If you have some search engine optimization (SEO) basics under your belt, then you probably know something about keyword research. For those who need a refresher, keyword research is the process of figuring out what terms your target audience is likely to type into a search engine when looking for your services, content, and products. It then involves analyzing those keywords to find the best opportunities for your site
While keyword research was once thought of as the most important part of SEO, there seems to have been a shift in the SEO community lately. Some people are out there writing about how “keywords are dead” and the like. It’s enough to make anyone wonder: is keyword research still important?
Absolutely! While you may not be able to use basic keyword research to your advantage like you used to, that doesn’t mean that it’s not still important. Let’s discuss this idea further below.
Why are People Saying that “Keywords are Dead”?
In a nutshell, people are exaggerating some of the changes that Google has made to their algorithm throughout the years. See, Google’s latest updates have been putting more emphasis on ranking those websites with authoritative, unique, quality content over those that are full of low-quality content. This means that keyword stuffing and other similarly unacceptable practices will no longer get you the positive bump in search engine results page (SERP) rankings that it may have in the past.
People seem to think that since Google is putting less of an emphasis on keywords in their rankings, it makes them less important. However, this simply isn’t true. Keyword usage and best practices have just evolved, meaning there are still ways to benefit from this research. You may just need to use it differently than you have in the past.
Why is Keyword Research Still Important?
There are some important reasons why you should still be making keyword research a priority for your website. Check them out below.
It Tells You About Your Target Audience
You may think you know your target audience pretty well, but it can be risky to make assumptions. If you’re going to base a part of your marketing strategy off of your keyword guesses and you’re wrong, then you’ve wasted a lot of time and effort.
By doing keyword research, you can use real data to tailor your marketing strategy to your target audience. It can help you understand what they think about your product, content, or service, what they consider to be important, and how often they search for particular keywords relating to your website. Where else are you going to get this kind of information?
It’s Essential for Your Content Management Strategy
Keyword research also gives you an idea regarding what people want to know about your brand. This is essential for developing relevant, useful, unique content for your website, which is exactly what Google is looking for with its updated algorithm.
Remember, you can’t just stuff your content full of relevant keywords and hope for the best anymore. You need to come up with engaging content about the keywords to help improve visitor engagement and conversions. It’s this kind of quality content that’ll ultimately improve your rankings on SERPs.
Need some help with keyword research and/or creating quality content? Contact us at Brand Builders today!
