How to Determine Your Business’ Keywords

Determining Your Keywords For Your Business

Google is constantly changing the algorithm used to give you the most relevant results possible when you type something into their search bar. This is great for consumers but can be difficult for websites.

One constant throughout all of these changes is the importance of properly-targeted keywords.

You’ll hear that cramming these keywords into your website copy isn’t actually going to be beneficial for your SEO. This is true, to an extent.

Ten years ago, it was a common practice to simply pepper every paragraph with keywords with no regard to the readability of the content. This put up the signposts for search engines to follow but made the user’s experience much worse.

This has changed. Google doesn’t value the actual number of times keywords are included in your content. The focus has instead switched to the quality of that content.

So does that make keywords irrelevant and outdated?

No.

Researching keywords will help you learn the questions your audience are looking to answer. This allows you to tailor your content toward those topics, which gains the attention of search engines.

The ways in which keywords are used has changed, but that doesn’t make them any less important to strategic internet marketing.

6 tips to determine useful keywords for your business:

1. Put Yourself in Your Customer’s Shoes
2. Brainstorm Topics Relating to Your Services
3. Use Keyword Research Tools
4. Do Competitor Research
5. Consider User Intent
6. Work With a Professional

Put Yourself in Your Customer’s Shoes

The ultimate goal for your website is to attract potential customers. You should structure your content in a way that offers value to your target audience.

The first step is to try to think like your customers. What will they search when they are looking for your product or service? Specifically, what will they type into the search bar?

One way to do this is to search for your general industry. Scroll to the bottom of the search results page to the “related searches” section. Use these related searches to expand your thinking on potential keywords.

Brainstorm Topics Relating to Your Services

Try categorizing your products or services.

For example, JLB is a local expert at all things related to internet marketing in Nashville and surrounding areas. We might start by branching out to the different sections of internet marketing:

• SEO
• Google Ads
• Inbound Marketing
• Web Design

These are only a few categories, but they can be further fleshed out within themselves.

To continue with the example, “web design” can be focused on terms such as:

• Web Design Company
• Website Builder
• Nashville Web Design Companies
• Brentwood Web Design

Visit JLB to learn more about internet marketing services in and around the Nashville, TN area!

Use Keyword Research Tools

There are plenty of available tools that can not only do this work for you but provide you even more concrete metrics on your selected terms.

SEMrush is one of our favorite tools that provides a long list of useful features. One such tool is their Keyword Magic Tool.

Simply type a broad term such as “internet marketing” into the search bar and wait for your results.

This will provide you with a list of potential keywords as well as some useful metrics:

• Average monthly searches
• How difficult it is to rank for it
• The number of URLs that display when that keyword is searched
• And more

Do Competitor Research

Compare your list of keywords versus the keywords for which your competitors are ranking. This lets you know which keywords are bringing them success.

Your services might not be the exact same, which means you don’t have to use the same keywords as them. However, it can provide a useful list of keywords already known to be effective.

It also shows you any keywords your competitors might not be ranking so well for. This is an opportunity for you to fill in that gap.

SEMrush’s Organic Research tool allows you to simply type in a web domain and see how they rank for a variety of keywords.

Consider User Intent

User intent has become more important as search engines have started using keywords less in their rankings.

You need to be clear about the service or information you are offering to a potential searcher. Ranking well for a keyword that doesn’t actually relate to your website will not only fail to gather leads, it will actually lessen the overall performance of your website on search results.

One of the ways this is measured is by the Bounce Rate. This is the tendency for a person to enter your website and exit without clicking off the original entrance page. This is taken as an indication that your content did not address their needs.

Don’t target keywords because they have a low associated difficulty. Direct your efforts toward attracting visitors that will not only benefit from your content but will provide a benefit to your website metrics.

Work With a Professional Agency

The best way to ensure your keyword and overall internet marketing strategy is correctly tailored to your business is to work with a professional web designer and digital marketing agency.

JLB works with businesses and websites through the middle Tennessee area and beyond to maximize their online presence.

Contact JLB today!