This is a question that gets asked enormous amount of times because as online bloggers we have been encouraged to do our research before starting. However, over time sophistication has caused us to guess how important keyword research actually is. For example, Google has changed their algorithm to a point where it can pick up much of the data it needs now. By skimming through your page and understanding the user share process, they can rank your website or page around certain keywords. This is why people feel that keyword research is NOT as important and they should be focusing on other things like marketing, etc. However, I’m here to tell you it’s time you look outside this box and focus on why keyword research should still be an important step within your content writing.
I have been blogging for over 8 years and never understood the value of keywords until recently. I feel it is the true backbone of our content because it helps engage readers better. Not only that, it helps keep our focus when marketing and building links to our page We’ll be exploring this in more depth later on, but these are some things you should always be focusing on going forward.
Today, we’ll be discussing the importance of keyword research and why you should continue to perform in-depth research before writing your content. We’ll also be discussing why it will be important going forward. Let’s get started and your feedback will be greatly appreciated.
Indexing
No matter how sophisticated search engines are becoming, it’s important you have precise rankings in order to engage your readers correctly. For example, for me it’s more important I rank for the keywords I think are important than those which Google automatically ranks my page for. If my rankings are NOT targeted, then I might have a hard time converting readers or even selling products. I always like to have control so will continue to research those keywords which help me rank in search engines and increase visitor engagement. Next,
When it comes to indexing Google tends to scrape together words they feel are right for your content. They try and use signs like bold, underline and H1, H2, and H3. When setting Google Webmaster Tools (GWT), you’ll notice in the backend that much of their system is based on keywords. For example, you’ll notice the following:
- External links based on keywords
- Search queries based on keywords
- Internal links based on keywords
- Sitemap based on keywords
User Search Pattern
Keyword research is even more important because of the recent user search pattern and how it’s changing. People are becoming more precise in the way they search for information and it’s our job to make sure they provide it to us. It’s our job to ensure they find the information they are looking for by making our content stand out by embedding the right keywords. When you add the right keywords, your content will stand out within search engine results because the target word will be embedded within the meta tags. If you don’t create content based around keywords, then you’ll have a hard time targeted a specific audience needed to meet your bottom-line.
When you are writing content and building your brand, you have to build it around an audience so you can optimize and convert. If it isn’t catering to a specific audience, you will require that much more time and patience to grow your business. What do I mean? It’s much easier to engage a crowd of 5,000 than a crowd of 5,000,000 especially online.
When writing content and you think about publishing content without the right amount of research. Think about your audience and what you can do to engage them better. Pay close attention to their search pattern and how they are much more precise than ever before. I’ll admit a lot of it has to do with the fact that people know what they want, however a lot of it also has to do with how search engines have changed within recent years. They have become more sophisticated and more targeted to users. Next,
You’ll noticed the user search pattern has changed a lot in recent years going from one word phrases to more sophisticated like long-tail and LSI. This means people know more precisely what they are looking for so it’s important you embed the same words into your content. Using long-tail keywords is also a philosophy adopted by search engines to ensure user have an even better search experience.
Link Building
Many people are forgetting about link building because of the advancements in other tools. For example, social media has allowed bloggers to build momentum to their content more quickly through the concept of sharing. The has done a lot for people and blogging growth, but can also be considered a negative. The more that people focus on social media and paid marketing, the less emphasis they give to link building and free organic traffic. Organic traffic and ranking for a high volume keyword can boost sales and brand awareness by 500% when done correctly. It’s absolutely free traffic which you don’t have to every pay for as long as you keep ranking for the same keyword. Even with this known, I’m surprised at the amount of people who don’t continue to build links to their content or do targeted anchor text link building going forward. Let me explain 3 very important things to you right now:
Google is a search engine and their algorithm is built on the concept of links and how much value each of them hold. They have dominated the market by ranking valuable sites based on how many other value driven sites are linking to them.
Next,
Without solid link building you won’t have the chance to increase keywords through targeted anchor texts. It’s through link building you’ve been able to use an external keyword to point back to your page. This has shown to be very valuable to Google because it shows them the keywords you are trying to rank your page for.
Finally, link building has always been the back bone of Google and it’s NOT going anywhere. For example, link building has allowed Google to dominate their competition and this algorithm has worked very well compared to what other search engines have been doing. If they remove link building and keyword research, they have eliminated their entire backbone.
In the next section, you’ll learn the most important reason why keyword research is still and will keep being the most important aspect of marketing online.
Interrelated
Keyword research will continue to be important because it’s the backbone to almost everything you do online. For example, other than search engines I can think of another 5 reasons why keyword research is important. Can you? Social media uses keywords to organized their information and we all know the importance of social media over time. We know how it is growing and how platforms like Twitter and Facebook use keywords to organize #hashtags online. Next, keyword research is the main driving force behind the most effective tools online like long-tail pro and Ahrefs.com. Keyword’s are also important when optimizing your content for within the search results, right? When we type in a search and the results appear, we see the information within the description and title appear within the results. It’s this information that increases your CTR and ROI afterwards.
I believe as time goes on more things will be related on keywords and be intertwined to better the user experience. It’s better to stay ahead of the trend instead of behind it because this can cause more harm to your online business.
Next,
We all know how Google ranks images and their search algorithm for this part is also based on keywords. It’s about how you name your images and the ALT test you use which determines how they will appear when someone is doing an image search. Instagram which was bought within a year by Facebook for 1 billion dollars uses nothing but keywords when displaying images. The right type of keyword research will also save your enormous money because you can tweak the words or phrases you are using to outperform your competition. For example, there is NO point in using the same keywords as 200,000 competing sites, right? By tweaking the words, you use, you can stand out compared to everyone else increase your traffic, brand awareness and even ROI.
Final Thoughts
If you have been blogging for several years, then you know the importance of keyword research. However, it’s the newer generation which is under the impression that keyword research does NOT matter as much. I’m here to tell you that almost everything you do online is based on keyword research and the use of targeted words is NOT going anywhere. I suggest going forward, you focus on keyword research and continue to find ways to stand out compared to your competition. This is what will help you beat your competition and help meet your bottom-line. In the end, if you have the right keyword strategy, you’ll enjoy higher traffic and rankings within the search results. With that said,
Let’s look at the game plan going forward.
First, read through this content again so you completely understand the important of keyword research now and going forward. Next, it’s important you continue to use keywords in the content you write so find ways or tools which help you optimize before you post.
Please let me know if you have any questions going forward.