What are keywords and how do they influence SEO? Types of keywords

Keywords are the terms you type into search engines when you need information on a specific topic.

They can also be defined as the words you add to the content of your web pages, so that users can find you.

That’s why keywords are so important for SEO, as strategically adding these words to your website content will improve visibility, ranking, and therefore organic traffic.

Don’t worry if something isn’t clear, as this article explains everything about keywords and their importance for SEO ranking.

Let’s get started!

What are keywords?

Keywords can be said to be the terms we use to ask Google or other search engines when we want to find the best possible answer. Each question is an opportunity to reach your target audience.

For example, if you search for these words or key phrase: “How to conduct an SEO audit” you will see results from websites that have added these keywords to their content.

If your website appears among those results, you will receive organic visits.

Why are keywords important for SEO?

As you can see, keywords are the foundation of any SEO strategy. When a user searches for a keyword and your website appears in the top search results, that keyword will be a source of organic traffic for your site.

Therefore, you must add these words to your web content if you want to rank for them.

But!… does simply adding keywords to the site guarantee ranking?

No, it’s not that easy….

• Well yes, if the keyword in question has low competition and you write extensively and qualitatively about a topic.
• And no, because you will need to analyze which keywords to choose that have lower competition and how to correctly incorporate them into your website content so they can rank. This keyword analysis is what is called: Keyword Research.

Let’s take a look:

Keyword Research: Why choose a keyword?

Keyword Research or keyword study is the process through which the right terms are found to work on the SEO of your website.

First, you must define what your main keywords or key phrases will be. These should be the keywords that best define your website, your goals, or your business model.

For example: If you have a Marketing agency and sell web design services in Barcelona, the main keywords will be: “web design Barcelona”.

As you can see, this word is generic, has too much competition, and it will be very difficult to rank for that keyword.

So you will need to continue analyzing to find keywords or groups of keywords with lower difficulty to rank for, but with enough potential to attract an audience interested in your services.

For example:

“Web page design in Barcelona”

“Best web design companies in Barcelona”.

Are you understanding this?

It’s about finding relevant words for your business, but accompanied by all the related keywords to include them in the content and allow you to rank more easily.

Keyword metrics to consider

Before including keywords in the content, you should consider some additional elements, such as the search volume of the keywords and the competition or difficulty of the keyword to rank.

Search volume of a keyword

We could say that the search volume of a keyword represents or measures the number of times users have searched for a word, in a given period of time.

Therefore, when choosing keywords, you must consider the volume as it is necessary to analyze what potential traffic a keyword could generate.

You can see the volume of a keyword with SEO tools like Semrush, Ahrefs, Kiwosan, among others..

Competition or Difficulty of a keyword

Volume is not the only element you need to consider when choosing keywords. You must pay attention to the level of competition.

The competition of keywords is the level of difficulty that the keyword has to rank.

For example: if we go back to the previous example of “Web design Barcelona”, this word has a lot of difficulty.

Therefore, targeting the keyword “web page design in Barcelona” will be a more accurate option, because although it has lower search volume, it also has less competition.

Analyzing the keywords that your competitors have ranked for will give you an idea of the words you need to work on in your website's content strategy if you want to achieve the top organic results.

Where to place keywords within the content

Based on this analysis, we will obtain a list of keywords with their search volumes and keyword difficulty, which we will use to integrate into the content, in headings, meta descriptions…etc.

The prominence of keywords refers to the importance of placing keywords in certain places on a page.

Ideally, if you are just starting and do not yet have your domain, is to buy one that includes the main keyword, if available:

For example: “diseñowebbarcelona.es” “websbarcelona.biz”

Then, in the structure of the website, you should have a Landing Page (services page) where the SEO title and meta description include the exact keyword “web design Barcelona”.

It is also very important to place keywords in the urls, because they are considered prominent places. Following the previous example: “https://websbarcelona.biz/web-design-barcelona/”

In the content of this landing, you can add all related keywords.

Next, complete the text with images and videos properly named with the keyword in the alt attribute of the image.

You can enable the blog on the website to write content that answers user questions and provides useful information.

This is very beneficial for SEO, as the keywords you include in the content will improve visibility and attract quality organic traffic to your website. 

Other benefits include generating content that you can share on social media. And improving Link building, enhancing the online reputation of your brand. 

Types of keywords

We can classify them into several types of keywords:

• Depending on their length, we can say that there are short tail, middle tail, and long tail keywords.
• According to the user's search intent, a keyword can be informational, navigational, transactional, or commercial.
• Classification of keywords by Brand.
• According to match type, broad match, exact match, phrase match, and negative match.

According to length:

Short tail or head tail keyword

Short tail keywords, also known as short tail, are those keywords composed of one or at most two words. They are more generic and are characterized by having a high search volume on the Internet.

They have high competition, making them more difficult to rank on Google.

Example: “web design”

Long tail keyword and its importance in SEO

A long tail keyword or long tail key phrase is more specific and therefore has a lower search volume.

They tend to have less competition and therefore are easier to rank than general keywords with higher competition.

Example: “web page design in Barcelona”

According to search intent:

Search intent refers to what a user expects to find when conducting a search on the Internet.

To classify keywords based on user search intent, keywords can be:

Informational

In this type of keywords, the user's search intent is informational. As the name suggests, the user is simply looking for clear information on a specific topic. 

For example: Link Building Tools

Navigational

These keywords are used by users when they are browsing and looking for a company or brand's website (but do not know the URL).

For example: Unancor

In this case, the user wants to enter the Unancor website to make any inquiries.

Transactional

Transactional keywords are search terms that are directly related to purchasing a product or service.

Analyze Google’s own SERPs to see what results the competition offers for that search. Ranking your website for this type of keywords is very profitable, but it will also be more difficult (depending on the sector).

For example: Buy quality backlinks

This search intent indicates that the user is very interested in our services and may consider hiring them.

Commercial Keyword

These keywords are used before making a purchase. In other words, they are the questions the user has before making the final decision to buy the product or service. They would be between informational and transactional keywords, as the user seeks information before making a purchase. 

For example: Best sites to buy links

New concepts about search intents

Before continuing with the types of keywords, we refer you to the new official Google search quality guidelines: Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines (updated December 2023).

With the goal of providing the best answer to the user, it defines new concepts for search intents. 

• Informational: Know.
• Commercial or transactional: Do (Device Action).
• Navigational: Website.
• Visit in person: Local pack results (Visit in Person).

We leave you this video to complete: Keywords, the keys to our business!

Types of brand keywords:

Brand keywords (branded or non-branded) refer to searches that use the keyword with the brand name. For example, when I search for “Vodafone” I am referring to the brand.

If a website is ranked for brand keywords, this will bring benefits such as, while it is receiving qualified traffic from those brand searches, it is enhancing its online reputation and generating trust.

According to match type:

This type of keywords is used in businesses where the SEO strategy goes hand in hand with a SEM strategy.

If SEO means search engine optimization, SEM refers to search engine marketing, that is, marketing on search engines. Or in other words, PPC (pay-per-click) campaigns on Google Ads.

Match type can be said to be a classification that allows your ad to show only when the user's search includes your keyword or close variations of it.

In this way, keywords are classified according to match type (broad, phrase, exact, negative).

Let’s look at the four types:

Broad match

Keywords with broad match are those that cover any related search. The advantages are that they generate more visits to the website, as they have a wider reach and can attract more users to your page.

Phrase match

This classification is similar to the previous one, but a bit more specific as it excludes synonyms. It offers greater control because the ad will be shown to users who use the exact word or variants with spelling errors, singular and plural forms, abbreviations, and accents.

Exact match

Exact match refers to precise keywords that generate a higher conversion percentage since the purchase decision is “almost certain”.

Negative match

These are words for which you do not want to pay to appear on Google. For example, if you sell women's shoes, you can include “men's shoes” as a negative keyword.

Errors to avoid with keywords

• One common mistake with keywords that can also lead to a Google penalty is Keyword Stuffing.

This is a technique that consists of excessively using the keyword in the content, with the aim of trying to appear in the top results of Google.

• Following the previous point, I explain that keyword density is a metric that refers to the number of times the keyword appears within the content of your website.

The ideal percentage is between 1 and 2%.

• Another serious mistake is not addressing the user's search intent. Google has valued this factor a lot now and for some time.

And… how to resolve search intent with keywords?

You can analyze the pages that are better ranked for your main keywords and create relevant content based on those user needs.

• Keyword cannibalization occurs when two URLs from the same website compete for the same search. This harms SEO as the authority of the website is divided, losing strength.
• Not frequently reviewing keywords, as if you have ranked for a keyword this is not eternal, I wish it were. Searches change and you have to work continuously. The positive side of this is that you can take advantage of new opportunities that generate business.
• Not measuring keyword performance, impressions (visibility), clicks (organic visits), etc. Because if you don’t measure, you don’t know what’s happening on your website.

To measure paid campaigns, you can do it through Google Ads, as it provides data that you can download.

SEO is not just about keywords

Throughout this article, you have seen the importance of keywords for your website's SEO. Well, it is not the only important ranking factor you should consider.

Backlinks or links are also key. They are links that, strategically placed in the text of other websites, generate quality traffic to yours.

One way to obtain quality links is through Unancor. We have a new tool, which is more than a tool, it is a weapon to make a “Match” with your ideal medium.

Working on link building will improve your business's SEO, as it sends signals to Google about the authority and relevance of a website. This helps to rank your page in the top results of Google faster.

Appearing in authoritative media = Brand reputation and online traffic

This allows for more visibility (impressions), increases organic traffic (clicks), and consequently, an increase in business objectives and sales.

Tools for Keywords

There are thousands of tools that will allow you to search and analyze the best keywords for your business, especially with the arrival of artificial intelligence, which has introduced new or improved tools. 

• Kiwosan

Kiwosan is an SEO tool for keyword analysis, competitor research, and content ideas. Using it will improve your visibility in search engines. 

It stands out for its TF IDF analysis, which is a mathematical analysis that expresses how relevant a word is to the content of a website, relative to the frequency with which it appears on competitor websites.

• Semrush

Semrush is a tool for SEO and marketing and is mainly used to conduct very comprehensive keyword research.

This analysis covers everything from the study of a specific keyword, search volume, keyword difficulty, related keywords….

• Ahrefs

As we know, Ahrefs is one of the most comprehensive SEO tools available.

Among other functions, it serves for keyword analysis, discovers content ideas, analyzes your competition.

It also generates Alt attributes for images, titles, and meta descriptions, and content ideas with AI. All to improve the visibility of your projects in search engines.

• Keytrends .ai

KeyTrends is a content strategy SEO tool that allows you to detect new keywords to rank your website.

It is different from others because it shows you the keywords and topics that are growing the most on Google Trends. And it uses artificial intelligence to analyze the entire process.

• From Google

From the Google box, you can search for words and analyze competition without spending a dime. Also from the keyword planner. By creating a Google Ads account, you will find keyword suggestions and their search volume.

Conclusions:

And if you have made it this far, you will know what Keywords are and why they are important for SEO:

They are the words we use to search on Google and are the foundation on which any SEO strategy rests, so a good choice of keywords will serve as a link between the user and your website.

We hope you found this article useful!