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Keyword analysis: How to choose the right keywords to rank on

SEO stands for 'search engine optimization'. Put simply, it’s about optimising a page’s visibility in search engines such as Google, Bing and others. The more visibility your pages receive in the search results, the more likely people are to click your page and see what you have to offer.

A fundamental key to increasing visibility in search results is performing a so-called keyword analysis. The purpose of a keyword analysis is to understand which search terms people use in search engines to find your products, services and content. After that, you can analyse, compare and prioritise which keywords your website should try to rank on.

Let’s look at some factors that can help you choose the right keywords.

28 April 2022

Anton Karlsson

Growth Manager at Piktiv AB

Sökmotoroptimering del 1 – en bloggserie i samarbete med Piktiv

1. Keyword Volume

When choosing which keywords to rank on, it is important to check the volume of the keywords. Ranking number one on a keyword without meaningful volumes is not useful. So of course you want to make sure that the number of searches is high enough.

With the help of tools such as SEMrush, External link.you can easily calculate the average number of searches per month for the keywords you have identified. If the keyword volume meets your requirements, it’s time to investigate the competition.

2. Competition

Competition is about how difficult it is to rank organically on your selected keyword. The competition of the keyword largely depends on the market, niche and how popular it is.

Assessing competition can save time and resources in the long run. If you try to rank on a keyword with high competition, it can take a long time and a lot of work. On the other hand, a keyword with low competition is more likely to rank faster.

There are several tools available, such as SEMrush External link. that offer estimates of the difficulty of ranking on keywords. These estimates help you to better assess which keywords you should prioritise.

3. Trend

Another factor that can be useful to evaluate is how a keyword is trending in popularity. By considering the keyword trend, you can assess whether and when it may be appropriate to rank on a keyword.

Usually there are seasonal keywords whose volume varies by season. For example, these could be keywords related to Christmas or New Year that will naturally have higher volumes around those times.

In other cases, there may be keywords that have more persistent trends, and this may be an indication of both declining and increasing interest. Then assess whether you think the trend will continue or whether it is a temporary upturn or downturn.

4. Relevance

Of course, you want to rank as high as possible on keywords, but you also need to rank on the right keywords. When you choose which keywords you want to focus on, it is therefore important to start with the relevance they have to your company and the market in which you operate.

Let’s say you’re running a brokerage agency. For obvious reasons, you will want to rank on keywords such as “home sales” and “sell home”. On the other hand, it is probably not as relevant to rank on broader keywords as “house” or “apartment”.

The content on your page must always match the keyword’s intent to rank high. Because Google values relevance. It is therefore crucial that the content responds to the intent behind the keyword. Your brokerage agency must therefore create content about “selling homes”.

Summary:

As a rule of thumb, a well-thought-out keyword should have a combination of high volume and relevance, as well as low competition. The trend should preferably be positive or stable, but the important thing is rather that it is not a temporary interest that decreases drastically or continues downwards.

If you succeed in finding keywords that follow the above guidelines, you have the fundamental prerequisites for creating targeted content that engages the reader and ultimately leads to more conversions.

Once you have compiled and selected the keywords that meet your criteria, it is a good idea to prioritise which ones you think the web has the greatest potential and opportunity to rank on. Then it’s time for the next step — to create targeted content and so-called on-page SEO. More about this in the next blog post!