Keywords are at the base of every search engine optimization strategy. When someone wants to find information online, they’re searching anywhere from 1-5+ words, known as keywords, to find what they’re looking for.
Learn the basics of keywords, how they work, and the role they play in the modern search landscape.
- What Are Keywords in SEO?
- Why Are Keywords Important for SEO?
- What Are the Types of SEO Keywords?
- How to Interpret Keyword Metrics for SEO
- How to Integrate Keywords for SEO
What are keywords in SEO?
Keywords are the words or phrases people use in search engines to find what they need. They can be as short as “apple pie” and as long as “how to make homemade apple pie.”
Why are keywords important for SEO?
Keywords are critical for your SEO strategy for multiple reasons:
- They determine where you appear in search results: It’s simple — what keywords you target determines where your brand shows up. Keywords play an important role in determining how you reach people when they’re searching for related information online.
- They show the relevance of your page: Keywords help provide context to your page. They tell search engines and users what your page focuses on, which ultimately helps users determine if they should click on your page.
- They help you show up better in search results: Repeated use of keywords and related keywords helps you tell search engines that your page is a good fit for the search results.
- They drive leads that turn into sales: Keywords are what people use to find relevant products or services. Your usage of them helps to drive leads looking for what you offer, which can ultimately result in sales for your business.
Do keywords still matter for AI search?
Keywords are still important to target for AI search, but they need to be expanded. You don’t want to just target the keywords, but rather, targeting question and prompt versions of them to help with AI optimization.
AI search is shifting the way people search, with more people typing in full questions or paragraphs of information into these AI engines. It doesn’t mean you abandon keywords all together (they’re still really important for traditional search), but instead, expand upon them and target question and prompt-based versions.
For example, you may target the keyword “best apple pie recipe” for traditional search, while also targeting things like “What is the best apple pie recipe with homemade pie crust?” or “What is the best apple pie recipe that only uses a few ingredients?”
Your keywords can help serve as a baseline that helps you figure out what prompts to target for AI engines.
What are types of SEO keywords are there?
There are four types of SEO keywords:
- Navigational: The user is looking for a specific website, such as “Facebook.”
- Informational: The user needs more information and searches a term like “how to bake a cake.”
- Commercial: The user is searching for specific information to make a purchase, like “gyms near me.”
- Transactional: The user is looking to make a purchase and may search for “couches for sale.”
Along with two keyword categories:
- Short-tail keywords: These keywords are only one or two words long. A keyword like “apple pie” or “Facebook” are short-tail keywords.
- Long-tail keywords: A long-tail keyword contains three or more words and is sometimes a full sentence. They are naturally more specific due to their length. For example, someone may search for “best Italian restaurants in New York,” which is more detailed than “best restaurants.”
How to interpret keyword metrics for SEO
Before exploring how to find SEO keywords, it’s important to understand keyword metrics:
| Métrico | Significado | Expert Insights |
| Volume | The number of estimated times a keyword is searched for (typically each month) | Focus on qualified search volume. You’ll see better results downstream (in the form of leads or online sales) with this approach. |
| Difficulty | The difficulty in ranking for a given keyword, with higher scores indicating a higher difficulty | Build a rounded SEO program. You’ll have a stronger website when you prioritize on-page, off-page, and technical SEO.
P.S. If you really want to appear for these terms, but don’t have the SEO strength, consider paid ads. |
| Cost per click (CPC) | The average cost per click paid by advertisers for that term | Use this metric to demonstrate SEO value. In most cases, transactional keywords will have the highest CPC value. |
How to find SEO keywords
Learn how to find SEO keywords for your search engine optimization program now:
- Get a Keyword Research Tool
- Source Ideas
- Determine Search Intent
- Gather Keyword Metrics
- Build a Keyword Map
- Prioritize Optimizations
1. Get a keyword research tool
While not required, a keyword research tool is highly recommended for finding keywords for SEO. That’s because these tools provide helpful vetting data — like search volume and difficulty — which will make your job easier.
There are plenty of free research tools available, too, including:
You can even use Google Search Console — if you’re already receiving site traffic — to see what phrases people are using to find your site’s content. Of course, this tool works best for websites with dozens of URLs.
2. Source ideas
Next, start sourcing ideas, like from:
- Client-facing teams, like sales, customer support, or customer success
- Online forums
- Online reviews
- Online groups
- Competitor websites
If you’re familiar with your company and its industry, brainstorm some ideas by asking:
- What are our most popular and/or in-demand products?
- What problems do our solutions solve?
- What features define our ideal customer profile (ICP)?
- What are some current talking points or trends in the industry?
- What questions do people ask our client-facing teams the most?
When you understand your target market and business purpose, you can generate dozens of ideas for your website. The challenge is prioritizing — and producing — the content for these keywords.
3. Determine search intent
You’ve gathered some topic ideas.
Now, start investigating their search intent — what are users looking for when they search these terms on Google, Bing, and other search engines? The best way to understand search intent is to look at the search results!
For example, look at:
- The top-ranking pages, like what questions they answer (and in what order)
- The search features, like whether there are product ads or a local 3-pack
- The other search results, like for images or videos
Based on this information, decide if the search intent is relevant to your business. Will ranking for this keyword benefit your search engine optimization goals, like generating qualified traffic, backlinks, or leads?
If not, remove the topic from your list.
4. Gather keyword metrics
Next, use your preferred keyword research tool to start gathering keyword metrics, like:
- Volume de pesquisa
- Dificuldade da palavra-chave
- Keyword cost per click
You’ll often find some of your keyword ideas have search volume — and others don’t.
It’s important to note that zero-volume keywords are still valuable, and can often uncover terms with search volume. If you’re using a free keyword research tool like Keywords Everywhere, for example, it’ll suggest similar terms that have search volume.
Paid keyword research tools, like Ahrefs, can streamline this process even more.
Ahrefs, for example, allows you to enter a URL and view its keyword rankings — meaning, you can take the highest-ranking URL for a keyword idea and view its rankings to uncover more relevant (or higher-volume) terms.
In our experience, the most common mistake we see at this stage is focusing too much on search volume — and not enough on a keyword’s potential. Just because a keyword has thousands of searches per month doesn’t mean it’ll drive qualified traffic.
Not to mention, high-volume keywords are also more competitive, which can put them out of reach for less-established websites. So, remember to consider keyword relevance when selecting which queries to target.
5. Build a keyword map
A keyword map is like a mini family tree — it shows the parent and child keywords for a given URL. For example, a URL with the parent keyword (also called a core or focus keyword) “how to tie a tie” might target child keywords (also called related keywords) like:
- best way to tie a tie
- how to tie a neck tie
- how to tie a tie step by step
These additional SEO keywords expand a URL’s potential reach by supporting the different ways users search, like being more conversational, detailed, or brief. You can find related keywords using the earlier strategies for finding a parent or core keyword.
6. Prioritize optimizations
Finally, make some tough decisions.
While AI has helped optimize some SEO tasks, search engine optimization still requires some work on your part 😉. So, you’ll need to decide where to focus your time when it comes to producing content topics and adding their SEO keywords.
In most cases, businesses focus on their revenue-driving content first.
Keep Reading: Keyword Research Guide
How to integrate keywords for SEO
When it comes to integrating keywords for SEO, this table can help:
| Localização | Keyword to integrate |
| Tag de título | Core keyword |
| Meta descrição | Core and/or related keyword(s) |
| H1 heading | Core keyword |
| H2 headings | Core or related keyword |
| Body copy | Core and related keywords |
Keep Reading: On-Page SEO Guide
Need help finding keywords?
A keyword-focused SEO strategy is one of the best things you can have to get more website traffic and increase sales. However, it requires extensive keyword research and keyword optimization.
Try our free keyword generator. No login is required to use our keyword research tool – and you’ll get keyword ideas instantly.
Gerador de palavras-chave gratuito
Gere até 50 sugestões de palavras-chave personalizadas com dados essenciais, como volume de pesquisa, dificuldade da palavra-chave e CPC – sem necessidade de login!
At SEO.com, we have all the resources you need to grow your knowledge of SEO topics, such as keywords. Check out our ultimate keyword research guide today to learn how to find the right keywords for your website. Also, take a look at our beginner’s SEO guide to discover more about SEO in general.
If you’d like to leave all the keyword work up to the professionals, view our SEO services and contact us to get a free SEO proposal! WebFX — the company behind SEO.com — has helped thousands of businesses get real results through SEO, and we’d love to do the same for you.
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