What are Keywords?
In SEO, keywords are terms and phrases that content creators target with a given page. In PPC (Pay-Per-Click), keywords are words used for targeting purposes related to both people’s searches and interests.
Keywords are often confused with “search terms” and used interchangeably, even by SEOs. Technically, this is incorrect, as search terms are the terms people enter on search engines, and keywords are the terms content creators target in their content or bid for in search ads.
Why are Keywords Important?
If you want your website to get organic search traffic, it’s essential to target specific keywords with your pages.
Keywords connect search terms that people are using to web pages that are well-optimized with those keywords. That is why keyword research is one of the most important aspects of search engine optimization.
How to Target Keywords?
To generate traffic on your site, you’ll need to target keywords either in PPC ads or in SEO content. Here’s what you need to know about these:
Keywords in Google Search Ads
Targeting keywords in Google search ads is fairly simple. Basically, you need to tell Google which keywords your ads should be associated with in order to appear as a result of search queries or terms.
However, it isn’t straightforward because every keyword has a quality score. For a good quality score and lower ad costs, the keyword needs to be highly relevant to your ad copies and landing pages. If you’re still confused between keywords and search terms, check out the definitions given in the Google Ads documentation.
Keywords in SEO Content
Targeting keywords for organic search traffic is different. Optimizing your content for the target keywords is the most important aspect of on-page SEO.
On-page SEO is a comprehensive topic in itself and deserves an in-depth read. For that, you can check out our guide on how to target keywords in blog posts.
But to give you the bare minimum, here’s what you need to do for on-page SEO:
- Use the exact primary keyword in the page/meta title and H1.
- Use the same keyword in the URL of the blog.
- Write a compelling meta description by including the main keyword or its close variants.
- Write the blog as if your target keyword is a topic, not an exact word. This means including synonyms and related words, covering subtopics, and more.
- Include the keyword in the image alt text.
- Add internal links with relevant anchor texts.
FAQs
What are Long-Tail Keywords?
Long-tail keywords are keyphrases or keywords that have lower search volumes than other related keywords on a similar topic. Most often, they are more specific and less competitive than short-tail keywords. For example, “Does meditation help you sleep?” is a long-tail keyword, whereas “meditation” is a short-tail one.
What are Main Keywords and Secondary Keywords?
The primary keyword is the main keyword that the page targets. It has the highest traffic potential among the related keywords. Secondary keywords are any keywords closely related to the primary search term you’re targeting on your page. Your content should be optimized for both primary and secondary keywords.
What are Meta Keywords?
Meta keywords are an HTML meta tag that provides information about the words a page is supposed to be associated with to search engines. Google stopped using meta keywords as a ranking factor in 2009.
For more detailed insights, visit Ranktracker's SEO Guide.
