Last Updated on November 10, 2023 by Asfa Rasheed
Every web page on Google’s search result page ranks for a keyword. A keyword is a phrase that helps search engines understand what a web page is about.
By now, I believe you already know all about keywords. But you’re probably still not getting your pages to rank well on the SERPs. Don’t beat yourself up. It isn’t a new thing. Even those sites on Google’s second, third, and fourth results pages have keywords embedded in their content. Indeed, many factors could contribute to their low rankings, but I assure you that poorly-selected focus keywords are definitely one of them.
In this post, we’ll be teaching you the basics of ‘focus keywords,’ as well as the steps involved in choosing the right ones for your blog and web pages. Feel free to contact this link building service for help whenever you’re stuck on the right focus keywords for your web content.
Table of Contents
What is a focus keyword?
A focus keyword is that search term you want your page to rank for the most. Usually, a web content may contain more than one keyphrase. However, amongst these keyphrases, there’s bound to be a focus keyphrase, which is the main keyword for which the site owner wishes to rank for.
For example, a smartphone review site may create a blog targeting the following keywords:
- Buy iPhone 14 Pro Max
- iPhone 14 Pro Max
- Latest iPhone 14 Pro Max
- Best place to buy iPhone 14
Clearly, this is a collection of four possible keyphrases. But if this vendor is looking to sell iPhone 14 Pro Max, we can assume his focus keyword would be ‘Buy iPhone 14 Pro Max.’ Reason being that that is the keyword he’ll likely want to rank for the most – one that exposes him directly to people looking to buy iPhone 14 Pro Max.
Why use a focus keyword?
Because there are a million interpretations for your content.
No matter the brilliance you’ve cooked up on your web or blog page, it would be impossible for search engines to understand the right category to place your content. But with focus keywords, you give the algorithm something to focus on. More like saying, ‘hey Google, this is the main context my content is talking about.’
How to choose the right focus keywords
To choose the right focus keywords for your blog or web content, there are three points you need to focus on. These are:
1. Identify a focus keyword people are searching for
2. Research the search volume of that keyword
3. Investigate search intent
Identify a focus keyword people are searching for
If you use a website visitor tracking tool, you will definitely know who your existing site visitors are – their behavior and demographics. And with that, you may know the best kinds of content to create at specific times.
However, to appeal to new audiences, you need to follow the insights that are out there. And by that, we mean researching the keywords people are searching for. When you research and find out the keywords everyone is interested in, you are sure whatever content you create will likely meet the demands of the public.
Once you’ve successfully found the keywords people are interested in, this will stand as your focus keyword. And from that keyword, you can use a keyword research tool to find other long-tail keyphrases or related keyphrases to target.
Plenty of keyword research tools can help you find the most popular keywords to target across various niches. Talk about Ahrefs, Semrush, Google Keyword Planner, UberSuggest, and so on.
Finding out about search volume
Finding a keyword that is popular doesn’t mean you will find a related keyphrase or long-tail keyphrase that is also in demand. Before you proceed to focus on a long-tail keyword, you should first examine the search volume of that keyword to know whether people are really searching for it. If a long-tail keyword has a low search volume, then it’s likely not worth your time. As it is, ranking for it may not send you plenty of traffic.
You can use Google Adwords or Google Trends to examine a keyword’s search volume.
Investigate search intent
Finally, let’s say you’ve found a keyword with good potential (popular and has a great search volume); the next thing is to evaluate search intent. In other words, what are the people searching for this keyword looking for?
Are their requests in line with my page’s theme and type of content? If No, then you definitely can’t target that keyword. Why? Because you’ll never rank well for that keyword. And even if you do in the beginning, you will only end up getting a lot of bounces from dissatisfied visitors.
So, what you need to do is to Google search the keyphrase and see the kind of content ranking for that keyword. But content should be well optimized with grammar and uniqueness. If you find promotional content, you know you must create promo-inclined content, too. If informative, you obviously need to write informative pieces. If review-type articles, you know you have to review stuff to rank for that keyword.
