Primary Benefits of Conducting Keyword Research for Your Website

Intro

Keyword research lets you identify the best words for people using Google and other search engines.

One of the best ways to kick off the process? Know your target audience!

Once you have a good grasp of who they are, appeal to them — write keyword-rich and attention-grabbing content.

It's one thing to know how to do keyword research. It's another to find out why.

In this article, we’ll discuss keyword research. We will briefly define keyword research, and then focus on its primary benefits for your website.

Our article will ensure you know how this aspect of SEO can generate more organic traffic to your website.

Improves Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Keyword research can help identify opportunities to create new content to attract additional traffic. As a result, targeting the right keywords with the best content possible can bring more relevant traffic to a website.

One of those opportunities is using long-tail keywords, also considered low-competition keywords. If you find, identify, and target long-tail keywords, you provide immense value to your website; they improve your site's chances of ranking on search engine results pages (SERPs).

To help you, use a tool that reveals to you its keyword difficulty. Keyword difficulty is a measure of how difficult it is to rank well in search engine results for a particular keyword.

Below are more ways you can use keyword research to improve SEO.

• Identify and target high-volume, high-converting keywords - Keyword research helps identify the search terms your target audience commonly uses. It can also help uncover those with the highest search volume that are most likely to drive traffic and conversions.
• Optimize your website's content and structure for target keywords - Once you identify your target keywords, you can use them to optimize your content and website structure to make it more appealing to users and search engines. This process includes optimizing your titles, headings, and meta descriptions, as well as using the target keywords in your content in a natural and relevant way.
• Monitor and track your performance - By tracking the performance of your target keywords via site audit or analytics, you can identify areas of your SEO strategy that are working well and those that need improvement. It can help you make informed decisions about enhancing your search engine rankings over time.

Understanding user intent

Keyword research provides insight into what users are searching for and why.

The four types of search intent:

1. Navigational - When a user wants to go to a specific website or web page. For example, searching for "Facebook" with the intent to go to the Facebook website.
2. Informational - When a user seeks information on a specific topic. For example, searching for "how to fix a leaky faucet" to find instructions to fix a leaky faucet.
3. Transactional - When a user wants to purchase or complete another action. For example, searching for "buy Nike shoes" to purchase Nike shoes.
4. Commercial - When a user is considering making a purchase and is comparing different options or researching different brands. For example, searching for "best laptops for students" to find and compare different laptop options for students.

Knowing the intent of the keywords you're optimizing for enables you to fill out your business model canvas. This process is crucial, especially regarding the first building block, customer segments. Knowing the keyword intent allows you to determine which part of your sales funnel your audience is in and how to reach them effectively.

This understanding can inform website content creation. It can also help ensure that it is valuable and relevant to the target audience.

Improving the user experience

By understanding user intent and creating content that meets the needs and expectations of users, websites can improve the overall user experience. Combining all these factors is vital to ranking on Google. It leads to increased user engagement and conversions.

Here’s how you can optimize user experience using the keyword research process:

1. Optimize for a low-competition keyword - To start, focus on low-competition keywords like "buy home brewing equipment" rather than more competitive terms like "home brewing."
2. Identify search intent - Next, you'll want to understand what users look for when they search for "buy home brewing equipment." Because of the word “buy,” they’re looking for home brewing equipment to buy. Identifying search intent is part of audience intelligence to help determine your target audience.
3. Write SEO-friendly content - Once you understand the search intent behind your keyword, start writing content optimized for search engines and users. Use relevant and specific keywords throughout the content, including in the headline, subheadings, and body text.

Let's say you run a website about home brewing and you want to rank for the keyword "buy home brewing equipment.”

Here is one of the websites that came up as a result of searching the above query into Google:

(Source: Northern Brewer (Brewing Equipment))

Now, put yourself in the shoes of someone searching on Google.

If you key in “buy home brewing equipment,” you are most likely looking to is likely to find items related to home brewing to purchasing. This makes the keyword’s intent as transactional.

From here, you must create content that satisfies user intent. In this case, you want to list the best home brewing equipment for sale and explain why people should buy them.

By following the steps above in your research, you can create a website with content intended to help users find what they’re looking for.

Conclusion

It’s important to know the most effective keywords to use. It is equally important, however, to know how to use them effectively.

For instance, don't stuff your content with keywords as it can negatively impact your search rankings. Also, keyword-stuffed content is difficult for users to read and understand, resulting in a high bounce rate that can hurt your website.

Overoptimizing your content with keywords can also trigger spam filters. Search engines have become very sophisticated at detecting spammy or low-quality content, and keyword stuffing is a common tactic used by spammers. If search engines flag your website as spam, they can remove it from the search engine results.

Instead, focus on creating quality content.