To position and reference your showcase website or online store in search engines, you need to work on your natural referencing (SEO).
Implementing an SEO strategy for the growth of your business is a very good long-term investment that will cost you much less than Google or Facebook advertising. Not to mention that 53% of total website traffic comes from organic search.
Of course, you won’t see results immediately after publishing your article, but with patience, you will be able to position yourself on the first pages for your keywords.
In this article, we will see how to choose your keywords wisely in order to position yourself on searched terms and avoid those that are too competitive.
We will start by reminding you of the basics of what keywords are, then give you tips for choosing them, and finally present you with tools that you can use to help you.
What is a good keyword?
In general, internet users use phrases to explain their searches and often ask questions. In fact, 50% of searches on Google have 4 words.
This means that in reality, you are not looking for a single keyword but rather for a phrase.
For your keywords to be effective, they must:
Be relevant to the content of your page and the search behavior of your customers. For example, if the keyword is “white chocolate”, the page in question should be about white chocolate and not another topic.
Be searched for by internet users, ideally with words searched for at least 1000 times per month.
Be used by several competitors, as this means they work. Be careful not to choose highly competitive keywords. We will come back to this a little later in the article.
Be more specific with at least 3 words, for example: “make a successful white chocolate cake” instead of “chocolate cake”.
Before starting your list
Target and think about user experience.
Defining your target audience and understanding their needs will allow you to more easily create the important sections that your website should contain, and in turn, the keywords for each section. This initial work, which should not be neglected, will allow you to start your keyword list.
Define your strengths, weaknesses, and points of differentiation compared to your competitors.
Next, begin to define your business. You can start by writing the most complete definition, and then create a simplified version, so that only one sentence remains. This summary represents the core of your structure, it summarizes what it does and its identity.
How to create a high-quality list of keywords?
List your competitors and do a little analysis.
Don’t hesitate to make a long list, you can sort it out later based on the topics that interest you. You can easily find your competitors by typing the main keyword of your business on Google, YouTube, or social media platforms like Instagram.
Then analyze their keywords using one of the tools shared below. You can choose the keywords on which they are ranked on the fourth or fifth page to give yourself the best chance.
We also recommend analyzing the most visited pages of their websites. This will allow you to refine your search or note new ideas for your business and communication.
Put yourself in your customers’ shoes and try to imagine the keywords they might search for.
Ask your circle to make a list of words they might use if they were looking for a professional in your field of activity.
At this stage, you probably have a long list. Now is the time to sort it into broad categories.
Define a list of 20 to 30 keywords that describe your activity as accurately as possible.
Keep your list handy and update it whenever you think of a new word.
Keep in mind that technical terms are used by professionals in the field. If your target audience is individuals, simplify your keywords as much as possible.
Remember that a moderately or low competitive keyword with good search volume is always better when you start.
Finally, always use only one main keyword per page and avoid using the same word for all pages of your site.
Tools that can help you
The Google search tool
By entering the beginning of your keyword, Google suggests several other keywords searched in the same topic.
You can also check the related searches available at the bottom of a Google search page. The number of results announced by Google can be an indicator of the keyword’s relevance.
Google Keyword Planner
Keyword Planner is a must-have tool for SEO and SEA, it is a very powerful and free tool developed by Google itself.
It allows you to:
Have ideas for associated keywords and performance indicators.
Filter your searches by language, geographic location, date, etc.
Obtain the monthly search volume of the keyword.
Determine the level of competition.
Obtain forecasts for your campaigns.
Identify the devices used for the searches (PC, mobile, or tablet).
Google Trends
Google Trends is a free tool that provides you with the search volumes for a keyword chronologically, based on a geographic area, and gives you other related queries.
It allows you to:
Analyze search trends by visualizing the evolution of searches for specific keywords over time.
Identify popular keywords.
Perform geographic analysis by visualizing search trends for specific keywords or topics in different regions or countries.
Compare the popularity of several terms.
Ubersuggest
It’s a free tool with a clear and readable interface. It is based on Google Keyword Planner and Google’s suggestions in its searches.
Ubersuggest allows you to:
Generate short and relevant keywords as well as long-tail phrases.
Optimize the SEO of your content.
View the monthly search volume, estimated competition for paid and organic search, and its cost per click.
Access important information such as:
monthly search volume for a keyword,
cost per click,
level of competition, etc…
The tool also offers a free extension for Chrome and Firefox browsers called “Keywords Everywhere.”
Semrush
This is one of the most used tools by SEO agencies because it allows them to work on their positioning and keep an eye on the competition.
Semrush allows you to:
Audit your site.
Search for keywords.
Analyze the strategy of competitors and their rankings on specific keywords.
Track your ranking on a keyword.
Perform multilingual searches.
Analyze other metrics such as:
Organic traffic.
Paid search.
Number of backlinks.
Number of display ads, etc.
The tool offers three subscriptions:
Pro at $119.95/month for marketing beginners and small internal marketing teams.
Guru at $229.95/month for SMEs, expanding agencies, and marketing consultants.
Business at $449.95/month for large agencies and enterprises.
Ahrefs
The direct competitor of Semrush, which is also widely used among SEO professionals. It is more focused on competitor analysis and its greatest strength is its database of backlinks.
Ahrefs allows you to:
Monitor the competition, their content, keywords, traffic, etc…
Get new article ideas.
Create external links.
Identify sites that link to your website and those of your competitors.
The tool offers four subscriptions:
Lite at $99/month for 1 user with the ability to set up 5 websites.
Standard at $179/month for 1 user with the ability to set up 10 websites.
Advanced at $399/month for 3 users with the ability to set up 25 websites.
Agency at $999/month for 5 users with the ability to set up 100 websites.
AnswerThePublic
This tool has a free version with three searches per day and allows you to find keyword ideas based on the questions people ask on different topics. This can be particularly useful for SEO based on Q&A content.
The tool offers different subscription plans:
Lifetime for a one-time fee of $99 for lifetime use for one user with 100 searches per day.
Individual at $9 USD/month for one user with 100 searches per day.
Pro at $99/month for three users and unlimited searches.
Expert at $199/month for unlimited users and unlimited searches.
Keyword Tool
This free tool offers keyword suggestions based on Google Autocomplete. This means that it provides keyword ideas based on what people are searching for on Google.
To conclude,
Being visible online and establishing a presence with search engines to be visible to the right people takes work, time, and patience.
Our final advice, if your website is multilingual, you need to do this work for each language, as robots don’t speak any language! And update your content regularly, Google will appreciate your effort.
Now, it’s up to you to take action! You must use your keywords in your content, page titles, and page and image descriptions.
