.

The more we can do now to improve the experience of the user, the further ahead we will be in the race for future website authority.

Keywords will always remain as the wording that users type or speak into search when looking for information. For this reason alone I believe that they will always be important.

What do you think?