An All-Inclusive Guide to Keywords and its Types

In layman’s language, 

“Keyword is a word that tells you the main idea or subject of something”

But if we switch to SEO world,

“Keywords are the words or phrases that describe what your content (blog or article) is about.”

Keyword is the most important aspect in SEO, keywords are used to search for content, and to do search engine optimization for your content, you will need to know the right keywords. When looking for information about keywords in relation to SEO, you must have seen a lot of information about keyword research. Keyword research is very essential, but it is also critical to know what are keywords, so in this guide, you will get all the information about what are keywords and their main types that are in use.

Keywords- What are They?

Basically, keywords give an idea about what the content is about and is generally related to the topic. In relation to SEO, the words and phrases that searchers enter into search engines, also called “search queries.” are keywords.

To optimise a website’s content in order to make it rank at the top of Google’s search results, website owners and SEO professionals use keywords in the content. As a website owner, you should ensure that the keywords on your page are relevant to what people are searching for, so they have a better chance of finding your content among the search results.

For example, you run a pizza shop where you sell all varieties of pizza and that too delicious ones. Now, let’s say you have a special variety of pizza by the name ‘Cheesiest Pizza’ and you have also created a product page about it. Now, there will be a search term that you want to be found on. What kind of words do you think people will use to find you on the internet? What would the search query look like? What will be the keyword for your product page? Probably ‘Cheesiest Pizza’ as that best describes what’s there on the page. 

Now, if you want to explain your product, how would you do that? Definitely, you will need to use some words, and those words will be your keywords or key phrases. The keyword is not necessarily a single word, it can be multiple words as well. 

Why are Keywords Important?

Keywords are very important in SEO and the reason is they inform Google about the content that is there on your website. They act as a bridge between what people are searching for and the content or product you are providing on your website to fulfil that need. 

With the help of SEO, you can make people land on your website, but only when using the right search term or keyword. Now, for this, you need to understand the way a searcher thinks while they are searching and the words that they use for their search.  

Moreover, if any page of your website shows up at the top of the search results, the keyword it is ranking for can get you free traffic for your website. 

If a keyword asks for monetary action, it can benefit you for your paid search campaign. However, for this, you will need to do proper keyword research to build your marketing strategy so that you can decide what specific keywords you need to target for your website. After that, with the help of SEO and content marketing, you can get higher ranks organically in the search results.

What are the Different Types of Keywords?

Mainly, there are four types of keywords:

Generic Keywords- Generic keywords are those that describe your products or services extensively. They cover a broader audience and help people search for something without even having a specific brand or place in mind. As they have a higher monthly search volume, Generic keywords are more difficult to rank.

Example- Tea

Primary Keywords- Primary keywords are the words for which you want to rank. These are high-volume search terms that have the potential to attract a significant amount of traffic to your site. It is always recommended to have your primary keywords spread throughout the text on your site. This will send clear signals to search engines and audiences that the page is about that particular product or service. Primary keywords are used to target specific search queries to help web pages rank higher in the search results. They can help you increase your search traffic and rank for that content and keyword. 

Example- If Tea is the generic keyword then the primary keyword can be Herbal Tea

Long-Tail Keywords- Long-tail keywords are typically longer and more precise search queries. These types of keywords in SEO receive a few monthly searches. As these are clear keywords or there are some users who phrase their queries differently, long-tail keywords are only searched a few times per month. Although these keywords receive less search traffic, they have a higher conversion value because they are more specific. So, if you are using long-tail keywords in your content, this can get you discovered by new audiences too without making much effort.

Example- If Herbal Tea was your primary keyword, the long-tail keywords can be- Herbal Tea for Sleep, Herbal Tea for Weight Loss

LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) Keywords- LSI Keywords, also known as related keywords, are words or phrases that share the same context or are semantically associated. LSI keywords are used to provide the context of use for a primary keyword in a particular blog or article. Also, it is recommended that each web page should have one primary keyword and three to four LSI or related keywords to rank higher on search engines.

Example: If the primary keyword is “Herbal Tea,” then the related keyword can be “Best Herbal Tea,” “Herbal Tea Reviews,” and so on.

So, these were the main types of keywords that you must be aware of. Apart from these, there are multiple categories in which you can classify keywords. 

You can also watch this video for better understanding:

How to Find Keywords? Keyword Research for Beginners

Knowing the right keywords for your website is as important as using them. You cannot go on ranking your website at the top by targeting any random keywords. To optimise your website properly, you have to perform proper keyword research.

Keyword research is the process of finding and examining the right search terms that will make people land on your website while searching for a specific query. With the help of Keyword research, you can find queries to target, how popular are these queries and if it is difficult to rank for them, and much more. 

So, all in all, keyword research holds a really significant place in the SEO world and no content marketing strategy is complete without proper keyword research. Researching for the right keywords will not only help you with your content strategy but will also help you with your overall marketing strategy.

While conducting keyword research, there are elements that you need to pay attention to:

1. Authority

Google gives more importance to websites that it thinks to be authoritative. So, if you want your website to get ranked by Google at the top, you must make it helpful and informative by adding useful content and then promote that content to build backlinks. Moreover, if you are competing against a keyword that is already ranked by popular websites, you will have a less chance of ranking at the top unless your content is exceptionally good.

2. Relevance

Next important thing that Google keeps in mind is relevancy that the content has to offer. You can only write relevant content if you keep the search intent in mind. Similarly, your content will only rank for a keyword if it offers relevancy to the searchers. So, just make sure your content is the best source of information for any reader who is searching for the related keyword. The reason is Google will only rank your content higher if it offers higher value than the ones that are already ranking at the top.

3. Search Volume

Search volume is another important element of keyword research. Imagine yourself ranking for a keyword that no one is searching for. Will that be useful? No, not at all. Make sure the keyword you want to rank for has a good search volume; a lot of people are searching for it. For this, you will need to check the monthly search volume, which tells you how many times the keyword is searched per month by internet users.

Popular Keyword Research Tools

Now, to conduct proper keyword research, you can take the help of keyword research tools that can help you with finding the right keywords. Here are some popular keyword research tools that you can consider:

The Google Keyword Planner

Google’s keyword planner is one of the most reliable keyword research tools that you can use. However, this tool has been mainly designed keeping Google ad campaigns in mind and not SEO; you can still use it to get a list of keyword ideas.

To use Google Keyword Planner, you need to follow the given steps:

1. Set up a Google Ads account and log into it.
2. Click on the ‘Tools and Settings’ icon given at the top of the page.

3. From there, choose ‘Keyword Planner’.

4. You will get two options; ‘Discover New Keywords’ and ‘Get Search Volume and Forecasts’.

5. To find new keywords, click on ‘Discover New Keywords’; you will need to enter the words or phrases that are closely related to your product or business and then click on ‘Get Results’.

6. Now, you can go through the keywords results page to do the analysis.
7. If you click on the ‘Get Search Volume and Forecasts’ option, you will get to know the volume of a particular keyword that you already have. So, once you are done finding the right keywords, you can use this option to know more about their search volume. 
8. Just copy a list of keywords, paste that in the given space and click on ‘Get Started’. Within the next minute, you will be able to see the volume and other related data for that particular keyword.

Ubersuggest

Ubersuggest not only gives you the keyword ideas extracted from Google’s search suggestions, but it also provides other data on each keyword like volume, CPC, keyword difficulty and a lot more. With the help of this keyword research tool, you can easily find low-competition keywords that are easy to rank for.

Here is how you can use Ubersuggest for keyword research:

1. Enter the keyword i.e. the word or phrase related to your product, service or blog and click on ‘Search’.

2. You will see a list of related keywords, including the long-tail keywords. For each keyword, you will also get to see monthly search volume, average CPC, PPC competition and SEO competition.

SEMrush

Although SEMrush is a paid keyword research tool, it gives you the exact keywords that a website is already ranking for. And this can keep you a step ahead from your competitors. What you need to do is, just take the website that is ranking above you on Google, put it in SEMrush and get the keywords.

Given below are the steps that can help you use Keyword Manager Tool by SEMrush:

1. Go to the SEMrush’s keyword manager tool
2. Click on ‘Click to create a new list’ to create your keyword list.
3. Once you have added your keyword list, it will appear under the ‘All Keyword lists’ option. Click on your list.
4. Now, you need to import keywords to your list, for that, you can either do that manually or use any other SEMrush tools.
5. Once your keyword list has been generated, you will get to see the overview of that list in the Keyword Manager Tool.
6. You can easily analyze the keywords with the help of their search volume, CPC, SEO competition and much more.