Fahim Ahmed
Keywords are focus words that we use to describe a topic. When it comes to SEO, keywords are an important ranking factor. If used strategically, keywords can increase website traffic organically.
Google is the most popular search engine with over 87% total market share. 43,000 searches are performed in Google every second. Showing up on the top five search results is very important for any business or blog.
But featuring on the first page of Google is not an easy task. Especially when you are trying to rank for a competitive keyword. There are different types of keywords with each having distinctive quality. Choosing the right type of keywords can do the magic and increase your traffic drastically.
But before you start stuffing your content with keywords you have to understand what are keywords and the different types of keywords in SEO.
What Are Keywords In SEO
Keywords are focus words or phrases that people look up in the search engine to find relevant answers for their queries. In terms of SEO, keywords are also known as “buzzwords” as they are used in a particular context to find about a specific topic depending on search intent.
Searchers can use keywords on any search engine to look for any topic or product.
The purpose of a keyword is to help search engines better understand the material of a webpage so it can provide the searchers with the most relevant and best result possible based on the search query.
For example, when you make a Google search you probably use a certain word or words that are relevant to your subject to find what you are looking for. If I want to find information about the latest android phones that released in 2021 I will probably just type “latest android phones 2021” or “android phones 2021” instead of writing “show me the list of latest android phones that released in 2021”.
You can be more specific depending on what you are looking for. But most people usually use generic keywords on search engines to find results.
When you type in a keyword Google or any other search engine will present you with a list of web pages or websites that are relevant to your search query.
Keywords are an essential element of SEO. Understanding the types of keywords and how to use them properly is very important. Targeting the right kind of keyword can help you get a lot of free organic traffic. It is the easiest part of SEO and you don’t have to spend any money to do keyword research. You can spend a little time finding keywords and see great results. Sometimes a single keyword can lead to thousands of organic traffic.
How Keywords Can Be Helpful
Targeting the right keyword can help you generate organic traffic and rank high on search engines. Placing the right type of keywords strategically will bring a page to the first page of Google without having to worry about off-page SEO.
A lot of our content is ranking on top of Google search results without having a lot of backlinks. This is because we spend quite some time doing keyword research and placing these keywords strategically in the right places. Without adding the targeted keywords in your meta tags, alt tags, and title of your pages, it is impossible to rank high.
Just like your article, images are also very important for searches. Over 87% of web pages in Google have at least one image and 93% of these pages have featured images in them. Recent data shows that over 1 billion image searches are made every day on Google. Just by looking at Pinterest, you can understand the importance of Image search and how it can drive traffic to your site.
Pinterest is a search engine for Images and has over 100 million monthly active users. Adding relevant keywords in the alt tag and description of your image is as important as using them in your article. Alt tags are used to help the search engine understand the content of the image and its intent. It defines an image to the search engine and helps the search engine rank those images.
In short, keywords are the most important factors that determine the ranking of a page.
The Right Type Of Keywords
Choosing the right type of keywords is important for any business. You can see dramatic changes in your search traffic by targeting the right kind of keyword. Sometimes we have to use various types of keywords to attract different audiences at each stage of the funnel.
Keywords can help you reach a broader range of audiences and increase your traction by turning website visitors into customers or subscribers. An effective SEO strategy is based on focusing on the proper kinds of keywords. When you know the proper use of these keywords and can identify which types of keyword works best, it will help you drive the most traffic, qualified leads, and conversions for your brand.
Here in this post, we will discuss different types of keywords and how you can use them to increase conversion and drive organic traffic.
Targeting Keywords & Search Intent
The key phrases and terms associated with your industry or product are known as targeting keywords. It also helps understand the intent behind visitors’ searches.
Understanding the searchers’ intent can help you optimize your content accordingly to get better conversion and target the right audience.
Here are some targeting keyword based on searchers intent
- Branded keywords
- Product keywords
- Market segment keywords
- Geo-targeted keywords
- Competitor keywords
- Customer-defining keywords
1. Branded Keywords
Branded keywords are search phrases that include a brand’s name or other branded terms. These types of keywords contain only the brand name or the brand name combined with a product type, product name, or another descriptive search term.
Branded keywords are a bit different from generic search terms as the search intent isn’t quite clear. Users might be looking to buy a specific product or want to know information about it. Or they are just looking for price and want to compare it to another product of the same niche. People also use branded keywords to find technical support for a specific product or brand.
2. Product Keywords
Product keywords are used to look for a specific product or a category of product. These keywords are associated with specific brand offerings. Customers or searchers look for these keywords to reference a company’s products or services. Usually, searchers who look up on search engines with product keywords usually have buyer’s intent.
This means people who often search for these types of keywords usually have the intention to purchase a product. Brands or companies should have a specific keyword strategy for each of their products and services so customers and prospects can find their offerings through search engines easily.
3. Market Segment Keywords
Market segment keywords are broad terms connected with a certain industry or brand. These are keywords that a niche audience search on the internet to find a specific service or product looking for general information.
Market Segment Keywords are used for targeting a niche audience and for marketing purposes. These keywords are used after surveying the market and creating a segment of the audience. These keywords can help you identify what each unique group in your market wants.
4. Geo-targeted keywords
Geo-targeting keywords are used by brands and companies to target an audience within a specific location. It is a crucial part of local SEO. With geo-targeting, you can focus on a particular location and promote using these keywords locally.
Most people who make local business searches use geo-targeted keywords to look for products or services near them. These types of keywords are meant to increase the visibility of local businesses. You can also promote local content through geo-targeted keywords.
After the recent algorithm update, Google is prioritizing local businesses by dedicating a special section for “local businesses near you”. You can list your business on Google maps and Google my business and get yourself a special local business panel with all your important information.
5. Competitor keywords
Competitor keywords are certain words or phrases in your niche that your competitors are ranking for. You can use these keywords to outrank your competitors and stay ahead in the SEO game. These keywords are mostly brand names of competing businesses, products, or services. Competitor keywords usually drive the most traffic to your competing websites.
It is easier to do keyword research as you can easily find out the keywords other brands or companies in your niche are ranking for. All you have to do is target those keywords and optimize your site accordingly.
Competitor keywords can also help you better understand your audience. It makes it easier for businesses to make a good SEO strategy. This way website owners can focus on creating content that their audience finds interesting instead of researching keywords.
6. Customer-Defining Keywords
Customer-defined keywords are targeted towards a specific group of consumers. These search terms are used for targeting a certain segment of consumers. Customer-defining keywords are gender-specific or contain information about the physical attribute that they use to define themselves.
These types of keywords are used when customers are looking to buy something very specific. It helps the searcher narrow down the search results and only finds relevant information.
Customer-defining keywords make it easier for searchers to find the exact product or services they are looking for.
Keywords By Length
There are also some keywords that are ranked by length and difficulty. People often get confused by the search volume and target the wrong keywords. Keywords that have high search traffic also have high competition. This is why it is better to always focus on keywords that match the search intent. Instead of looking at the search volume, it is better to use keywords with low competition.
These types of keywords are easier to rank and bring in a reasonable amount of traffic without trying too hard. Sometimes a single keyword can do the magic and generate thousands of organic page views. Just like targeting keywords based on search intent, you can also target keywords by length.
Here are some types of keywords that you can target by length:
7. Short-tail keywords
8. Mid-tail keywords
9. Long-tail keywords
7. Short Tail Keywords
Short-tail keywords are often referred to as generic keywords. These are common words that are used to briefly introduce a subject but don’t tell anything specific about it. Most people use short-tail keywords unless they are looking for something specific or want more information about that subject. These search queries isolate a topic to help a user find relevant information rather than showing something explicit.
Short tail keywords usually have high volume search traffic as most people use “head keywords” as their first search attempt to find something. These keywords are often one or two words in length and are extremely difficult to rank for. Even if you have a high authority website, ranking for short-tail keywords is always difficult.
8. Mid-Tail Keywords
Mid-tail keywords fall between head keywords and long-tail keywords. These are medium-length keywords that have become a very important part of content marketing strategy. Mid-tail keywords are also referred to as ‘chunky keywords’, as they are neither short nor clarifying. These keywords somewhat reflect the search intent as they are a bit more explanatory than short-tail keywords.
Medium-length keywords are far less competitive than short-tail keywords but have moderate search volume as a lot of people use these types of phrases or terms to find results online. Most people with buyer’s intent usually use mid-tail keywords to find products online. Mid-tail keywords are a little less descriptive than long-tail keywords but show a specific result.
9. Long-Tail Keywords
Long-tail keywords are a bunch of words that are used to look for something very specific. These are more of a phrase or terms instead of a single word. Long-tail keywords are categorically targeted to a specific topic or audience. Unlike head keywords, long-tail keywords don’t have a high search volume. Some people might wonder why even try ranking for long-tail keywords when it doesn’t even produce high traffic to a website. A lot of people often ignore long-tail keywords and rather focus on mid-length keywords.
Long-tail keywords are considered the holy grail of keywords when it comes to SEO. People don’t realize that long-tail keywords are much easier to rank because of less competition and little interest. Long-tail keywords have greater conversion rates than “short-tail keywords” and “mid-tail keywords” as they are more explicit and aimed at a certain audience.
On-Site Content Keywords
On-site keywords are the type of keywords that are responsible for the ranking of your webpage. These keywords are used to describe the topic of a webpage and used to create content. On-site keywords are not the focus terms but are relevant to the primary keyword. These keywords are frequently used when writing a blog post or a landing page.
The best part about on-site keywords is that you don’t have to spend a lot of time doing keyword research. On-site keywords come naturally within your content and are used to complement your focus keyword.
There are two types of on-site content keywords:
10. Focus Keywords
11. LSI Keywords
10. Focus Keywords
Focus keywords are the primary keywords that you want your webpage to rank for. It is the main term that you target on a webpage and it appears frequently within your content. Every optimized webpage should have at least one primary keyword that will rank easily on Google and any other search engines.
Focus keywords make it easier for search engines to understand the topic and rank the page accordingly. Each page should have a focus keyword and should send a clear signal to search engines that the content is relevant to it. Focus keywords appear naturally throughout the blog post and should be mentioned within the titles and alt tags. Focus keywords should also be presenting the meta tag.
11. LSI Keywords
LSI keywords (Latent Semantic Indexing) are the secondary keywords on your web pages that describe the overall topic. These keywords are conceptually related terms and are relevant to the primary keyword. Google and other search engines use LSI keywords to fully understand the subject of a webpage and rank them accordingly.
Choosing the proper LSI keywords can help you rank your content faster. LSI keywords usually appear naturally throughout a blog post. If you have a post with over 1000 words you are probably using some LSI keywords. Synonyms of your primary keywords or keyphrases are also considered LSI keywords.
Keywords For Google Ads
There are certain types of keywords that we use to drive traffic to our website through Google ads. People use these keywords to create targeted ad campaigns that can improve the conversion rate and attract more website visitors.
Keywords that are used in Google ads are quite competitive as many people bids on these keywords. Choosing the right keywords can improve the ‘”click through rate” and lower your “cost per click”. The right keywords can cut down your advertising cost drastically and help you reach out to more people without spending a fortune.
Keywords For Google Ads Includes:
12. Exact match keywords
13. Broad match keywords
14. High CPC keywords
15. Phrase Match keywords
16. Negative keywords
12. Exact Match Keywords
Exact match keywords are a specific ‘term’ or phrase that someone target in a Google Ads search campaign. Using exact match keywords you can reach out to potential customers who are searching for the exact keyword that you’re bidding on or close variants of that keyword.
When you create your ad campaign in Google or Bing you have the option to choose a keyword that you want to bid on. Your webpage will show up on search results when a user looks for the exact keyword or terms that are extremely closely related to the exact match keyword.
Misspellings, single or plural forms, stemming, abbreviations, reordered words, paraphrases, or closely comparable terms with the same search intent as the exact match keyword fulfill this requirement.
13. Broad Match Keywords
In a Google Ads search campaign, a broad match keyword is a search phrase that you target. Broad match keywords can assist Google in determining which search phrases your advertising can match against. This type of keyword allows you to reach out to a large audience as it shows search results that are relevant to your keyword.
When a phrase is designated as a wide match keyword, Google is instructed to display your ad for any search that contains a variant of that phrase. If someone searches for a comparable phrase, single or plural form, misspelling, stemming, synonym, or another related variant of the broad match keyword, the ad will appear.
14. High CPC keywords
There are some keywords that are more expensive than others. These are mostly competitive keywords that are difficult to rank. Big brands and corporations bid a lot of money to target those keywords as the conversion rate is much higher. Branded keywords and long-tail keywords usually have a high cost per click. High CPC keywords deal primarily with financing and industries that manage vast sums of money.
15. Phrase Match keywords
In a Google Ads search campaign, a phrase match keyword is a specific search phrase that you target to show up on top of search results. When a term is designated as a phrase match keyword, Google is instructed to display your ad only if a search query contains the exact phrase. The search query may have words that come before or after the phrase or the phrase may be shuffled, but the exact phrase and the words in it must be included in the search for it to show to searchers.
16. Negative keywords
Negative keywords are phrases or search terms that you purposely remove from Google Ads search campaigns. They are versions of a wide match, phrase match, and exact match keywords that you instruct Google to exclude from your campaign. Terms that are most relevant to the primary keyword but don’t closely relate to the ad copy or the intention of search are usually set as negative keywords. These keywords may be semantically related, but they don’t connect with the ad concept.
Buyer Keywords
There are few keywords that searchers use when they are looking to buy a product or service. These type of keywords are known as buyer keywords as it clearly reflects the search intent. Buyer keywords are classified based on where a searcher is in the purchasing stage of the funnel. Each buyer term indicates a unique form of search intent.
There are three types of buyer keywords:
17. Informational keywords
18. Navigational keywords
19. Transactional keywords
17. Informational Keywords
Informational keywords are generic terms that users search for when they want to find general information about a topic or product. This is the initial stage of the sales funnel. Most searchers do this product inquiry before making a purchase as they want to know about the product or service beforehand. These keywords are used for finding solutions to a problem. Terms such as “what” “top” “best” can be considered informational keywords.
18. Navigational Keywords
Navigational keywords, often known as “go” keywords, are terms that customers look for when they want to visit a website for a certain brand. Users use navigational keywords when they are unsure about the product or looking for similar products from different brands. When users are in the consideration stage of the purchasing funnel, they frequently utilize navigational keywords. They are looking at several companies to see which one provides the best product or services.
19. Transactional keywords
Transactional keywords, often known as “do” keywords, are terms that people look for when they are ready to make a purchase. When users are at the conversion stage of the sales funnel, they employ transactional keywords. They already know what they want to buy, and they utilize highly specific buying terms to assist them to identify the best deals and brands.
Conclusion
Knowing the different types of keywords is very essential to create a more strategic marketing plan. There is no single best keyword for you to use. Each type of keyword has its own purpose and when used properly it can be very effective in terms of marketing. When you all the different types of keywords, you can find the best option to use and help you connect with your target audience, drive search traffic, and increase your conversion rate.
