What are Keywords For

If you have looked at websites, search engines or just played around on the internet you have more than likely come across the term ‘keywords’. But exactly what are keywords for or more importantly what are they used for and how can they benefit you and your website or blog. Let me explain.

I load up Google and in the search box I enter laundry services in Dublin. Within seconds Google shows me a list of different website that are most closely linked to my search. Now what has made these particular entries come up higher in the list?

Web designers and content creators will use various strategic methods to ensure the words in their website match the words you search for thus arriving top of the list of available options. If you have the most closely matched keywords appearing on your site then you will most likely be the service they choose to utilise. There are a few different steps to optimise your use of keywords for the experienced amongst you but for a newbie here’s how to keep it simple:

You have a website about baking cakes at home and regularly post an article about various recipes, ideas and tips. However you notice that not many people are landing on your website so what can you do about it?

The good news is that good keyword usage doesn’t have to cost you anything. Your latest article is about chocolate brownies and as far as you are concerned it’s one of your best pieces so far. However herein lays the problem. People searching for “chocolate brownies” will be shown all the big players and bakers on page one of Google because they are a lot more established than your site and if you are lucky you may be on page twenty or so.

Note: These big players will have paid to have the privilege of their website coming up higher for that particular keyword search so unless you have money to blow don’t even think about competing with them for the keyword “chocolate brownies”.

This is where you have to play clever. You have to find another keyword that still relates to your brownies but has less competition such as “handmade soft chocolate brownies” or “chocolate brownies with a twist”. Now when someone types in one of these phrases the chances are that not many of your competition has used these exact same terms so your website should rank a lot higher than it did before.

Of course there are many other factors that decide the actual ranking such as  how old your site is, the amount of relevant content plus factors Google won’t even disclose but at least you need to get these basics right.

With constant use of good (clever) keywords your own site will begin to rank higher and higher resulting in increased traffic and greater revenue.

There are alternative ways of attracting traffic but they cost money, sometimes a lot of money, as it involves bidding against bigger players with more money than you, so for now just focus on what can benefit you at minimal cost or no cost.

For more help on finding the right keywords check out my previous article.