What is a keyword?

For people who run online marketing and/or websites, it is important to know how search engines (especially Google) handle keywords. Only in this way can you ensure that your own content is found.

Keywords and their importance for SEM

Keywords play a key role in the various areas of search engine marketing (SEM):

1. Search engine optimization (SEO)

Anyone who wants to generate more traffic on websites should optimize their content for relevant keywords. This is a decisive factor in ensuring that, for example, a shop for yoga equipment ranks well for the keyword “buy yoga mat.”

The prerequisite for this is to conduct a keyword research and determine relevant keywords. This is followed by optimization on two levels.

• On-page optimization: In on-page optimization, keywords are placed in central positions (including headings and content, but also in alt and meta tags as well as in various text sections).
• Off-page optimization: In this area, the anchor text of links plays a central role.

Important: Unlike in the early days of Google, the search engine today is much better able to recognize high-quality content. The same applies to so-called “keyword stuffing,” which is characterized by the use of as many keywords as possible in a confined space. Webmasters should definitely avoid the latter so as not to risk a penalty from Google.

At the same time, for a better ranking it is important to integrate not just individual keywords into texts, but also terms from the thematic environment. The classic keyword density (keyword density) is no longer considered a ranking factor today. It has been replaced by term weighting (WDF*IDF) and semantic relevance. What matters is whether a text covers a topic comprehensively and naturally, rather than reaching a certain word frequency.

Ultimately, content should primarily provide added value to readers, or supply them with valuable information. With regard to link texts as well, natural links are preferable to excessive optimization.

A proven approach in search engine optimization today is considered to be a combination of well-written and natural texts with relevant keywords. Apart from that, factors such as links, the domain as a whole, and the competition play a significant role in the ranking. This also means that it sometimes takes many months for the results of search engine optimization to become fully visible.

2. Search engine advertising (SEA)

When placing ads, too, everything revolves around relevant keywords with a high search volume. The cost per click in Google Ads is determined accordingly. The more providers there are for a keyword, the more expensive it is.

What types of keywords are there?

Keywords can be classified according to different criteria. One important classification has to do with length:

• Short tail keywords: Short tail keywords, also called head keywords, are short (1 to 2 words) and have a high search volume. At the same time, they are not very specific and highly competitive, which means that many websites want to rank for them. An example of a typical short tail keyword would be “buy bed.”
• Long tail keywords: They are the counterpart of short tail keywords. As a rule, they consist of 3 or more terms. Long tail keywords have a significantly lower search volume, but are also much more specific and less competitive. “Buy an oak wood children's bed online” would be such a long tail keyword.
• Mid tail keywords: Mid tail keywords are, as the name says, the golden mean. They consist of 2 to 3 words, have a moderate search volume, and are moderately competitive.

Each of these variants has advantages and disadvantages. We usually advise a balanced combination of shorter and unspecific keywords with a high search volume and specific but less competitive, longer search terms.

Search intent: What is it and how do you determine it?

When someone enters a keyword into Google and starts a search, he or she has a search intent. That is, the person wants to find something specific. Google evaluates search intents in order to deliver better results to users. Search intents can be roughly divided into groups.

The following are considered the central user intents in classic search engine marketing:

• Informational: Users are looking for solutions to questions or problems. They want to find, for example, guides, tutorials, or definitions. “How to care for a children's bed” would be such a keyword.
• Transactional: With transactional keywords, the searching person wants to carry out a transaction, for example an order, a download, or a reservation. They might then enter “download user manual product XY” or “whitepaper Pinterest.”
• Commercial: These are search terms behind which there is a clear intention to buy, for example “buy bed.” Pure product names can also be commercial keywords. This, however, is hard to determine unambiguously.
• Navigational: aims to reach a specific, already known website or page directly (e.g. “Facebook Login”).
• Brand: contains a brand name, without necessarily targeting a specific landing page — the brand can also be searched purely for informational purposes.

Sometimes people also speak of navigational search queries in connection with the search for a place or locality. “Hairdresser Berlin Marzahn” would be a keyword that corresponds to such an intent.

Google itself, in the Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines, speaks of

• Know Queries (= Informational)
• Do Queries (= Transactional)
• Website Queries (search for a website)
• Visit-in-person Queries (location-based searches)
• Know Simple Queries (search for a very specific answer, for example “Barack Obama married”

It is not always possible to readily determine the search intent behind the entry of a keyword. Sometimes Google is unsure too. This becomes noticeable when search results serving different intents are listed on the first page. In most cases, however, it is helpful to orient yourself toward Google's SERPs when classifying search intents.

Finding the right keywords

In order to be able to use keywords as well as possible for your own purposes, keyword research is required. The focus here is above all on the following questions:

• Which keywords are relevant for your own content and your own target audience? This is where buyer personas come into play, for example.
• What search volume do these keywords have, and what is the competition — that is, how difficult is it to rank for this keyword?
• Are there keywords that are still little used by competitors? If so, is there then a good chance of ranking relatively easily for these terms?
• Which different search intents underlie individual keywords? Search intents also say something about how far a user still is from a purchase (with informational keywords usually far, in contrast to transactional or commercial keywords).

A conscientious keyword research comprises several steps — collecting topics, checking search volume and competition, assigning search intent — and accordingly requires care. In addition to know-how, it requires the use of tools for keyword research.

Beyond the main keyword, semantically related terms and entities play a central role. Thematically related terms and entire topic clusters help search engines to classify the context of a text, and cover the search intent more completely than a single keyword.

How to find out the search volume?

The search volume of a keyword indicates how often it is searched for in the search engine per month. To find it out, the use of keyword tools is necessary. These reveal other factors in addition to the search volume. Depending on the tool, these include information on the competition (often labeled as a “difficulty rating”) and estimated cost per click on Google. The latter is particularly important with regard to search engine ads.

The Keyword Planner from Google can still be used free of charge; however, it only outputs exact search volumes for ongoing Google Ads campaigns with higher spend — without an active campaign, only rough ranges.

As free tools for keyword research, the following are suitable examples:

• Google Suggest: When users enter a keyword into Google Search, the search engine provides suggestions for frequently searched terms. This is helpful in the early stages of keyword research.
• Answer the Public: The free tool specializes in researching frequent wh-questions. In doing so, it reveals quite a lot about customer interests and needs.
• Karma Keyword Tool: The Karma Keyword Tool provides search volume, cost per click, and information on the competition free of charge. However, each keyword has to be entered individually, and an export is not possible.
• Google Trends: With Google Trends, users can track how the popularity of search terms has developed over time. It should be noted that the tool does not indicate the exact search volume.

In contrast, there is a range of extensive and paid tools for keyword research. These not only provide a wide range of data on keywords. With every search, they suggest related search queries and combine other services around search engine optimization.

In addition, they enable the export of results, for example as Excel lists. With these features, paid keyword tools are standard in professional keyword research.

Popular and powerful paid keyword research tools are, for example:

• Ahrefs Keyword Explorer
• KWFinder
• SEMRush Keyword Research
• Sistrix

Often a combination of free and paid tools is the optimal solution in keyword research.

After the research comes keyword mapping: Each researched keyword is assigned to exactly one page with a matching search intent. A clean keyword-to-URL assignment ensures that each page serves a unique main keyword, and prevents keyword cannibalization.

Quellen

• Searchengineland.com, Google Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines, https://searchengineland.com/google-updates-search-quality-evaluator-guidelines-317189
• Google Ads, Keywords, Google Ads Help, https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/1704371?hl=de