Strong keywords lead to higher conversion rates

Keywords

Keywords and search phrases are the words a searcher uses to find answers to the problems or challenges that your company or products/services offer to solve.

The vast majority of searches today consist of multiple words or an entire phrase. We enter multiple words because we know that by doing so, we narrow down the search results and most likely weed out a lot of irrelevant search results.

When defining your keywords, you should start by considering

• Which keyword covers what your site is about?

• Are there any related words that can be used in your text to avoid misusing your keywords?

• What search phrases or questions do you think your target audience will use in a search?

You need to think outside the box and spend time formulating one or more questions to the answers your content provides. You have the answer, but the task is to find the question and the search phrases that could relate to it.

Search intent

Another important task in keyword optimisation is to understand the user and identify the intent of a given search. Where in the buying decision are they? In what context are they making their search. What mindset do they have in the context in which the search is being made?

Search intent can generally be broken down into three categories:

Navigational: Company, brand, store or domain searches.
Informational: Research, question-orientated and solution-seeking.
Transactional: Product-seeking and ready to buy.

Actively use your keywords in the texts

Finding the right balance between too little and too much when it comes to using keywords in your texts can be a tricky exercise. Google's algorithms are intelligent and can easily identify if you 'misuse' your keywords to such an extent that it disrupts the meaning or otherwise provides a poor reading experience - and you will be 'penalised' for it.

But because Google's algorithms are intelligent, they also recognise that one word has different meanings depending on context and culture, and that multiple words can have similar meanings. Therefore, you should make a list of related keywords, i.e. words that have the same meaning or are in the same ballpark as your keywords and use them actively in your texts. This way, you get a more varied use of language without repeating yourself.

Your organic content texts - anything that isn't disguised as advertising - are primarily measured by the value it creates for the reader and the behaviour that readers have when they interact with the content. The rule of thumb is that if the readers are happy - so are the search bots and Google will eventually reward you with a good ranking in the search results.

What defines proper keywords?

Some keywords are more popular than others. Popular keywords can potentially drive a lot of traffic to your site, but on the other hand, there is also a lot of competition for the best rankings for these keywords.

A strong keyword is both indicative of the content on your site and relevant to the intention behind a user search.

The right keywords are highly relevant to the user

If users don't experience relevance from the page they land on after a given search, they will quickly click back to the search results, rather than staying on the page and ultimately buying a product or responding to a CTA. This action - repeatedly returning to the search result without seeing other content - is called pogo sticking.

Pogo sticking is a direct signal to search engines that the user has not found relevance in the content on the page they visited.

Strong keywords have better conversion rates

There is a clear correlation between the length of a keyword phrase and the number of conversions on the site. The longer the keyword phrase, the higher the conversion rate.

Conversion happens the moment a visitor takes a specific action on your website or webshop. An action that you have defined in advance as a goal.

If the user finds their way to your site and finds that the content matches and provides the answers they were initially looking for, there is a high probability that a conversion will occur and a new customer is within reach.