Which keywords are best to target in SEO? SEO is Search Engine Optimisation or the process of optimising your website for traffic; specifically that traffic which comes from the search engines. So if you’re focused on using paid traffic, and not bothered about getting any search engine traffic, SEO won’t have much bearing in your business. But if you want your traffic to come from the search engines, you’ll want to make sure you’re doing everything right to optimise that traffic.
One way of optimising search engine traffic is through blogging. Bloggers find content which they can both find free traffic for, and which attracts their target audience. There’s no point in writing content which attracts the wrong audience; since that traffic won’t convert into buying customers. Similarly, some keywords are far too competitive to gain any traction from the search engines for free. So spending too much time creating that content might also be wasteful! So what’s the answer? Find low competition long tail keywords which also attract the right kind of customers.
Which Keywords Are Best To Target In SEO?
The good thing about low competition keywords is that they generally have several keywords in them. Long tail keyword phrases offer better chance of getting a free listing on the first page of Google, and therefore getting free traffic. A long tail keyword has three or more keywords in it. Shorter tail phrases are notoriously harder to rank for simply because there’s so much competition on the search engines for them. So writing content for 2-3 word keywords might not work that well for getting free traffic.
The other main benefit of writing content for long tail phrases in your niche is that those searches are generally much more specific. When someone types a longer tail phrase into Google, they have a much clearer idea of what they’re looking for.
Example
A search for “dunlop sp sport maxx gt runflat” gets 90 searches a month. A search for “car tyre” gets 74,000 monthly searches.
So if you’re selling Dunlop SP Sport Maxx Gt Runflat’s, what would you rather have on your site? The answer is the keyword which relates to that product.
You might say you’d get more traffic from the other basic search for “car tyre”, but you’d be wrong because “car tyre” search results brings up many more thousands of results. Take a look at the number underneath both of these Google search results.
For “car tyre” you see 383,000,000 as the number for the search results. For the “dunlop sp sport maxx gt runflat” you see only 79! Which do you think you are more likely to rank your website for and get found on the search results pages?
Which Keywords Are Best To Target In SEO?
The search intent behind long tail keywords is generally much more specific. While someone who finds your site for “car tyre”, might browse and click away, (not finding what they want), someone searching for and finding “dunlop sp sport maxx gt runflat” is much more likely to buy if you give them exactly that!
When you’re targeting keywords with your content you don’t just want traffic, you want buyer traffic. So by finding low competition keywords which are super relevant to your website, products and/or service, you are providing the best information for those who actually want what you have! If you also target long tail keywords with low SEO competition, you’re going to be doing both at the same time! Win Win!
So how can you do this? Start with your product and work outwards. Type your main keyword, or the name of your product/service into Google’s keyword planner. Look for long tail derivatives which match your criteria:
- Low competition on the SERPS – Search Engine Results Pages
- Targeted towards buyer traffic – super relative to your product/service
How Google Rates Your Website
Google uses thousands of factors to determine how to rank content on the SERPS. Here’s just a few of the main ones:
- Domain authority
- Back link profile – how many and where from
- Your site’s relevancy
- Social media presence and back links
- Domain age
- Interaction of visitors on your content
- Time of visitors on your site
- Content
The relevancy of your site for the query is an important factor when it comes to creating content. You don’t just want anyone finding your site, you want super relevant visitors who you can help with your content. What happens if someone finds your site, but you’re not the answer they want? They click away, affecting your potential ranking score with Google. If people who come to your site stay and absorb your content, it’s a great signal to Google that they have sent someone to the right content. Hence they’ll increase your authority for that particular search. If your visitors interact with your site, signing up to your email list or making a purchase, it’s an even better signal.
So while you want more visitors to your website, you also want more of the right visitors too; that means targeted buyer visitors who will become customers.
Google’s Keyword Planner & Target Market
You can find long tail keywords which match your criteria by using your main keyword and typing it into Google’s keyword planner. Look for long tail derivatives which have a good buyer intent behind them and which are suitable and targeted for your business.
One of the quickest ways to find long tail keywords with low SEO difficulty is to click on the Avg. monthly searches tab at the top of the results when using Google’s keyword planner. Click on the tab until the monthly search volume drops and that will give you the longer term phrases which have lower monthly search volume.
Despite there being lower monthly search for these kinds of keywords, there’s also far less competition in the SERPS. So you’ve much more chance of getting your content ranked and getting found in the results pages.
Summary
So, which keywords are best to target in SEO? While you should have content for your main keywords on your site, you typically won’t rank on Google for them because of the competition. By finding longer tail derivatives of your main keywords, you can find very targeted visitors who are searching for something specific which you can provide.
Long tail keywords which both have low competition in the search results pages and which are super relevant to what you offer are what you should go for! Long tail keywords are generally super targeted too. So by finding those particular “gold nuggets” which give you free targeted traffic, you’re going to find more traffic and more customers.
