Why Your Keyword Research Is All Wrong [Infographic]

Talha Fazlani

Let’s be honest, keyword research is easy. You go to Google Adwords Keyword Tool, type in a few keywords and voilà, your keywords and their search volumes appear. Most don’t even bother to look at the keyword suggestions or other ad group ideas. While being honest, I’ll also admit that I am guilty of doing the same only because I think I know which keywords I want to target. It’s only after I started ranking for a long tail keyword, which brought in more conversions that I realized my mistake. Generic keywords and bigger search volumes seem like a better option but its not often the case.

Why user intent matter matters?

I recently wrote a post on why user intent matters, and the infographic I created would make you understand the value of user intent.

As the above image shows, user intent is a deciding factor between a visit and a conversion. When an SEO campaign is being pitched to a prospective clients, the numbers being shown make a difference. A higher number would make a better case for investing in SEO, and they should be included as part of the pitch. But, the keywords need to be identified through the intent behind it. The keyword ‘best android phone’ is an information search query, and creating content around it is a good strategy. Just don’t expect a great many conversions from it.

The keyword ‘buy android phone’ has clear intent behind it. The user wants to purchase a product and the information that person receives, from the pages they visit, will decide their action. The search volume for this keyword is much lower, but the results will be better.

Redefining Keyword Research 

When it comes to keyword research, finding the keywords which will convert makes a big difference. You will be able to achieve your SEO objectives sooner when you understand the intent behind the keyword that is being searched. The intent can be easily understood through the words in a search query. Other intent specific keywords will be found through researching the keywords driving conversions on your site. My SEO resolution this year is to find better keywords, and it should be yours too.

(215)