Keywords, the Holy Grail of better website rankings on any search engine.” You must include keywords in your content to rank better in the search results,” a statement all website content writers have heard before.

Knowing that you should add keywords to your content and having the proper knowledge about researching and choosing different keywords are two completely different things; if one is an apple, the other is orange.

Almost 26.9 percent of mobile users end up clicking on the first result in their search query.

Close to 91 percent of web pages receive no organic traffic from Google.

Look at the contrast between these two statistics, and it won’t take you long to figure out that web pages ranked on the third or the fourth page in search results hardly get any organic traffic.

The farther your web page is from the first web page in the search results, the lesser is its chances of generating any organic traffic.

According to Ahrefs, they discover 1.8 million additional/new web pages using their tools every day.

If many web pages are being created every 24 hours, do your web pages even have a chance of getting ranked on the first page of a search result?

The answer to this question will depend upon the kind of content these web pages hold. I hope it doesn’t sound too cliché when I say, “Keywords hold the key to your success,” at least for ranking your content within this sea of content which is quickly transforming into an ocean.

Now that you have gotten a pretty good idea of what you’ll learn in this article let’s start with our first tip.

Target Low competition keywords

If you are just starting and have no idea what kind of keywords to target, your instincts will tell you to write about the things people are most searching about. And right here is the most common mistake that website writers make when choosing a primary keyword for writing their content.

Everyone wants to write on the hot issues or hot topics in hopes that some of the traffic will trickle down to them from the top search results. But in reality, internet users hardly ever click on the web pages presented on the 10th or 11th page of their search results. 

It is better to target a keyword with a search volume of five thousand searches per month and a keyword difficulty or SEO difficulty of 10 or less than targeting a keyword with keyword difficulty of 50 plus and a search volume of 5 million searches per month.

If you target a low-difficulty keyword, your web page will have a better chance of getting ranked on the first page in relevant search results. Since web pages on the first page of search result gain almost all the traffic, you’ll have a better shot at generating organic traffic.

Ranking for competitive keywords is almost impossible if you are just starting your journey. However, even if your website has been up and running for many years, ranking for competitive keywords will be a lot more difficult than you think.

Target long-tail keywords

If you have been working on the SEO of your website for quite some time now, chances are you already know what a long-tail keyword is.

In case anyone present here is unaware of this term, Let me explain it to you.

Long-tail keywords are keyword phrases. They are made up of three or more words. Long-tail keywords are targeted towards more specific topics, and they include many short-tail keywords within them.

For your convenience, let’s look at some examples. 

“Apple” is a short-tail keyword, and “Honey crisp apples” is a long-tail keyword.

“School” is a short-tail keyword, and “Primary schools in Addison” is a long-tail keyword.

“Mobile phone” is a short-tail keyword, and “Mobile phones under $800” is a long-tail keyword.

As you can see from the examples above, long-tail keywords are targeted towards more specific search queries, and short-tail keywords are targeted more generally.

What I have typed in the search bar is an example of a short-tail keyword, and all the auto-complete suggestions provided by Google are long-tail keywords.

Auto-complete is a great tool for generating free long-tail keyword ideas.

Out of all the web searches, almost 70 percent contain long-tail keywords.

You can search for low competition long-tail keywords using any paid or free keyword research tool you prefer.

Target Questions

What happens every single time you are stuck on a problem and can’t seem to find the right answer?

You open up your laptop, computer, or mobile phone and search for a solution using Google, Bing, or any other search engine.

People often do searches like” Why is my mobile phone getting stuck?”, “Why is my geyser not heating the water?” or “What laptop should I buy?”

I bet you have done similar searches to the ones mentioned above.

Just like us, our targeted audience also searches for answers to their queries through the web.

This presents a great opportunity for web content writers. Almost all of the keyword research tools allow you to generate ideas for questions regarding your primary keyword.

If you type in computer in the keyword search bar, press enter, and then choose “Questions,” the keyword generator will present you with commonly searched questions regarding your keyword.

For example, if you type in “Computer” in the keyword search bar and search for questions. Keyword generator will come up with results like “What are the best computers you can buy in 2021?” or “Should I replace my Core i3 computer with a Core i5 one?”

Once the results are displayed, you can go through them to find low competition topics and start writing your content.

You can also find these question keywords through Google Auto-complete

Just type in “What,” “Where,” “When,” or any other question word followed by your targeted keyword like “computer,” “school,” or “life.” And Google auto-complete will suggest some question keywords you can choose from.

Target comparison keywords

Comparison keywords are used by consumers looking for a comparison between two different products to find the best fit for themselves. Unfortunately, as frequently as these comparison keywords are searched, many web content writers are still unaware of their existence and use.

This provides a great opportunity for you to capitalize.

These comparison keywords contain words like” versus” and “or.” 

  • HP vs. Dell
  • Android vs. IOS
  • 9 to 5 job vs. Freelancing
  • Apple vs. Samsung
  • Dishwasher or washing machine, which one should I buy first
  • Laser printer vs. an Inkjet printer

Are examples of comparison keywords.

If you have a fairly new product that you want your potential customers to know about, just add your product at the end of these comparisons and tell your customers why they should choose your product over the more popular ones you have compared in your blog or article.

Most keyword tools give you the option of generating comparison keyword ideas based on your primary keyword.

Generate comparison keyword ideas and choose the one with a good search volume and low SEO difficulty.

Target keywords containing prepositions

Prepositions are words like at, on, of, and to; these words are used to add some kind of description to the subject. Keywords containing prepositions are more elaborate; they show up in very specific search results, which is why web content writers usually ignore them.

If you target keywords with prepositions, your web page will have a good chance of showing up on the first page of search results. Just like questions and comparisons, keyword research tools allow you to generate keyword ideas containing prepositions.

See in the image above, this keyword research tool has generated ideas for keywords containing prepositions, for the primary keyword “iMac.”

Take a look at the examples given below to clear any confusion

  • Computer for gamers
  • Laptop for students
  • Bags for women
  • schools near me
  • Schools in New York.

Bottom Line

There is a huge difference between knowing that you should use keywords for a better search engine ranking and having the knowledge on how to research and use these keywords.

Keywords are a very powerful tool, but only if they are correctly used. Unfortunately, ranking your web pages for keywords is not easy, but if you try a couple of tricks that SEO experts swear by, you can hit the jackpot.

If you are just starting your journey, Low competition keywords should be your way forward. Including questions, prepositions, and comparisons as keywords in your content can increase its chance of ranking on the first page of search results.

What techniques and tricks do you use to find keywords for your content?

Author