How to Determine the Best Keywords for SEO

Whether you’re a marketing manager looking to expand your SEO know-how, or you’re a business owner wondering how to even begin with optimising your site, one of the fundamental elements of SEO is choosing the right keywords.

Determining the best keywords for SEO is a crucial step in improving your website’s visibility and attracting relevant traffic; here, we discuss how you can determine the best keywords to target on your site.

Understand Your Audience

The foundation of effective keyword research lies in understanding your target audience. You’ll need to build up a profile here to really get to know your ideal customer; ask yourself questions such as:

Who are they?
What problems do they want to solve?
What questions do they need answers to?

By empathising with your audience, you can start considering topics and terms they’re likely to search for.

Use Keyword Research Tools

Here at Northern Media, our keyword research tool of choice tends to be Semrush or Ahrefs, but there are others out there.

These tools provide insights into search volume, competition, and related keywords. They help you discover popular search queries and questions as well as identify long-tail keywords, which are often less competitive and more specific to your niche.

Don’t Underestimate Low or No Volume Keywords

When carrying out keyword research, a common assumption is that keywords with low or ‘no’ volume provide no value, but this couldn’t be further from the truth!

On many keyword research tools, ‘no volume’ simply means there are fewer than 10 searches a month for that particular phrase. However, chances are these keywords have significantly less competition when compared with more popular keywords, meaning it’ll be easier to rank in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) for those terms.

‘But Surely That Still Means Fewer People See My Site Which Is Bad, Right?’

Nope!

Long-tail keywords (which lower volume keywords are likely to be) are longer, more specific phrases that cater to a particular audience. For instance, instead of targeting “travel tips,” consider “budget travel tips for solo backpackers.” By focusing on these detailed phrases, you attract highly targeted visitors genuinely interested in your content or products.

Analyse Competitor Keywords

Your competitors can be a goldmine of keyword ideas; identify the keywords they rank for and assess their relevance to your business.

Semrush has a great tool for this called ‘keyword gap’ where you can see what keywords specific competitors are ranking for that you’re not.

This information can then be used to find unique angles and opportunities for your own site, through improving page targeting and optimisation.

Consider Search Intent

Understanding user intent is crucial. People search for information, products, or solutions and it’s important to align your keywords with these intents:

• Informational (seeking knowledge)

• Commercial (researching products)

• Transactional (ready to buy)

• Navigational (looking for a specific website)

Tailoring your content to match these intents makes for a huge leap towards improved engagement and conversions.

Create High-Quality, Optimised Content

Once you’ve selected your keywords, it’s time to incorporate them naturally into your content. Craft high-quality, informative, and engaging articles, blog posts, and on-site content ensuring the keywords flow seamlessly within the narrative.

But remember, you’ll need to regularly monitor your website’s performance using tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console. Track keyword rankings, user behaviour, and traffic. Analyse the data, learn from it, and adapt your strategy accordingly.

We hope this helped you understand the value of SEO!

Need more help with your strategy? Contact us or call 01924 367 105