Most people think of keywords as the words or phrases that they type into a search engine to find what they’re looking for. And while that’s certainly one use for them, keywords can be used in all sorts of other ways to help your business succeed online. In this article, we’ll discuss what keywords are and how you can use them to improve your online marketing efforts.
What are keywords for?
Keywords are simply the words or phrases that describe what you do or what you sell. For example, if you sell hand-crafted wooden toys, some of the keywords you might use to describe your business would be “hand-crafted,” “wooden,” and “toys.” You can use these same keywords on your website, in your social media profiles, in your email marketing, and even in paid advertising campaigns. The more relevant keywords you use, the more likely people are to find your business when they’re searching for what you have to offer.
Of course, simply using relevant keywords isn’t enough to guarantee success. You also need to make sure that you’re targeting the right keywords. That’s where a tool like Long Tail Pro comes in. Long Tail Pro is a keyword research tool that helps you find profitable keywords to target. It provides detailed data on each keyword, including monthly search volume, competition level, and more. This information can help you make informed decisions about which keywords to target in your marketing campaigns.
The key feature of the tool is that it provides a selection of “long tail keywords” to review. These are keywords that are highly specific and tend to have less competition. They’re also the kinds of keywords that people are more likely to use when they’re further along in the buying cycle. For example, someone who’s just beginning their search for a new toy might type “toys” into a search engine. But someone who’s ready to buy might type “hand-crafted wooden toys.”
Long tail keywords are often more profitable than more general keywords because they’re less competitive and more likely to result in a sale. With Long Tail Pro, you can quickly and easily find profitable long tail keywords to target in your marketing campaigns. Simply enter a seed keyword into the software and let it generate a list of keywords for you to review. Then, use the data provided by Long Tail Pro to make informed decisions about which keywords to target in your marketing efforts.
Other tools are available to help you research which keywords you should use, including Google’s own keyword planner, Neil Patel’s Ubersuggest, and many more. The difference with LTP is that is it specifically designed to find long tail keywords.
Competition for Keywords
Why are long tail keywords so important? While buyer intent is one aspect, it all boils down to competition. For a generic keyword (“toys”) there will be hundreds, if not millions, of sites in competition for that keyword. The longer the phrase is, the less likely there will be competition for it – but it will still be something people type in.
The search volume is usually lower. Where “toys” might get 10 million searches a month, “hand-crafted toys made in the USA” might only get 20 searches altogether. Would you rather get 0% of 10 million searches or 50% of 20 searches? Especially is those 20 searches are coming from people who are looking to buy?
Competition is great. A market with no competition isn’t really a market at all – it’s either dominated by a single entity or nobody is interested at all. Whichever it is, it won’t be a market that is worth entering.
With a massive market like “toys”, finding your own niche within that market can be the key to success. It allows you to dominate a smaller subset of that market and be the go-to authority.
The takeaway is that if you are selling hand-crafted wooden toys that are made in the USA, your keywords should reflect that. “Wooden toys”, “hand-crafted toys”, “toys made in USA” – these are all great keywords to target, and a long tail keyword of “hand-crafted wooden toys made in the USA” could be the ultimate choice.
How to Use Keywords
Now that you know what keywords are and why they’re important, let’s take a look at how you can use them in your marketing efforts.
There are a few different ways to use keywords to your advantage. First, you can use them in your website content. This includes both the text on your website as well as the tags and titles of your pages.
When you’re deciding which keywords to use on your website, it’s important to keep two things in mind: relevance and search volume. Relevance means that the keyword is a good match for what your website is about. Search volume indicates how many people are searching for that keyword.
It’s important to strike a balance between the two. A keyword that is very relevant but has low search volume is not going to do you much good. Likewise, a keyword with high search volume but low relevance is not going to be effective either. The best keywords are those that are both relevant and have a decent amount of search volume. However, as we’ve already noted, long tail keywords are always worth investigating.
You can also use keywords for your website’s metadata. This includes things like the title tag, meta descriptions, and alt text. The title tag is what appears in the browser tab when someone visits your website. The meta description is the brief description that appears under your website’s URL in search results. And alt text is the text that appears in place of an image if the image doesn’t load.
All of these elements are important for both search engine optimization (SEO) and usability. When it comes to keywords, though, the most important thing is to use them naturally. That means don’t stuff your keywords in where they don’t belong just for the sake of getting them in there. Not only will this not be effective, but it will also make your website look spammy.
Finally, you can use keywords in your social media marketing. This includes both the text of your posts as well as the hashtags you use. Hashtags are a great way to get your content seen by people who are interested in what you have to say but don’t follow you yet.
As with all other uses of keywords, it’s important to use them sparingly and only when they make sense. Don’t hashtag everything – only use hashtags that are relevant to what you’re saying. And don’t use the same hashtags all the time either. Mix things up to keep your content fresh and engaging.
Keywords are an important part of any online marketing strategy. By understanding what they are and how to use them, you can ensure that your website, social media posts, and other marketing materials are working hard for you.
Long tail keywords, in particular, can be a great way to attract relevant traffic to your website. So if you’re not already using them, be sure to start incorporating them into your marketing efforts today.
If you’d like to find out more about optimizing your website through page structure or want a step-by-step checklist to help you set up your website in the best way possible, don’t forget to check out the links above.