How to Select the Perfect SEO Keywords?

Nowadays, the best way to develop a business is through search engine optimization (SEO), the process of making changes to increase a website’s possibility of being ranked for relevant searches within Google & other search engines.

Keywords are an important element of the SEO strategy, optimizing your website for specific ones gives you the power to control which searches you rank for. Thus adjusting your keyword dissemination provides you the ability to change your campaign over time.

To be successful, you must start by selecting the right keywords. Over time, you will gather data that helps you decide which of your keywords are most successful & which ones require more work. But how do you select the perfect initial set of keywords?

Following are some points that can help you to select the perfect SEO keywords:

Understand & Set Your Overall Objectives:

Before making a decision which keywords are perfect for your website or brand, you should spend some time thinking about what your SEO objectives are. Presently, the majority of companies are using SEO to enhance website traffic, which in turn, increase revenue, but you will need to be more specific than that.

For example:

• How quickly do you want to see results? SEO is a long-term strategy, so it sometimes takes months before you begin seeing results. If you want faster results than that, you will need to select higher-volume & lower-competition keywords.
• What types of web traffic are you seeking? Do you want people to buy your products, or are you focusing for now on brand or website awareness?
• How appropriate does your audience need to be? Are you laser-focused on one particular audience, or flexible with the types of people you have come to the website?

Decide on a blend of head & long-tail keywords:

Once you know your objectives, you should be able at least to decide on a balance between head keywords & long-tail keywords. Long-tail keywords are longer, generally conversational phrases that have lower traffic but lower competition. Head keywords are short phrases, typically one-to-three words, associated with higher traffic but also higher competition.

Long-tail keywords are helpful for short-term, fast results-centric strategies, while head keywords are useful for long-term, traffic-centric strategies. For overall best results, you will need both, in some combination.

Conduct your preliminary research:

Once you have first vision & objectives in mind, you can work on your preliminary research:

• Come up with root ideas: Begin by sketching out some ideas for what people may search for related to your business. You do not need to be exhaustive here, but try to arise with at least some broad categories of searches & both long-tail & head keywords they may use to find you.
• Make use of keyword & topic tools: You should use an online tool that will help you come up with more keyword & topic ideas, based on some of your preliminary ideas.
• Create a master list: Export all the keywords you can into a master spreadsheet, so you can speedily compare them & sort by different fields.

Narrow down the list:

Once you have got a master list built, you can begin weeding out the weakest candidates. Take a look at the following variables with a special focus:

• Volume: Search volume refers to how many times a particular phrase is searched for. It is a useful way to guess how much traffic you will receive from a particular query, though you must know that volume tends to fluctuate over time.
• Competition: Look at the level of competition for every keyword. It is not the coincidence that the highest-volume keywords also tend to have the highest amount of competition. Of course, the higher the competition, the difficult it is going to be to rank for that keyword. You will need to strike a balance between the two.
• Relevance: You must consider the relevance of every keyword to your core brand. Sure, it may have high traffic & low competition, but will it actually be forwarding the type of traffic your website needs?
• Current rankings: It’s worth checking to see if you currently rank for any of these terms. If you do, that may help you build early momentum.

Your first blend of keywords is not going to be perfect, but it will give you a solid baseline you can use to increase your level of traffic even further. Pay close attention to how your results develop over time & do not be afraid to make changes when you need to.