More traffic means you’ll boost your business revenue, right?
Not necessarily.
Although an increase in traffic is beneficial, there’s no guarantee it’ll lead to a revenue increase. Drawing the wrong traffic could stall your revenue due to your content being presented to the wrong audience.
Alternatively, concentrate on receiving better quality traffic. One way of doing this is prioritizing ranking well for high internet keywords.
If you look at a Google search result, you’ll notice that the top results receive the most clicks. The first results get 31.7% CTR and is 10 times more popular than the rest.
Where would you rather be if you’re trying to grow your business, spot one or ten?
Exactly.
Taking this into consideration, here’s how keyword ranking for SEO works and how to choose the correct keywords for your content.
What Is Keyword Ranking in SEO?
You’ve probably heard the word “keyword” in SEO. Here’s a quick breakdown: A keyword is a singular word or phrase you enter into a search engine. Ideally, the search engine will show results that match what you’re looking for. Your “keyword ranking” indicates to your position the search results for a given search query.
Here are some basics about keywords:
- The average keywords draws in approximately 989 searchers per month.
- About 14.1% of keyword searched involve a question
- Keywords differ in length but the average is 1.9 words long.
For example, you sell electric hand mixers. Within your product category page you’ll need to include keywords which people may enter into Google to find your product. In this case, words such as: “buy electric hand mixer”
Remember, your keyword ranking is the spot your page occupies in the list of Google search results.
SEO, or “search engine optimization,” is a process of optimizing your content to improve your page ranking. Let’s go over why it’s so important!
Why Are SEO Keyword Rankings Important?
Organic search queries drive most website traffic. At least 53% of all website traffic comes from organic search queries.
By advancing your SEO keyword rankings, your website traffic will elevate.
If you want to boost your brand, it is a priority to have traffic that converts.
To snag the number one stop you must be strategic with the keywords you choose and how you’re using them in your digital marketing campaigns.
Data Points to Consider when Selecting SEO Keywords
The process of choosing suitable keywords is difficult, however here are some important data point to consider before choosing your keywords:
Search Volume
Search volume is one of the most important factors to consider if you’re looking to buy SEO traffic.
It reveals the popularity and competitiveness of a keyword, which will play a big role in your campaign whether you’re considering high or low-volume keywords.
Find the right balance of keywords to optimize, and you’ll have a more successful campaign that doesn’t cannibalize your other traffic sources.
CPC
The Cost-per-click is the amount you pay when someone clicks on paid ads.
You can see if high CPC terms are converting especially well or if your own organic traffic might convert low by looking at the CPC. Average CPC varies by industry but is often around $1.40 a click for travel companies and $8.67 a click for lawyers.
For some industries, it’s helpful to learn more about the average CPC range by comparing your competition.
If you do plan to invest in paid ads, remember :
- High birds might not see great ROI
- Low bids might not receive enough exposure for your ads
SEO Difficulty
SEO difficulty scores reflect how challenging it is to rank for a certain keyword.
A low SEO difficulty results in easier ranking for the keyword, but this could potentially mean there’s a low search volume.
A high SEO difficulty score means there’s heavy competition for the keyword. You might find it difficult to rank against larger competitors. By creating greater quality content, you’ll outrank your competitors.
Paid Difficulty
This refers to how easy or difficult it is to rank for a keyword in paid search results.
A high difficulty means you’ll pay more to rank for the key word, whereas low difficult keywords are easier to rank, therefore cost less. However, they may not be worth paying for.
How to Choose Keywords That Can Get You the Top Spot in Google Keyword Rankings
1. Research and Compile a List of Topics to Cover
When researching your audience’s questions, ask yourself what topics they care about. Look for common questions across several platforms to find popular topics that are in demand.
Platforms like Reddit, Quora and Answer the Public. Reddit has over 50 million daily users, therefore it’s a good starting point for researching questions.
Once you have a handful of topics in mind, create a list of potential questions to answer and keywords for these questions that you can use later in your content.
2. Plug Your Target Topics Into a Tool Like Ubersuggest
Research what topics your audience cares about and then answer their questions.
Tools like Ubersuggest can help you find lucrative keywords so you know where to focus your SEO efforts. Once you have content up and running, perform routine SEO audits to identify problems.
Ubersuggest is simple and easy to use, just type the phrase in and click search!
You’ll be able to identify how popular keywords are, in addition it’ll provide recommendations as to related keywords.
3. Drill Down Into the Data to Find the Best Keywords for Your Topics
How do you find the right keywords for your topics?
Again, Ubersuggest is perfect for this! The “Keyword Overview” section reveals your chosen keyword’s search volume, CPC and difficult score.
By clicking “Add to List” you’re able to add keywords into your research list. Furthermore, by clicking “Keywords Ideas” Ubersuggest will suggest related keywords.
Remember, there are no “right” keywords; however, you might opt for a mixture of types such as questions, short phrases and comparisons in order to boost variety, this is a great starting point.
Bonus Keyword Ranking SEO Tips and Best Practices
Here are five practical tips for boosting your Google keyword rankings in order to maximize your shot at being ranked #1.
1. Optimize for Featured Snippets
According to the research of SEMRush and Brado, at least 19% of search engine result pages (SERPs) have a featured snippet. They have taken the top spot almost 100% of the time. This means, as featured snippets become more popular, they’re changing search results.
The most important thing is to pick a keyword with great long-tail intent. Ideally, a long-tail keyword would be a question or request that people really want answers to, like “What is the best baby carrier?”. If you write an authoritative answer to that question, it’s very likely that you’ll get a featured snippet on their SERP. You can use tools like Ubersuggest to find long-tailed keywords.
2. Use the Primary Keyword Strategically
Picking your primary keyword is one of the most important decisions. Getting this right can make the difference between releasing a product that not only meets goals but exceeds expectations.
One of the best ways to use this primary keyword is in the page title. To optimize your SEO and improve the overall effectiveness of your product, make sure you use the keyword in your title, make it memorable, and try to include it often in the rest of your page.
Be careful not to stuff keywords in your content, as excessive use could damage your SEO and affect your rankings.
3. Optimize Meta Descriptions
A meta description of a page summarizes its content. When optimized, it explains what your page is about, which could potentially generate better-targeted traffic.
How to optimize your own meta descriptions
- Use your primary keyword in the meta
- Keep your meta description under 160 characters
- Include a CTA when trying to sell the contents of the linked page
4. Streamline Your Page Speed
A page that takes more than four seconds to load will have low conversion rates, according to Portent’s research. Bouncing from a site after five seconds will cause a drop of 4.42 percent per second, and 78 percent of websites have a load time of five seconds or less. A slow loading time can also damage your SEO.
You can optimize your page performance, but keep in mind that optimizing every part of your website may have unintended side effects.
PageSpeed Insights helps to analyze and test current page speeds, with just one simple input of your URL.
Compressing images, deleting unnecessary plugins and caching pages to reduce load time are adjustments you can make in order to optimize your website’s speed.
5. Use Anchor Text With Keywords
Anchor text is a feature which takes the reader from one page to another. It should provide context as to what the linked page includes.
Google recommends using no more than a few words for anchor texts. Around 50% of your inner-page clickable text should contain keyword variations.
Using a variation of keywords within for inner pages will help to avoid keyword stuffing and compromising readability by forcing your keywords to match exactly. URL anchors should be short and concise.
Conclusion: SEO Keyword Rankings
Prioritize your keyword rankings for SEO. No one wants to be on page three just because they choose the wrong keywords.
Give the suggested SEO tools a go!
