You’ll find out how to choose keywords and sort them based on perceived importance using one of our free SEO tools. Then, keeping clearly in mind the subjects (or products or services) your website is about, you’ll identify the best main and supporting keywords to establish SEO relevance for those subjects.<\/p>\n
Organize Keywords by Category<\/h2>\n\n![\"Organize](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/organize-keywords-420.jpg\")
<\/p>\nPhoto by John<\/a> (CC BY 2.0)<\/a>, modified <\/p>\n<\/div>\nLook at the big picture of what your website offers. Is it a jumble of loosely related items? It needs structure!<\/p>\n
Choose the best keywords that reflect the main categories of content, and then use them to organize your site. For example, this Bruce Clay, Inc. website is about “\u200bdigital marketing,” but within that broad topic are categories for “SEO,” “SEM\/PPC,” “Content” and so on (as shown by the top navigation). Your content categories communicate what your website is about to both human and search engine visitors.<\/strong><\/p>\nYour site’s current categories may or may not be the best way to organize your site content. A website related to dogs, for instance, could be organized by breed, size, fur type or something else. Based on your site’s goals and content, do keyword research (to see how people search) and also look at your top-ranked competitors’ site structures to help you decide.<\/p>\n
In your keyword spreadsheet (built previously or while doing this SEO tutorial), start moving rows up and down to group keywords in categories. You can separate categories onto different tabs, if that’s easier. Then begin to sort the keywords in descending order of perceived importance (based on relevance to your site and how often they are searched).<\/p>\n
One of our free SEO tools will help you with this in a moment, but first, read on \u2014 there are a few essential concepts you need to know.<\/p>\n
Understand Head vs. Long-Tail Keywords<\/h2>\n
Your keyword list likely contains both short and long phrases, and that’s good! Here’s why:<\/p>\n
\n- Head keywords<\/strong> (also called “broad” or “seed” terms) are shorter, general terms that have higher search volume. For example, a car site should consider “Mustang” and even “Ford Mustang” head terms. These keywords get searched a lot, but the traffic they produce may be untargeted. Search engines may not clearly understand the searcher’s intent, and therefore provide a wide mix of different types of results. These broad keywords are hard to rank for and bring in traffic that usually doesn’t convert.<\/li>\n
- Long-tail keywords<\/strong> are more specific queries, usually three or more words. Long-tail keywords have lower search volume, but generally produce more targeted results because the search engines (and the searcher) know the searcher’s intent. For example, requests like “repair parts for Ford Mustang in L.A.” or “Ford Mustang convertible for sale in Los Angeles” could bring in well-targeted traffic to that car site.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The difference between head and long-tail keywords is easy to understand looking at a graph. The number of searches for each head term is high (shown in blue) compared to each long-tail keyword (shown in green):<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
![\"longtail](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/longtail-new.gif\")
<\/div>\n\n
Combining Keywords to Expand Your Relevance<\/h2>\n
In the old days, a web page that unscrupulously repeated a phrase over and over (known as “keyword stuffing”) could fool the search engines and rank for that term. Those days are long gone, particularly with the advent of semantic search.<\/em> Google’s complete revamp of its algorithm known as Hummingbird (launched in 2013) set the standard, and Bing and other engines have tried to follow suit.<\/span><\/p>\nSemantic search<\/strong> aims to better understand both the searcher’s intent behind the query AND the context and full meaning of web-based content \u2014 both sides of the search engine equation \u2014 in order to give a more accurate answer.<\/p>\n\n
Semantic Search’s Impact on Keywords<\/h3>\n
Keywords are still a foundation for content, but even more important in a semantic search world is having context to support those keywords.<\/p>\n
For instance, that dog website won’t be able to rank for “search engine optimization” even if it creates a 2,000-word page all about it, because the site as a whole doesn’t support that subject. Ranking is about more than choosing the right keywords \u2014 with the exception of exact matches of unusual long-tail keyword queries, it’s also about which results have the most thorough, well-supported treatment of a subject.<\/p>\n
So how can you build “contextual meaning” to support your keywords?<\/em> By choosing keywords, combining them and expanding content around and about them that answers all questions a person might have on the subject. Search engines increasingly understand things as entities<\/em>, not just as isolated strings of characters (“things not strings”). If you want to be considered an expert, your content must talk about many aspects of that entity.<\/p>\nHow to Create a Semantic Keyword List<\/h3>\n
Writing naturally about your keyword subject generally leads to good variation in your keyword\u200b usage. But covering your semantic bases helps you rank for potentially high-conversion, long-tail keywords.<\/p>\n
Here are some activities to ensure you expand your keyword list and enhance your content:<\/p>\n
\n- Conversational wording: <\/strong>Attach conversational or logical phrases to your keywords, which is how people often search. For research-based queries, try adding “how to …,” “how do I …” or “what is …” in front of the keyword. An ecommerce site needs to combine phrases like “… for sale,” “best price for …” or “discount …” with its product keywords.<\/li>\n
- Reorder words:<\/strong> Consider putting keyword phrases in a different order. This page, for instance, could focus on “combining keywords for SEO” or “SEO keyword combining” equally well.<\/li>\n
- Word stemming: <\/strong>Include multiple forms of the same root keyword, like “write, writer, writes, written, writing” (known as stemming). This will not usually raise a keyword-stuffing red flag with search engines as long as the text reads naturally (more about writing content<\/a> later).<\/li>\n
- Search suggestions: <\/strong>One of the best ways to find keyword combinations is to start typing your main keywords in a Google or Bing search box. As you type, a drop-down list appears of frequently searched terms with those characters. Use that to find even more keyword variations (if they appropriately describe your content).<\/li>\n
- Related content: <\/strong>In general, the more in-depth you can be on a subject, the more a semantic search engine will consider you a subject matter expert. So include related facts and bits of information about a page’s keyword topic, as appropriate.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Sort Your Keywords<\/h2>\n
Sort the keywords and phrases within each main category in descending order of their perceived importance (i.e., how likely it is that they will be searched and hence, generate traffic). Just go for a rough organization at this point.<\/p>\n
One way to determine the importance of a keyword is to view its search volume. As we said in the previous SEO tutorial lesson (on competitive analysis<\/a>), search volume shouldn’t be the only reason to select a keyword. But comparing the relative<\/em> search activity of different keywords does help you prioritize them. To get a clearer picture of keyword statistics, try our free Search Engine Optimization\/KSP tool<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/a> <\/a><\/p>\nSEO Tools \u2013 Search Engine Optimization\/KSP Tool<\/h3>\n\n
<\/p>\nPhoto by John<\/a> (CC BY 2.0)<\/a>, modified <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Look at the big picture of what your website offers. Is it a jumble of loosely related items? It needs structure!<\/p>\n Choose the best keywords that reflect the main categories of content, and then use them to organize your site. For example, this Bruce Clay, Inc. website is about “\u200bdigital marketing,” but within that broad topic are categories for “SEO,” “SEM\/PPC,” “Content” and so on (as shown by the top navigation). Your content categories communicate what your website is about to both human and search engine visitors.<\/strong><\/p>\n Your site’s current categories may or may not be the best way to organize your site content. A website related to dogs, for instance, could be organized by breed, size, fur type or something else. Based on your site’s goals and content, do keyword research (to see how people search) and also look at your top-ranked competitors’ site structures to help you decide.<\/p>\n In your keyword spreadsheet (built previously or while doing this SEO tutorial), start moving rows up and down to group keywords in categories. You can separate categories onto different tabs, if that’s easier. Then begin to sort the keywords in descending order of perceived importance (based on relevance to your site and how often they are searched).<\/p>\n One of our free SEO tools will help you with this in a moment, but first, read on \u2014 there are a few essential concepts you need to know.<\/p>\n Your keyword list likely contains both short and long phrases, and that’s good! Here’s why:<\/p>\n The difference between head and long-tail keywords is easy to understand looking at a graph. The number of searches for each head term is high (shown in blue) compared to each long-tail keyword (shown in green):<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \n In the old days, a web page that unscrupulously repeated a phrase over and over (known as “keyword stuffing”) could fool the search engines and rank for that term. Those days are long gone, particularly with the advent of semantic search.<\/em> Google’s complete revamp of its algorithm known as Hummingbird (launched in 2013) set the standard, and Bing and other engines have tried to follow suit.<\/span><\/p>\n Semantic search<\/strong> aims to better understand both the searcher’s intent behind the query AND the context and full meaning of web-based content \u2014 both sides of the search engine equation \u2014 in order to give a more accurate answer.<\/p>\n \n Keywords are still a foundation for content, but even more important in a semantic search world is having context to support those keywords.<\/p>\n For instance, that dog website won’t be able to rank for “search engine optimization” even if it creates a 2,000-word page all about it, because the site as a whole doesn’t support that subject. Ranking is about more than choosing the right keywords \u2014 with the exception of exact matches of unusual long-tail keyword queries, it’s also about which results have the most thorough, well-supported treatment of a subject.<\/p>\n So how can you build “contextual meaning” to support your keywords?<\/em> By choosing keywords, combining them and expanding content around and about them that answers all questions a person might have on the subject. Search engines increasingly understand things as entities<\/em>, not just as isolated strings of characters (“things not strings”). If you want to be considered an expert, your content must talk about many aspects of that entity.<\/p>\n Writing naturally about your keyword subject generally leads to good variation in your keyword\u200b usage. But covering your semantic bases helps you rank for potentially high-conversion, long-tail keywords.<\/p>\n Here are some activities to ensure you expand your keyword list and enhance your content:<\/p>\n Sort the keywords and phrases within each main category in descending order of their perceived importance (i.e., how likely it is that they will be searched and hence, generate traffic). Just go for a rough organization at this point.<\/p>\n One way to determine the importance of a keyword is to view its search volume. As we said in the previous SEO tutorial lesson (on competitive analysis<\/a>), search volume shouldn’t be the only reason to select a keyword. But comparing the relative<\/em> search activity of different keywords does help you prioritize them. To get a clearer picture of keyword statistics, try our free Search Engine Optimization\/KSP tool<\/strong>.<\/p>\n <\/a> <\/a><\/p>\nUnderstand Head vs. Long-Tail Keywords<\/h2>\n
\n
<\/div>\nCombining Keywords to Expand Your Relevance<\/h2>\n
Semantic Search’s Impact on Keywords<\/h3>\n
How to Create a Semantic Keyword List<\/h3>\n
\n
Sort Your Keywords<\/h2>\n
SEO Tools \u2013 Search Engine Optimization\/KSP Tool<\/h3>\n