Keyword research is foundational for effective SEO. Three pillars underpin this process: relevance, search volume, and difficulty score. Understanding these can steer you towards keywords that enhance visibility and drive organic traffic. Here's a succinct breakdown:
1. Keyword Relevance:
Ensures a keyword resonates with your main products and services, your website's content, and your target audience.
Directly impacts user engagement, conversion potential, and search rankings.
Goal: Keywords should mirror your company's offering, your audience's needs and their search intent.
2. Keyword Search Volume:
Reflects average monthly searches for a keyword.
A high volume signifies robust interest but may also hint at intense competition.
Low volume signifies reduced interest but may mean less competition.
Important - think about the average order value; if a keyword for a particular service has a low volume, but the service has a high order value, then it may be very well worth pursuing!
3. Keyword Difficulty Score:
A metric (0-100) indicates the challenge of ranking for a keyword.
Accounts for factors like competing content quality and domain authority.
Rule of thumb: Prioritize lower-scoring keywords for a better chance of higher rankings.
In summary, for effective keyword research, align keyword relevance with audience needs, balance search volume with competition, and consider the difficulty score to optimize for better SERP positioning.