We all know that finding keywords that are high intent, high volume, and low competition is essential for developing your business’ SEO strategy. However, as soon as you’ve found a main keyword that you wish to rank for, the work doesn’t just stop there.
Google will check that your pages are providing additional information based on that topic that the competition isn’t.
In this article, we’ll walk through the concept of keyword research in SEO and how you can use different keyword types in order to rank higher around a topic.
What are keywords?
Keywords are the words, terms and phrases that people will search for on search engines (such as Google and Bing). It’s important to know what your target customer is searching for before they decide to enquire or purchase, as you’ll need to create informative content related to these search terms in order to rank highly.
What are the main SEO Keyword types?
To design the best SEO strategy, you need to consider the following keyword types.
- Core (Short-Tail) Keywords – The overarching topic that your prospective customers are searching for. For example, if you own a car garage, a core keyword might be “Book MOT”. It is recommended that one page is optimised for just one core keyword. Any more and you’re less likely to rank for that keyword.
“Book an MOT”
- Secondary (Long-Tail) Keywords – These are search terms that are still related to your core keyword topic but are slightly more specific and less competitive than short-tail and core keywords.
“MOT in Nottingham”
“MOT Garage in Nottingham”
- Accessory (Long-Tail) Keywords – These are often the commonly asked questions that are based around your topic. Whilst it seems trivial to write content to answer these terms, doing so will help to improve your SEO for your core keyword – “Book an MOT”.
“How much is an MOT?”
“What’s included in an MOT?”
“How do I prepare for an MOT?”
You could add answers to these commonly asked questions at the bottom of your page, so that the content is still there to be ranked, but isn’t distracting people from your main desired outcome (such as a booking form).
How do you find keywords for SEO?
First, consider what your page is for and what is the main action that you want them to take. Perhaps it’s to book an MOT, but perhaps it’s to purchase your newly released range of sunglasses.
- Take a seed keyword
In this instance it would be “Book an MOT” or “Buy Sunglasses”, but it could also be “Lawyer near me” or “Local Builders”.
- Use Keyword Tools to find secondary and accessory keywords
We’ve provided a whole article on the top 10 best free SEO tools out there, but one of the best tools for finding secondary keywords is Answer The Public.
Answer The Public uses search data to show you the most commonly asked questions around a specific topic. Simply input your seed keyword to find questions to provide an answer to!
Another strategy for finding secondary and accessory keywords is to start searching for your seed keyword in Google and see what suggestions come up. There’s a strong chance that your prospective customers will click on these suggestions, so they’re worth trying to rank for.
Google helpfully provides ideas and ‘People also ask’ so it’s worth checking these out for content ideas.
- Find secondary and accessory keywords you stand a good chance of ranking for
Use tools such as Ahrefs to find the domain ranking of the site that’s currently in the top spot. If they have a low domain ranking, you stand a good chance of gaining that result by creating content that answers the query better!
Competitive analysis is essential in SEO. Whilst there is a range of free tools that can provide gaps in the competition to take advantage of, the paid tools do provide more insight into what content to write.
- Write better content than the competition
Once you’ve found a term that lots of people are searching for, now’s the time to write an answer that’s better than the competition!
Making the most of data
Oftentimes businesses don’t make the best use of the data that SEO tools provide, resulting in creating content that they would like to rank for, but have little chance of ranking for. To find the ‘low hanging fruit’ topics to write content about often requires extensive analysis of specific competitors, which many businesses employ an SEO agency to help with.
If you require any support with finding the best topics to rank for, request a free consultation to find out how we may be able to help.
How does Google use different keywords to rank a website?
Google prioritises web pages that have informative and original content, relating to a specific term. If you can answer people’s commonly asked questions accurately and originally, you stand a good chance of ranking highly.
Therefore in the ‘MOT Garage’ example we used earlier, you can’t just have a page that says “book an MOT here” with a contact form. If you want to rank a page for your ‘Core Keyword’, you need to provide answers to some of the common ‘Secondary Keywords’ too.
If you successfully provide an answer to the most common secondary keyword searches within your page, you generally have a much higher chance of ranking highly for your ‘core keyword’, alongside ranking higher for other commonly asked questions and related topics that could lead to a sale later down the line.
Long-Tail Keywords and Featured Snippets
One of the reasons that we’re big advocates for content that answers secondary and accessory keyword questions is the opportunity to achieve a “featured snippet” from Google.
See below an example of a featured snippet.
Featured Snippets are essentially the prime real estate on a search engine, as they’re at the top of the results (often even higher than paid ads!) and directly answer the searcher’s question, leading to a huge increase in traffic.
Most voice searches use featured snippets!
When people search via voice search (such as Alexa or in-car voice commands), the most likely result for them will be the featured snippet. So, if someone voice searches for the nearest car garage near them, and you’re the featured snippet, you’re probably going to get the business!
Whilst it’s not guaranteed to gain any of these featured snippets, in our 15 years experience of SEO, the clients that have gained a featured snippet have done so by answering a wide variety of secondary and accessory search terms relating to their core keyword topic.
How do I get a featured snippet?
Want to know if there’s a featured snippet that you stand a good chance of gaining? We’re currently offering a Free SEO Audit, where we’ll use our industry experience to uncover new opportunities and areas for improvement on your website.
What to avoid when adding keywords to your website
Whilst adding secondary and accessory keywords to your site will significantly increase your chances of ranking for a particular topic, you must avoid these practices!
- Keyword Stuffing
Make sure that you’re not ‘keyword stuffing’, and that whenever you include keywords within your content that it makes sense and isn’t just adding them in for the sake of it. It used to be that ‘keyword density’ (the amount of that keyword within a page) was a ranking factor, however now, people actually get penalised for adding keywords in irrelevant sentences.
- Ranking multiple pages for one core keyword
Whilst you can have multiple pages that relate to secondary and accessory keywords, such as a blog on “How to prepare for an MOT”, you should avoid creating multiple pages for your core keyword “Book an MOT”. This is because you’ll essentially be competing against yourself!
Learn SEO from the experts
Take advantage of our 15 years of SEO expertise with our bespoke training programs, tailored specifically to your business. We’ll keep you and your team up-to-date on Google’s ever-evolving algorithm so that you can make informed decisions about tackling SEO in-house. We’re offering a free training consultation, where we’ll chat informally about the opportunities to improve your website’s search engine rankings.
Book a free training consultation.
Don’t fancy doing SEO yourself?
In order to maximise ROI, it often works out more cost-effective to hire an SEO Agency for assistance. In doing this, you’re opting into a world where trained professionals can access more up-to-date knowledge and provide the very latest expertise to keep you ahead of the competition.
By trusting professionals to take care of your SEO efforts, you can free up more time for business growth.
Contact Key Principles today for a Free SEO Audit!
