Most likely, as part of a digital strategy, you have heard about the importance of having the site's keywords correctly optimized. But have you ever wondered why?
Let me talk to you a bit about what they are, why they are important, how to determine them, and where you should place them.
What are they?
Keywords are called in such a way because they are important words with which users can find a website in search engines like Google. When they search for some type of specific information, such as a product or a company that offers a certain service in their city.
Suppose you need to fumigate your house, so you start your Google search by typing “fumigation services in Monterrey”. Those are the keywords that should be on the site that offers such a service.
Because they are important?
Because they will allow you to increase traffic to your website, positioning it organically in search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo, since they will detect it as a relevant site in the searches carried out by users.
As there are many sites in the world, in your language, and in your region, it is important to correctly choose the keywords clustering with which you will position your website, since if you do not help search engines find it, they will not throw it among their results and it will be difficult for a potential client to know of your existence.
How to determine them?
As I mentioned in the example, it is important to start by thinking like your potential customers, that is, how they would search for the services or products that your company offers. If you don't know, interview some of your current clients about how they would search for your services. This will help you get a better idea.
Now suppose you have a site that offers apartments, at first you might think that your keyword is "apartment rental", but it is possible that by interviewing various clients, you discover that they search with "apartment rental".
Another good way to know the words with which you should position yourself is by reviewing the competition's sites and analyzing the words that repeat the most in their content, page titles, and URL.
Keyword types
There are two types of keywords: long tail and short tail.
The “long tail keywords” are those normally composed of a phrase, that is, a very specific search. For example: "how to bill with the new CFDI", "how to improve the positioning of my website", or "strategies to increase the sales of my company".
In general, these types of keywords are less competitive, since there are not many searches, which allows you to position yourself more easily, as long as it is something that your Buyer Persona is really interested in.
On the other hand, “short tail keywords” are made up of one or two very short words. For example: “flights to Cancun”, “restaurants”, “hotels”. Generally, these keywords tend to have a high search volume, which is why many companies in the industry integrate them into their websites, which makes them highly competitive and difficult for a new company to position itself with the same words.
Tools to determine keywords
Google, in addition to being the most used search engine, has an endless number of free tools that can help you when choosing your keywords.
In my case, the tool that works best for me to determine the potential of a keyword is the Keyword Planner, which is found within the Google Ads platform.
With this tool, you will be able to know the monthly search volume of the keyword, whether or not it is highly competitive, and in which months (according to the last year) that word is most searched for.
Another very good tool is Google Trends since with it you will be able to visualize the search index with a greater range of time, knowing better the seasonality of the keywords, and even being able to compare with other words. In the event of a peak in searches, the tool usually indicates why, whether it is due to a particular news item or event.
Where to insert the keywords?
Once you define the keywords that will help you better rank your site and increase traffic, it is important to integrate them into the following parts:
URL
It is advisable to include some keywords in the URL address of the corresponding page.
For example, if you offer "consulting services", probably within the website there is a page that explains it in detail, so its URL would go as follows: https://misitioweb.mx/servicios-de-consultoria.
Page title
It is also important that the name of the page goes according to the keyword with which you want to position yourself.
Continuing with the previous example, the name of the page could be "Consulting Services - Name of your company". That page title is the one that appears in the browser tab, above the URL.
H1,H2,H3
If you're not the administrator of the site, you probably don't know what it is. In summary, they are styles of titles within the text of your page with different levels of hierarchy, with H1 being the most important.
Again following the example, within the text, you would put in H1 the text "Consulting Services" followed by the explanation of the services.
inside the content
It will seem obvious, but it is worth saying that the keyword must be used within the content of the site. It is very important to place it naturally, because if it is used excessively, Google will penalize it.
meta description
This description itself is not visible when browsing the site, but it is visible when searching on Google, and that is that, in this description, you will indicate in a maximum of 160 characters what your page is about.
For example "We offer consulting services, where we support our clients at all times to..."
AltText
Usually, when you upload an image, it has a name something like “image11.jpg. However, when the mouse has hovered over the image, the name “image11.jpg” appears.
This is why it is important to add the Alt Text (alternative text), including the keyword as long as it is relevant. In this way, you not only modify the way in which the name appears but also how you appear in the image section on Google.
Keywords play a very important role in the digital strategies of companies, since, in addition to positioning your site in search engines like Google, they help you not to depend totally on advertising.
Have you ever wondered what would happen if you stopped your Google, Facebook, and/or LinkedIn advertising campaigns? Would your main source of prospects go down?
If your answer was yes, do not be alarmed, it is normal for companies that are beginning to enter a market to use advertising to position themselves and create a client portfolio, but it is recommended that you start optimizing your site in order to boost organic traffic and obtain prospects naturally.