Anyone who wants to increase their website traffic and therefore their visibility knows thatyou have to choose your keywords well to appear in the first results on search engines such as Google, Ecosia, Bing, etc. But how do you go about generating maximum qualified traffic from your keywords?
In this article we give you 10 tips on how to choose the best SEO keywords which is the basis of your SEO strategy.
1. Respond to search intent with the best SEO keywords
Since your ultimate goal is to attract your future customers to your website, it is obviously important to consider the terms they might type into the search bar to position yourself on the best SEO keywords.
First and foremost, you need to have your persona well defined in order to bring the right information to the right person and generate the the highest possible quality of trafficIt is the one who will convert on your website.
You must therefore, first of all, put yourself in your client's shoes and ask yourself:
- "What is he looking for on search engines?"
- "What are the specific terms it will enter in the search bar?"
- "What are the answers he wants to get in the search results?"
Often we have preconceived ideas in choosing our best SEO keywords. It is very useful to take a step back and ask other people what they would have used as keywords to search for your services or products.
One would be surprised to find that the terms used are not the ones we thought.
L'research intention is therefore an essential element to take into account in your SEO strategy: think about who you want to reach and where you want to guide them (service, specific topic, solution to a problem you can provide, etc.).
The Internet user expects to find a precise answer to a question or problem they have. When you have keywords in mind, consider looking at the search engine results to see what type of content is being promoted and how the issue is being addressed.
To find out, it's simple, just type your selected keyword into the search engine and analyse the type of content which stands out on the front page and from what angle the issue has been addressed.
- The type of content can be an image, a video, an article, etc.
- The angle is either a blog post, a tutorial, a comparison, etc.
2. Look at what your competitors are doing on Google
Analysing what your competitors are doing is a good way to see what is already working in your sector, keywords for which there is already a lot of competition or for which there is little competition, etc.
Studying your competitors allows you to :
- Analyse the SEO keywords used in the title tags and textual content of your competitors.
- to see the topics covered and gives you ideas for content
- get inspiration for SEO keyword synonyms to use
To facilitate your analysis, you can use tools such as Google Keyword Planner, Branalyzer or even SEMrush.
3. Am I able to compete on these SEO keywords?
Let's be optimistic, it is still possible to compete with your competitors on all the SEO keywords but we won't hide from you that depending on the competition it can still be an arduous or even impossible task
Choosing the right keyword also means taking into account the competition for the keyword and the monthly search volume. Also take into account that there are seasonal variations for certain keywords and that search volumes can therefore increase or decrease significantly from one month to the next. The higher the competition, the more difficult it will be to rank for your selected keyword.
To help you find the best SEO keywords, there are plenty of tools on Google including free SEO keyword generators:
Be careful about writing your content once you have your list of defined keywords There is no point in repeating your keyword too often!
Worse, it is even sanctioned by Google and this method can have a negative effect on your natural referencing. So just because you mention your best SEO keywords all over your page doesn't mean you'll be ahead of the competition in the search results!
A misuse of a keyword can be perceived by the search engine as keyword stuffing. This was a very common practice at the time but is now counterproductive as it is punished by Google.
Your keywords on a page of your website can be used several times and the optimal quantity is defined on the basis of a ratio between the number of appearances of the keyword and the number of words on the page. So there is no fixed maximum, it all depends on the size of your content.
To avoid redundancy in the use of your keyword, consider using a varied vocabulary by using synonyms of your main keyword and to alternate in their use.
And finally, to position yourself well against your competitors, you simply have to put into practice all the points mentioned in this article and more, call one of our experts.
4. Assess the potential traffic for each keyword
To choose the right keyword, you must analyse potential traffic of each keyword on search engines. This is quite easy to do thanks to tools available free of charge on the web.
To find out the search volume for the keyword you have selected, simply enter it in the Keyword Planner and start the search.
Aiming for keywords with a high search volume is obviously interesting to potentially generate a lot of traffic but it does have its drawbacks. These terms often have a significant competition and it is therefore difficult to rank on the first page. In addition, it may generate a lot of traffic but the relevance of visitors may be limited, so your traffic is generally less qualified.
In many cases, it is therefore more interesting to position yourself on a keyword that generates less search volume but more targeted research. This is exactly what we will see in the next point.
5. The best SEO keywords: the long tail
To define a list of the best SEO keywords and to position yourself in the first positions on search engines, it is strongly recommended to work on long tail keywords.
So think in the stage of defining your keywords ofgo from the most global to the most precise. What does this mean? To simplify, we can say, for example, that a keyword with three words is more precise than a keyword with only one word.
There are therefore several types of keywords:
- Front-end keywords: they are highly sought after and there is a lot of competition. Example: "Smartphone".
- Intermediate keywords: they are moderately searched and there is medium competition. Example: "light smartphone".
- Long tail keywords: they are not very popular and there is little competition. Example: "Smartphone light 6 inch screen".
As you can see, long tail keywords are much more specific and even if they have less search volume, they allow you to reach a target with a higher more precise search and therefore a real interest in your product or service. In other words, you have a better chance of meeting a user's need and therefore of converting.
We therefore recommend that you vary the use of different keywords : front-end keywords, intermediate keywords, long tail keywords.
Focusing only on front-end keywords may not generate much results because it is very complicated to position yourself. So don't forget to add your long tail keywords to your SEO strategy.
6. Choose the main SEO keywords
In your natural referencing strategy and therefore in the choice of your SEO keywords, you must take one thing into account: one main keyword per page.
This is the basic rule in SEO. Next, you define secondary keywords that will complete your keyword list. The main keyword, also called "fokus keyword"This is why it is important that the content of your web page is taken into account, as well as all the elements mentioned in this article.
Take into account that it is preferable that the main keyword of a page is used only once on the whole website (this is not the case for secondary keywords which can be reused).
This confirms the importance of choosing the right main keyword and selecting a specific keyword to avoid using it twice on your website.
7. Choose secondary keywords
Defining secondary keywords makes it possible to specify to the search engine the subjects covered and to strengthen your main keyword. It is important to identify several secondary keywords on your website to strengthen your natural referencing.
As you have set up a list of keywords, you only need to take this list and add the other keywords mentioned on it.
Often when you are on a CMS such as WordPress or Wix you have access to SEO plugins that just identify the main keyword in the free version!
8. Does Google understand your keyword?
Pay attention to multiple meanings of your keyword. Google may misunderstand the meaning of your keyword if it has more than one.
Again, the more information you give to Google, the more you limit the risk of this happening. Again, this demonstrates the importance of long tail keywords or the use of synonyms where necessary.
By default, when you are unsure whether your keyword is understood by the search engines, consider adapting it.
9. Top 3 free tools to analyse keywords and their competition
There are of course many tools available to guide you in your SEO strategy: competitor analysis, keyword analysis, backlink analysis, etc.
Most of them, when you want to access the full range of functions, become chargeable but you can find here 3 free tools to analyse SEO keyword competition:
Google Keyword Planner
A tool that you can find on Google Ads and which includes figures such as search volume, trends, CPC, etc.
Google Trends
Google's tool for targeting trends on the search engine
Keyword Surfer
Free Google Chrome extension that shows estimated global and monthly search volumes and lots of other information
10. Analyse your SEO results
Adopting an SEO strategy and taking the plunge into the best SEO keywords is good, analysing the results obtained afterwards is much better!
Getting into SEO without doing continuous analysis is not very useful and can almost be a waste of time.
SEO as a whole and in this case the most searched words on Google are constantly evolving and your analysis allows you toidentify trends negative or positive positioning of your website.
There are several free tools available to analyse your situation and help you make decisions that enhance your visibility.
For example, you can use Google Analytics to analyse the incoming traffic and its sources and to have more details about the path and actions taken by the Internet users according to this same source.
And the Google Search Console is also proving to be an interesting platform for identifying the terms used by Internet users that generate impressions in search results.
These two tools allow you to better understand search intent and adapt your SEO strategy to position yourself on the best SEO keywords.
Analysis with these tools requires a certain expertise. Indeed, there are plenty of figures and information available but you still need to know what to analyse in order to implement actions that will have a positive impact on your visibility. This is why we have put at your disposal powerful analysis tools that allow you to quickly analyse your situation and take the best possible decisions. Discover here our GA4 Analysis tool or our Google Ads analysis tool.
