The essence of keywords
Keywords keywords in seo and ppc advertising: from basics to advanced strategies
— are words or phrases that users enter into search engines to find information, products or services.
You could say it’s a reflection of your audience’s needs and intentions. When a user types “buy Nike Air Max sneakers,” they’re not just looking for information – they’re ready to buy. Understanding these nuances is critical to a successful strategy.
Why are keywords needed in SEO and advertising?
Why Keywords Are Neede in SEO and Advertising.jpeg
Search Engine Optimization: Well-chosen keywords help search engines understand the topic of your content. This does not mean stuffing them everywhere – natural usage is important.
Intent research: By analyzing keywords, you are reading the minds of users. “How to choose running shoes” and “buy marathon running shoes” are different queries with different intents.
Precise targeting: In contextual advertising, keywords allow you to show ads to those who are interested in them. This saves budget and increases the email data effectiveness of campaigns.
Competitor Analysis: By studying your competitors’ keywords, you can find new niches and ideas for development. Keywords in SEO and PPC Advertising: From Basics to Advanced Strategies
Content structuring: Keywords help create a logical structure for your website and individual pages. Structur content with clear keyword emphasis helps users perceive information more easily.
Performance Measurement: By tracking keyword rankings, you can see how your SEO strategy is working. Metrics like click-through rates (CTR), search engine rankings, and conversion rates can be use to adjust your approach and improve results.
Keyword Tools
Keyword Tools.jpeg
Modern tools make working with keywords much easier:
Yandex Wordstat : Excellent tool for analyzing keywords from Yandex.
Google Keyword Planner : Essential for working with Google Ads and evaluating search volume, mainly suitable for those who are engaged in promotion for the foreign market.
Ahrefs : Allows you to analyze competitors’ keywords and find new ideas. The downside is that the subscription is very expensive, but there are bots in Telegram that allow you to make one-time requests to the Ahrefs database.
Yandex Webmaster : Relatively recently, it has added “Query selection and market analysis” through which you can also view demand, competition, and pages that are displayed in search results for these words.
SEMrush : A complete SEO and PPC solution including keyword analysis.
The choice of tool depends on your tasks and budget. Often, using a combination of tools gives the best result.
Keywords are divided into several types:
Commercial (transactional) queries are aimed at encouraging action, for example, “buy a smartphone”, “order food”.
Informational ones are used to search for information: “how to choose a bike”, “what is SEO”.
Keywords are also classified by purpose:
Navigational – to find a specific site or page, for example, “login to your Google account”;
Branded – contain the brand name, for example “Apple iPhone”;
Generalized – broad queries such as “smartphone”, “car”;
Geo-dependent queries – take into account the user’s location, for example, “buy an apartment in Moscow”;
Seasonal – popular at a certain time of year, for example, “New Year gifts”;
Flashing – temporary queries that are losing relevance, for example “Olympics 2024”;
Types of frequencies according to Wordstat.jpeg
Search volume shows how often users enter specific queries, which helps to assess the potential of a keyword in an advertising or SEO campaign.
Yandex Wordstat classifies the frequency of keywords, initially shows the basic frequency, but there are others.
Base frequency
Base frequency is the total volume of queries for a keyword, without taking into account the word order or additional specifications. This is the most general indicator, which does not give a complete picture of the use of the keyword, but helps to understand the general interest in the topic.
Phrase frequency
The refined frequency takes into account only those queries that contain words from the key phrase, taken in quotation marks. The word order may vary things to consider when translating subtitles and the endings of these words may differ. In Yandex Wordstat, such queries are enclosed in quotation marks.
Example: “buy a bicycle”.
Accurate frequency
Same as phrasal, only endings in words are also taken into account. In Wordstat . Such queries are processed using exclamation marks before each word and quotation marks. This helps to estimate how often users search for specific phrases in a given form. Keywords in SEO and PPC Advertising: From Basics to Advanced Strategies
Example: “!buy !a bicycle”.
Specified frequency
Very precise frequency covers queries where keywords are not only used in a precise form, but also in a precise order. In Wordstat, such queries are enclosed in square brackets and contain exclamation marks before each word. This allows for the most accurate determination of the actual popularity of a query.
Example: [“!buy !a !children’s bicycle”].
Keyword Effectiveness Index (KEI)
As a bonus, let’s look at the Keyword Effectiveness Index (KEI).
There are several popular formulas for calculating KEI:
KEI = (1000*P^2/C), where P is the number of direct queries per day, and C is the total number of pages for this query in the search engine index.
KEI = ((Frequency + [!refined !frequency]) / (frequency + 0.01) – 1) * 100.
In simple terms, KEI calculates the by lists balance between competition and demand. In the first formula, competition is determined by the total number of pages, and in the second, by the base frequency. Demand, in turn, reflects the frequency of requests. Keywords in SEO and PPC Advertising: From Basics to Advanced Strategies
Types of CS by frequency of use
High-frequency (HF) : High search volume, high competition. Example: “buy a phone”. High-frequency queries can be more than 1000 queries per month.
Mid-frequency (MF) : Mid-frequency queries are the golden mean between volume and competition. Example: “buy a smartphone for up to 30,000 rubles.” The frequency of use of such queries can be from 100 to 1000 times per month.
Low-frequency (LF) : Low search volume, but high conversion. Low-frequency queries are, for example, phrases such as “buy iPhone 13 Pro Max 256GB green”. The frequency of use can be from 1 to 100 queries per month.
By level of competition
Highly competitive : Difficult to rank for, but potentially high traffic. Often these are general queries in popular niches.
These words have a limited number of sites that are already optimized for them. They are usually less popular queries or more specific phrases. Examples include localize queries or niche topics.
Advantages: easier to get high positions in search results, lower advertising costs.
Medium competitive : Optimal balance between difficulty of promotion and potential traffic.
This category includes queries for which a significant number of sites have already been optimize, but there is an opportunity to take competitive positions. These words are often more general terms that are not as specific.
Advantages: provide good traffic, but require additional effort to achieve high positions.
Low competition : Easier to promote, but usually less traffic. Often these are highly specialize or local queries.
These words have a limite number of sites that are already optimize for them. They are usually less popular queries or more specific phrases. Examples include localized queries or niche topics.
Advantages: easier to get high positions in search results, lower advertising costs.
Keyword Selection Strategy
Keyword Selection Strategy.jpeg
Defining the topic : Clearly define the main topics of your content.
Audience Analysis : Understand who your potential customers are and what they are looking for.
Brainstorm : Create a preliminary list of keywords based on your understanding of the topic.
Semantic Expansion : Find synonyms and related queries.
Competitor Research : Research what keywords your competitors are using.
Filtering : Filter out irrelevant and overly general queries.
Assess Potential : Analyze the search volume and competition for each word.
Focus on the long-tail : Don’t forget about long, specific queries.
The danger of over-optimization
Over-optimization is an attempt to manipulate search engines by overusing keywords. This can lead to lower rankings.
Signs of over-optimization:
Keyword density above 3-4%
Unnatural occurrences of key phrases
Hidden text with keywords
Excessive use of keywords in tags and meta tags (title, description, h1-h4)
The Evolution of the Role of Keywords
With the development of technology and search algorithms, the role of keywords in SEO has undergone significant changes. In particular, the introduction of voice search and artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms has changed the approaches to the selection and use of keywords.
The Impact of Voice Search
Voice search is becoming increasingly popular. According to research, in 2024, about 55% of users used voice search at least once. This figure is predicte to reach 70% by 2025.
This affects the structure of queries:
Longer, more conversational phrases
Interrogative forms of queries
Taking into account the user’s context and location
Artificial Intelligence and Semantic Search
Modern search engines use AI (transformers) to better understand the context and intent of the user by evaluating the semantic (meaningful) relationships between words.
Google BERT analyzes the context of words in a query
Yandex YATI Improves Natural Language Understanding
This means that it is important not only to include keywords, but also to consider the LSI phrases that are next to your keywords, and the order of all these words is also important. Keywords in SEO and PPC Advertising: From Basics to Advanced Strategies
Read also
LSI Phrases: What They Are and How They Help SEO
“Useful information”
In 2020, during an interview. The YATI developer said that in order to speed up the transformer, they reduced the volume of analyzed text. At that time, it was assume that approximately the first 60 words were analyze. Now this information may be outdate, and the number of words processe may have increase.
Myths about keywords
Myths about keywords.jpeg
Myth #1 : Keywords are the only ranking factor.
Reality : Search engines take into account over 200 factors.
Myth #2 : The more keywords, the better.
Myth #3 : Long-tail queries are ineffective.
Reality : They make up to 70% of all search queries and often have high conversion rates.
Myth #4 : It is enough to optimize a website once
Reality : Keyword strategy requires constant adjustment,
Myth #5 : You only need to target high-frequency queries.
Reality : A balanced strategy includes queries of different frequencies.
Myth #6 : Keywords must be use exactly as inten
Reality : Modern algorithms understand synonyms and phrases with similar meanings.
Conclusion
Keyword management is the art of balancing the technical aspects of SEO with creating quality, useful content for users. Remember that keywords are a tool for understanding your audience’s needs, not an end in themselves.
