For achieving high rankings in search results, selecting the right keywords is crucial in SEO. Understanding the phrases your target audience uses to search and correctly setting these keywords on your site can make your pages more favorable to search engines.

This article will comprehensively explain the method of setting keywords, highlighting key points and considerations. Beginners should first read “What is SEO? The latest SEO guide [Explaining measures for top-ranking]” 2022 edition before proceeding with this page.

The Importance of Keyword Setting in SEO

In SEO, search engines rank pages by assessing the relevance between the user’s search query and the content displayed. While various factors are considered in evaluating a page, the included keywords play a significant role in determining its relevance.

Search engine crawlers determine relevance based on the keywords within a page, reading the text from top to bottom. Hence, it’s vital to place keywords where crawlers can easily detect them.

The search queries, or phrases users type in, reflect their psychology. Therefore, correctly setting keywords is a critical task in SEO as it involves understanding the users and deciding the content strategy.

Related Article: What is a Keyword? An In-Depth Explanation of Types and Effective Selection Methods for SEO

The Process of Setting Keywords for SEO

For SEO, the process of setting keywords follows a specific order, each step explained in detail.

Identifying Potential Keywords 

Begin by delving into the challenges and information needs of the target audience for your products or services. Analyzing user needs helps identify the search terms they might use.

Randomly listing potential keywords is ineffective if they don’t align with the information your target audience seeks. Even if these keywords have high search volume, they won’t be meaningful unless they cater to user needs. Always prioritize user needs in your keyword research.

Keyword Research

In keyword research, assess factors like monthly search volume and low competition. If the monthly search volume is extremely low, even top-ranking won’t yield significant site traffic, resulting in poor cost-effectiveness.

Prefer keywords with low competition and over 100 monthly searches, as high competition keywords are challenging to rank for.

Keyword Decision

Although targeting high-volume search terms won’t guarantee SEO success. Thus, it’s crucial to focus on keywords that are likely to be effective.

When narrowing down keywords, consider not only search volume and competition but also relevance to other company content and potential for conversion.

Selecting multiple keywords aligned with the user’s psychological behavior, like latent and explicit needs, can be beneficial. Properly refined keyword selection is key to achieving high rankings.

Keyword Placement

Once keywords are decided and content creation begins, placing target keywords appropriately within the content is vital.

Crawlers scan a page from top to bottom and left to right. Therefore, incorporating keywords in the early parts of headings can accurately convey the content’s context.

After establishing primary keywords for SEO, expanding keyword scope based on those core terms is essential. Ensure comprehensive coverage by extracting all related terms, including suggestions and collocations, to prevent gaps.

Points to Check in Keyword Selection

Several critical points should be considered during keyword selection to ensure effective SEO. Keeping these points in mind will enhance the strategy.

Search Volume

Search volume typically refers to the number of monthly searches. A higher number indicates a higher chance of visibility, leading to potential increased site traffic if ranked highly.

However, finding a balance between big and small keywords is essential. 

Big keywords can significantly boost awareness if ranked well but are often highly competitive, making top ranking challenging.

Conversely, small keywords, often niche or combined terms, are easier to rank for but ineffective if too few searches occur.

Ensuring a decent traffic potential is crucial when selecting keywords.

Competitiveness

Tools used for keyword research display competitiveness along with search volume. Keywords are more competitive if top-ranking sites have strong domains or many backlinks.

Lower competition keywords are easier to target for ranking, especially for growing sites, focusing on increasing content with less competitive keywords first.

Content Relevance

Even if a keyword seems ideal, it won’t be effective if it doesn’t align well with your site’s content. Keywords related to the site’s overall content are more likely to be valued by search engines.

Selecting keywords relevant to your site’s content is vital. High search volume and low competition keywords may seem attractive, but they are less necessary if they don’t attract potential customers.

Conversion Contribution

The aim of SEO is to generate conversions within the site, such as inquiries, purchases, or registrations. 

Content should be crafted to lead towards these goals. Prioritize keywords likely to contribute to conversions. Even with high search volume, keywords not aligned with user needs are less likely to result in conversions. Focus on understanding user needs to drive contributions to conversions.

Top 3 Tools for Keyword Selection

Using tools for keyword selection can be highly beneficial, providing data that might not be available otherwise. Here are three handy tools for this purpose.

Google Keyword Planner 

Google Keyword Planner is a tool offered by Google, using its vast data to find keywords and check their search volume and competition.

It also extracts related and popular keywords when you input a search word or site URL. This feature aids in understanding the popularity of keyword combinations on Google search and which keywords are driving traffic to specific sites, making it useful for brainstorming keywords.

Related Article: How to Use Google Keyword Planner

Google Trends

Like Keyword Planner, Google Trends is a free tool from Google.

Google Trends allows you to check the trends of frequently searched keywords over a specific period. You can compare keywords by country or region, identifying currently trending keywords.

Trending keywords, being in high demand, can significantly increase site traffic if utilized well. 

Pairing Google Trends with Keyword Planner can provide deeper insights into keyword demand.

Rakko Keywords

Rakko Keywords is a free keyword research tool that retrieves suggested keywords.

Suggested keywords are related to your target keywords, helping understand user intent. Incorporating these into your content can enhance relevance to your main keywords, benefiting your SEO efforts.

Keyword Setting Method

Now, how should the selected keywords be set? The following section will explain the method of setting keywords to accurately convey the content of your website.

Title

The title plays a crucial role in SEO as it appears in search results and influences the ranking determination by Google’s crawler.

It’s vital to incorporate the targeted keyword in the first part of the title. Crawlers initially assess what information the title contains to understand the content.

Since the beginning of the title is emphasized, placing keywords here significantly impacts how crawlers and users perceive the content, potentially increasing click-through rates and enhancing SEO evaluations.

Headings

After the title, search engine crawlers examine the headings in hierarchical order. Including targeted keywords in headings helps convey the content more effectively.

Headings with higher hierarchy levels should particularly contain keywords. 

However, keyword stuffing can lead to negative SEO outcomes, so integrating them naturally is essential.

Description

The description appears below the title in search results. Like titles and headings, it should contain targeted keywords.

In search listings, targeted keywords are highlighted, indicating relevance to user queries. Including keywords in the description can appeal to both crawlers and users, quickly indicating the page’s content.

Incorporating related keywords can also improve keyword coverage and increase click-through rates.

Main Content

While crawlers assess titles and headings first, they also check the main content. Therefore, it’s advisable to use the target keywords in the main text.

Since crawlers read from the top, placing them especially at the beginning of the article is effective.

Incorporating suggested keywords and related terms enhances relevance. However, excessive or unnatural usage can backfire.

In keyword setting, prioritize user needs and content relevance over merely optimizing for search engines.

Points to note when setting keywords

When setting keywords, there are critical considerations to keep in mind. Here, we discuss two essential points.

Assign only one keyword per content piece

Trying to optimize a single content piece for multiple keywords can dilute the message and make it unclear what the content aims to convey. Additionally, having too many keywords can diminish the impact of the primary keyword, making it harder to achieve a high ranking on Google. Stick to one keyword per content piece for clarity and effectiveness.

Regularly update and rewrite content

Google values ​​the freshness of information, so updating the content periodically is essential. Rewriting involves not only updating information but also checking for changes in user needs. If new relevant keywords emerge, include them in your content to address evolving needs. Regular updates and reviews of your keyword strategy are crucial for maintaining relevance and effectiveness.

Summary

Keyword setting in SEO is vital, but it must be done effectively to yield results. Understanding the points and methods mentioned here can help refine your SEO strategy. However, remember that meeting user search intent with well-crafted content is more important than just optimizing for search engine rankings. Quality content creation is key to achieving success in SEO.

Author Profile

International Web Consultant Paveena Suphawet

A trilingual professional in English, Thai, and Japanese, she has numerous achievements in international SEO. She studied the latest IT technologies at Assumption International University, Thailand, and majored in International Business at the University of Greenwich, UK. Following her tenure at ExxonMobil’s Thai branch, she became a key member of Admano from its establishment.

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