SEO can be divided into two main groups: on-site SEO and off-site SEO.
On-site and Off-site SEO
On-site SEO
On-site SEO deals with the optimisation of elements on a website to improve its relevance and visibility to search engines. This can include optimising keywords, user experience, code optimisation and the format of URLs.
On-site Factors
These are search engine ranking signals directly which are controllable by site owners.
Content signals
- Relevance: Topic that is relevant to page content versus search term
- Freshness: Frequency of content updates
- Overall quality: Spelling, grammar and sentence structure
- Keywords: Naturally occurring keywords in the page content
Keywords
Keywords are:
- Words that users type into search engines to show what they are looking for
- Words used on web pages to show search engines what the page is about
Keyword research is a critical component of search engine optimisation. Keywords are usually broken up and grouped based on the number of words within query phrases.
Keyword research is a core component of SEO
It involves figuring out which words to rank for based on the most popular words and phrases that are searched on search engines. Researching keywords gives digital marketers a better understanding of how high the demand is for certain keywords. It also shows how difficult it would be to compete for those terms in organic search results, offering some direction for optimisation efforts.
Keyword research isn’t just about identifying the popularity of a search term
It’s also about exploring the many ways that people use language to research an idea or topic. As such, researching keywords isn’t just important for SEO. It’s also a major element of content marketing as a whole.
Why?
Keyword research can help you:
- Find ideas for your next blog post,
- Learn more about the needs of your audience, and
- Keep up to date with the lingo of the ever-changing search landscape.
By researching the words people type into search engines – in addition to making use of this research to create targeted content it is possible to drive the right traffic to your site. This traffic is more likely to convert.