How to choose your keywords

Using keywords and phrases on your website is an important part of search engine optimisation (SEO). Keywords form part of the strategy to help your website be found in search engine results pages (SERPs). So, how do you choose what keywords are right for your business?
Here, we look at a few ways you can brainstorm for keywords that will help with your online marketing campaign.

  1. Search online and take a look at competitors and get a feel for what they are talking about. Look at blogs and news pages to find out about new product launches or services, how they are promoted and talked about.
  2. Check your competitor’s social media feeds to see what snippets they are sharing with their followers and get a feel for what is popular by the amount of shares or likes their posts receive. The types of hashtags being used can help with your keyword research too.
  3. Use Google Trends and see what people are searching for right now.
  4. Check affiliate networks such as Clickbank then check the products and find the relevant keywords that are usually written in descriptions of any product.
  5. Look for long tail keywords. Head keywords are considered to be the most popular searched item, such as “accountant”. This however only takes up a small percentage of total searches the majority being long tail and specific searches such as “find an accountant for self-assessment in Croydon”. So note specific long tail keywords as part of your research.
  6. Membership associations. If you’re an accounting firm and you are part of an association such as ICAEW then check their website for what events and webinars they are hosting as the titles of talks and presentations will give an indication of what’s a topical theme for discussion.
  7. Check industry publications that you know your audience are interested in. See what’s being discussed and trending to help brainstorm ideas for keywords.
  8. Use a tool such as Semrush to help improve online visibility and get further insight into keyword volume and difficulty.

Once you’ve found your keywords you can use these as the basis of your online marketing campaigns however do not use keywords unnecessarily. This is known as keyword stuffing and search engines such as Google will penalise accordingly. In a nutshell, don’t overuse words, if your content feels uncomfortable to read lacking a natural flow because of keywords and it’s perhaps sounding too salesy and irrelevant then it’s best not to use it.

Most importantly focus on writing good quality content to engage with you target audience.

Keywords are just one of many ways you can help to optimise your website.

Digital marketing agency Croydon

It’s important that you understand why optimising your website is key when it comes to the growth of your business. So, if you need a helping hand with your digital marketing strategy, get in touch with us at Smart Cow Digital Marketing for expert advice.

Services we offer include web design and developmentSEOPay Per Click (PPC)social media management through to CRM and marketing automation.