Content
Keywords Don't Matter Anymore? How to Choose Keywords for SEO that Really Work
November 14, 2024
7 min.
In August 2024, Google issued its most recent Core Algorithm update. According to the Search Engine Journal, Google now prioritizes the following criteria to understand search intent better and deliver more relevant results:
🔴 Past search behavior
🔴 Location
🔴 The freshness of user queries resonating with recent events and time-sensitive information
The right SEO keyword selection is the core of an effective SEO strategy. It determines how your website will rank in organic and paid search results. While targeting the most popular search queries seems easy, the approach often turns out costly and ineffective, especially in highly competitive niches.
A strategic ‘smart’ approach to selecting keywords for SEO will help you attract the right customers without overspending.
In today’s SEO blog post, Promodo marketers are answering one of the most crucial questions in the digital marketing landscape: “How to choose keywords for SEO?”
As part of your SEO promotion, a deeper comprehension of search queries will help you set an effective keyword budget. Here are the main types of search queries. Understanding search queries will help you determine the funnel stages where your potential customers best resonate with your offers.
General queries entail broad terms like “air conditioner” or “cars” users seek without a definite purchasing intent. While some users may buy a product or service from you, the overwhelming majority is merely gathering information. General query keywords are highly competitive and the cost to rank for these terms is high.
Informational queries intend to gather more information about a product or service: “car maintenance cost" or "how to apply for a mortgage". These queries aren’t necessarily aimed at making a purchase but can be valuable for nurturing future sales. They signal search engines that your site is relevant for a user intent.
Specific queries focus on and often contain specific details like location or product features: “cheap truck with low mileage” or “hotel in Barcelona.” Users who are typing specific queries are much closer to making a purchase.
Hot queries are highly transactional. They indicate a user’s intent to purchase: "buy air conditioner price delivery." While the competition for hot queries is steep, the odds for conversion are also high.
Competitors search: users searching for a competitor’s name are often interested in similar products or services like yours. If you’re in the same niche, targeting these queries will help you attract customers who are already aware of similar products or services provided by your competitors.
Misprints: oftentimes users make spelling mistakes when searching. These types of queries are often overlooked, but if your website appears in the search results for a misprinted term, you stand sound chances to capture this traffic with minimum competition.
Search intent refers to the reason behind a user's query. Are they looking for information (informational intent), comparing products (commercial intent), or ready to make a purchase (transactional intent)?
By matching the keywords to your audience’s intent, you’ll craft content that best meets their needs at each stage of the marketing funnel. And this is the surest way to attract qualified traffic cost-effectively.
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There are three types of search results:
To achieve optimal cost-effective results, it is crucial to split your keyword focus across different types of queries.
A well-balanced approach will let you embrace a wide range of queries, including those that may be cheaper and less competitive: informational, specific, and misprints. With that, you’ll still target high-conversion keywords: hot and competitor queries.
The cost of targeting these queries varies significantly:
If you want to maximize sales quickly on an affordable budget, focus on general and hot queries. However, if you're looking to optimize spending, be sure to prioritize specific, informational, and competitor-related queries to achieve higher cost efficiency.
By selecting and allocating the right keywords, you’ll improve your website’s SEO performance by:
🔴 Optimizing your budget
🔴 Attracting the right visitors
🔴 Maximizing ROI.
The harsh SEO truth is that it is far more important to understand how much space you occupy in search engine research pages (SERPs) than to rank for particular keywords. Rather than prioritizing individual rankings, do your best to appear in the eligible result types as far as possible.
Betting solely on high-volume keywords is risky, to say the least. Competition for these keywords is fierce, and if your page drops in ranking, you risk losing all organic traffic. Instead, aim to rank for a broader set of related keywords, even if individual search volumes are smaller. A page ranking for multiple related queries (even with low volume) will bring you more traffic eventually.
While identifying the most relevant keywords that align with your target audience's search intent, it is essential to utilize the Traffic Potential (TP) provided by Ahrefs alongside other key metrics such as search volume and keyword difficulty (KD). TP is often overlooked but serves as a critical indicator of the amount of traffic a specific keyword might generate. For instance, a keyword with a volume of 40 and a KD of 0-1 suggests minimal traffic potential, making it less viable for targeting. Traffic potential represents the combined organic traffic that the top-ranking page accrues from all the keywords it ranks for. This metric is superior to search volume alone because it accounts for the actual volume of traffic directed to a page, rather than merely the number of searches for a subject. Mariana Hlodan, Content SEO Expert at Promodo
Choose a primary keyword that aligns with your content and addresses user intent. This keyword should be central to your page and pivotal for your content strategy. Bet on the keywords based on SEO difficulty and your strategic business goals, and use them to structure your site's topic clusters or blog content.
Expand your keyword list by identifying secondary keywords—synonyms or related terms. This will improve your chances of ranking for a variety of associated searches. In this pursuit, leverage the following methods:
🔴 Google’s related searches
🔴 Competitor analysis (titles, meta tags, headers)
🔴 Tools like SEMRush, Ubersuggest, or Ranxplorer.
Long-tail keywords are longer, more specific phrases with lower search volume but higher conversion potential. Use them to attract your target audience. These keywords often have unique phrasing, so get creative and get into your customer’s shoes while brainstorming.
Understanding search engine keywords selection is pivotal. Make sure that the keywords you’ve selected match the search intent comprehensive to Google. For example, the keyword "plumbing" can refer to various topics - plumbers, supplies, or history - so make sure this keyword aligns with the strategic focus of your content. To gauge intent, search the keyword on Google and check if the top results match your goals.
To choose and prioritize SEO keywords effectively:
🔴 Consider a mix of primary, secondary, and long-tail keywords.
🔴 Ensure the keyword matches user intent and the competition is winnable.
🔴 Use keyword research tools to refine your strategy and identify opportunities to stand out in your niche.
Explore what is ranking best for your major topic and related queries. Enhance your content with these expert tips:
Choosing keywords for SEO is a cornerstone behind a successful strategy. Your keyword choices shape the direction of your content and the way you engage with your audience - all part of a broader strategy for driving organic traffic. While the process may seem daunting, especially for those new to SEO, it doesn’t have to be overwhelming.
Effective keyword research is about more than just finding popular search terms. It's a detailed, ongoing process that requires a thoughtful analysis of search volume, competition, and user intent. And it’s not a one-time solution. Take it as your persistent SEO effort that will directly impact how well your content ranks in search results.
We’ll now explain four key techniques to help you make smart, informed keyword choices. So, how to pick keywords for SEO?
The first step in picking keywords for SEO is choosing terms that genuinely represent your business and the core message you want to convey. Think about the words that best capture your prime offers and the topics you want to be associated with. The more you niche down here, the better.
Start with brainstorming a wide range of keywords related to your niche. Avoid overly technical jargon. With this primary list, arrange your keywords into clusters that will help you group related terms. This will help you structure your content effectively and cover all relevant aspects of your business.
Deploy an Excel sheet or one of the available keyword research tools like Ahrefs to organize and analyze your keywords further.
Understanding your audience is crucial. This is where understanding search intent becomes essential.
Your keyword choices should align with how your potential customers search for information:
🔴 What are their needs and concerns?
🔴 What questions are they asking?
🔴 What solutions are they seeking?
Use the same language your audience speaks while communicating with you, whether through customer support, social media, or feedback forms. Add these keywords to your list and refine your content to address their specific queries.
You may still wonder how to pick good keywords for SEO, right? Once you’ve understood what your audience is looking for, you need to consider what search engines expect from content targeting those keywords. Search each keyword on Google and analyze the types of results that appear on the first page. Are they blog posts, product pages, informational guides, or something else?
By categorizing your keywords this way, you’ll make sure that your content is in line with what search engines are rewarding.
This strategic approach in choosing the right keywords for SEO will boost your chances of ranking higher in SERPs:
🔴 It is vital to realize your worth for search engine pages
🔴 Google prioritizes the best possible answers to user queries
🔴 Google relies on the E-E-A-T to understand the authority of the content provider
Once you have a list of keywords that resonate with your audience and meet search engine expectations, it’s time to assess the level of competition. Analyze how your competitors rank for the keywords you’re targeting. Use super effective keyword research tools like Google Keyword Planner, Semrush, or Ahrefs among others to identify keyword competition.
While high-competition keywords can be tempting, they may not always be your best targets - especially for new or smaller websites. Focus on long-tail keywords, i.e. more specific, less competitive phrases, where you stand a better chance of ranking. Broad terms, like "car," for example, tend to have too much competition with a high cost-per-click (CPC) for paid ads.
As you assess keyword competition, you may discover new keyword opportunities you haven’t yet considered.
Choosing SEO keywords is a critical SEO aspect far beyond search volume. While many marketers focus on finding high-search-volume keywords, it's essential to consider how search engines interpret those keywords and the competition involved.
To rank for a keyword, assess the competition's authority. Google favors well-established, authoritative sites like Wikipedia and Amazon. We highly advise targeting the keywords with manageable competition, especially if you’re a smaller site. Use proven tools like MajesticSEO, Semrush, or Ahrefs to gauge keyword difficulty and competition levels.
With so much explained on how to choose keywords for your website, a potential impact on organic search depends on the right keyword strategy you’ll follow. Overall, general keywords with a broader intent are more difficult to rank for. Therefore, we advise prioritizing more targeted longer-tail keywords.
Key Takeaway: Instead of ranking for individual keywords and driving more traffic, rank for relevant topics with a high potential of driving qualified traffic. Effective SEO is about understanding how search engines interpret those terms and how they match the search intent behind user queries.
With our expert keyword advice on how to decide keywords for SEO, you should now have a refined list of keywords relevant to your audience and optimized for search engines. But your homework does not end here. Choose keywords for SEO by monitoring your keywords continuously, tracking your rankings, and shaping your strategy to keep up with the competition.
Content Marketing Manager at Promodo
Taras has 16 years of hands-on copywriting experience overseas with 3000+ unique copies.
Accredited with Certificate of Proficiency in English (C2 level) by Cambridge University. Studied at Writing Launch Academy (United States) and owns an Academic Writing Certificate from Oregon University. Author of 12 dictionaries with Apriori Publishers.
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