Among all the factors that rule the SEO performance of any website, keywords undoubtedly play a highly crucial role.
SEO keywords are the keywords or phrases that can increase the number of visitors to a website by ranking on the first page of google. The intent is the primary reason why SEO is the most popular technique trusted by the inbound marketing channels. The data collected from various sources in recent years proves true.
When the appropriate keyword research tool is employed, it can help websites attract twice the volume of searches compared to other marketing channels. However, when done wrong, SEO rankings can be impacted severely. So it is vital to steer clear of mistakes in the SEO keyword research efforts.
What are the most common mistakes to avoid in your SEO keyword research?
- Giving importance to keywords that are not relevant
The SEO strategy will be of no use if you fail to meet the expectation of potential users. Choosing the wrong keyword would decrease site traffic and the conversation rate.
- Ignoring long-tail keywords
Ignoring long-tail keywords can block your content from occurring in the search results, decreasing site traffic. Long keywords generally have too many details and less search volume. It is always advised to go for keyword phrases that contain a minimum of three to five words, as they have been observed to be the most effective ones in terms of SEO performance.
- Fail to analyze competitors
One must not skip the competitive analysis as this is the most crucial SEO activity. Creating keywords or phrases without analyzing the competitors will lead to less site traffic and fail to appear on the primary rankings. Therefore, it is important to understand your competitive landscape and choose the right keyword to rank up and beat the competitors. If the competitors are ranking extremely high, it is better to choose other keywords.
- Pass over search intent
It is important to understand the search intent, and there is no specific tool to measure the search intent directly; therefore, digital marketers must stay extremely alert. The actual need of the internet user and what they are searching for could be interpreted by closely observing the organic search results in the most preferred search engine, mostly Google. Autosuggestions could find you related keywords belonging to the same niche. This will provide access to more keywords and phrases to consider in your blog.
- Ignoring local keywords
Ignoring local keywords can be another critical mistake as most companies fail to observe the significant importance between global and local keywords. If you are involved in regional business, the target audience belongs to your locale; hence it is best to use local keywords to attain maximum traffic. This mistake can be avoided by filtering your keyword based on location using the keyword tool and closely observing the geographic search word or term.
- Keeping a single keyword as the only anchor
Another big mistake is keeping a single keyword, as it is difficult to rank one-word terms. Keywords that consist of a single word are highly competitive and too general, and above all, short-tailed keywords are deprived of content. This mistake can be avoided by composing a long keyword list concentrating on the users’ intent to reach the target audience faster. Make sure to use additional words that mainly focus on the user’s intent.
- No differentiation between singular and plural
Not distinguishing between singular and plural is the most common mistake observed. It is of supreme importance to distinguish both singular and plural because they do not compete for website traffic, and Google considers singular and plural keywords separately.
- permitting the clients to select the keywords
The client’s list of keywords can be used as a reference and not the primary source of keywords. Generally, the clients suggest highly competitive terms. It is important to do keyword research and check for competitions because keywords should be strictly based on data and not vanity.
- Avoiding conversation customers
In some cases, the terms we prefer to describe the products and company services may not be the same as those used by the customers. Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to customer service lass, record feedbacks, and analyze reviews collected by engaging with the customers.