Learn how to choose your business keywords!

What are keywords?

Keywords are specific terms or phrases used to describe the content of a text, web page, video, image or any other digital content. These words exist to help people find the content they are looking for when they search on search engines.

Keywords are a fundamental part of SEO, as it is through the production and optimization of content for each topic that you will get a certain page on your website to appear at the right time, to the right person.

Using the right keywords appropriate to the subject you want to position yourself for is very important to improve your content's visibility among search results and increase its relevance to users looking for that information.

How to choose the right keywords for your business?

Keywords are usually selected based on the main subject of the content and usually include the most important terms related to the topic addressed. For example, if the content is about “website optimization”, the keywords might include “what is a website”, “optimizing websites” and “how to optimize a website”.

To be able to determine which are the best keywords for your business, you must first start by making a list. This list must be composed of the words for which you want to appear.

Once you have defined the words for which you want to appear, you should start your search to understand in which position your pages appear for each word in the search results.

It is also important to understand which words have the highest search volume and which are not worth investing in. A good helper for this search is Google Trends. This tool is especially useful for comparing search volume between two different terms. Furthermore, Google Trends also shows us current search trends, a very interesting point for discovering new market niches.

Difference between keyword and search term

Keyword and search term are related concepts but with slightly different meanings.

Keywords are words or expressions used to describe the content of a text, web page, video, image or any other digital content.

On the other hand, search terms are the words or phrases that users use to search on search engines and find the information they are looking for.

That is, while keywords are used to optimize content for search engines, search terms are used by users to find the answers they need to their problems. Still, it can happen that the keywords and the search terms are the same, since the keywords are chosen based on what users are looking for the most.

Keyword types

There are several types of keywords. Some of the main keyword categories include:

1. Short-tail keywords: These are terms composed of one or two words, usually more generic and comprehensive, such as “shoes” or “mobile phones”. This type of keywords tends to be more competitive, so it is also more difficult for us to position ourselves for them.
2. Long-tail keywords: These are terms composed of three or more words, usually more specific and detailed, such as “blue ladies shoes” or “big screen cell phones”. This type of keywords tends to be less competitive, so it's also easier, and cheaper, to position ourselves for them.
3. Branded keywords: These are terms that include the brand or company name, such as “Coca-cola” or “Global Pixel”. These keywords are very important to help increase brand visibility in search results.
4. Search intent keywords: These are terms that indicate the user's intent when performing a certain search. For example, "how to buy". These keywords help us understand what the user is looking for and create relevant content targeted to that topic.
5. Location keywords: These are terms that include a geographic location, such as “marketing agency in Lisbon” or “restaurant in Sintra”. These keywords are important for companies that operate in a specific location and want to attract customers from that geographic area.

These are just a few examples of keyword types. You can use them as a basis for defining your business keywords. However, it's important to choose the most relevant and effective keywords based on your target audience and the marketing goals you've set for your business.

Long-tail keywords vs Short-tail keywords

Short-tail keywords are phrases or expressions made up of three words or less. They are more informative and more general keywords and, therefore, over time they will bring us more traffic. However, this traffic may not translate into a higher number of conversions, since the search intent for short-tail keywords is not very specific.

They are considered the “key terms”, the first thing we remember when we want something. They have more competition so it is more difficult to appear in the first place for these terms, even so it is not impossible.

Examples of short-tail keywords are: “consultant”; “marketing agency”; “website creation”.

Long-tail keywords are phrases or expressions with more than three words. They are much more specific than the short-tailed ones. This type of keyword may not bring as much traffic as a short-tail keyword, but it will still be able to attract more qualified traffic, because it will appear to users who are looking specifically for the services you offer.

The biggest difference between long-tail and short-tail keywords is the number of terms that make up each keyword and its popularity. According to statistics, most people search for short-tail keywords while only a few search for long-tail keywords.

However, long-tail keywords are the ones with the highest search intent. They are often favored by marketers as they have less competition and help us answer specific user questions.

Examples of long tail keywords are: “digital marketing consultant”; “marketing agency in Lisbon”; “responsive website creation”.

Generally speaking, it's easier to rank for long-tail keywords. Even if they have less search volume than short-tail keywords, their search intent is higher and we are more likely to reach the right people.

What is keyword density?

For Google to be able to identify our page as relevant to a given topic, we must include our keyword a considerable number of times throughout the page's content.

Keyword density is a metric that refers to the frequency with which a given keyword appears in relation to the rest of the content on the page. In other words, it corresponds to the number of times that our keyword appears written in the content of our website. This value is presented in percentage (%) and is calculated by dividing the number of times the keyword appears by the total number of words on that page.

What is the ideal keyword density?

Experts aim for keyword density to be 4%. However, we shouldn't have this exact value on every page, as Google will consider this value as “over-optimization”.

The 4% is a value to have as a reference in content optimization, since we need a certain volume for Google to consider the page relevant, but if the keyword is used in excess, we can also be identified as spam and end up being penalized instead of improving the page ranking.

In the past, keyword density was considered a very important metric for a page's ranking in search results. However, nowadays, search engine algorithms are more sophisticated and are increasingly taking into account other types of factors to determine the relevance and ranking of a web page.

In short, it is important to use keywords strategically, but also naturally. Keywords should be included in the title and throughout the page content, without overdoing it. The essential thing is to keep the focus on the quality and relevance of the content presented to users, and not on trying to manipulate metrics to improve positioning on the results page.

Keywords are the key element in optimizing your website!

Talk to us and see how our team of professionals can support you on this journey!