What are Keywords?

Content:
What are Keywords?
What are Meta Keywords?
What are good Keywords?
What are Longtail Keywords?
What are Focus Keywords?

Keywords are literally translated as key words, which can also be equated with the term tag. Comparable to a key that unlocks doors and gates to a house or another world, keywords are a kind of key that grants access to specific pages. In terms of SEO, keywords are words or phrases that internet users type into search engines when they are looking for something specific. Based on the keyword, search engines start searching for suitable homepages and other web presences according to their search algorithm, and then list these in the Search Engine Result Page (abbreviated SERP). Keywords do not necessarily have to be part of a written text; they can also be found in titles and descriptions of photos or videos.

Keywords play an important role in SEO. If a website has no, very few or the wrong keywords, it won’t be found by Google and other search engines. Therefore, good keyword research is one of the most important tasks when publishing an online shop or a website. Before you start optimizing your online presence, the question is not necessarily “What are keywords?” but rather: “What are the right and most relevant keywords for my site?” For example, if you run an auto sales page and the keywords: car or vehicle do not appear at all or in too small a number, the page remains virtually invisible to Google.

What are meta keywords?

The question “What are Meta Keywords?” can be answered as follows: Meta Keywords are tags or search terms that do not immediately catch the eye of a visitor to a website, but describe the page. They convey information, the so-called meta-information, about a web presence to search engines. An online shop, for instance, that sells shoes might incorporate the meta keywords: shoes, sandals, boots etc., into its website to be better found by Google under the search request “shoes”.

Meta Keywords were important in the past, but they have now lost relevance for search engines. The reason for this loss of image was the often pointless and excessive use of meta keywords, just to attract as many visitors as possible to their own site. It used to happen that the terms used as meta keywords did not appear at all in the web content, and the homepage addressed a different topic. But the accumulation of meta keywords had caught the search engines’ crawlers’ attention to the special page, listed it high in the search result, and directed numerous visitors to the homepage.

Today, Google & Co place more value on the natural integration of keywords in the content of the pages and classify the webpage as important for the search topic. A frequently mentioned keyword has stronger appeal to search engines than the use of meta keywords.

What are good keywords?

Good keywords are primarily key words that are most frequently entered into the search engine by internet users and simultaneously best summarize the product offered, the service or content on their own site. Good keywords can be roughly divided into three categories:

• Primary Keywords! These are keywords that primarily describe exactly what the internet page presents. If, for example, a hotel is being advertised, the primary keywords are: hotel, vacation, travel, etc. The search terms of web users must be taken into account as well as the content of one’s own website.
• Secondary or Property Keywords! If the user wants to narrow down their search, they will add another search criterion to the primary keyword, for example Hotel, in this case possibly Wellness or Luxury.
• Regional or Location Based Keywords! The searcher specifies a city, a country, or a certain region where they are now looking for the hotel (e.g., Wiesbaden or Allgäu).

Now if you ask: “What are good Keywords?” this can be answered with the three criteria mentioned above, but other factors also play a role in the classification: good keyword or bad keyword. Keywords should not just be randomly placed into the text of a homepage or blog, but the sentences with the tags must be grammatically correct and show good writing style. Moreover, it is sensible not only to sprinkle primary keywords into the web content, since these are also intensely used by other web presences, but rather also to use those that describe the content more precisely. Keywords should be present on all pages of a homepage, not just on the homepage.

What are Longtail keywords?

Longtail Keywords always consist of multiple terms. Individual keywords typically have a higher search result because they are not as specific as Longtail Keywords, and internet users often only enter one or at most two search terms into Google. Nevertheless, Longtail Keywords have a significant positive effect on search results and Google ranking.

The example “Hotel” makes it clearer.

The operator of a newly opened hotel faces enormous competition. If he were to rely solely on the keyword hotel or vacation when creating or optimizing his webpage, his site would most likely not be found. Large hotel chains would appear at the top of the list after the search input and the new website of the small hotel operator far behind. How can he change this? Here the use of Longtail Keywords is a sensible move. He can highlight the special features of his hotel, the region in which it is located, or special offers. So a Longtail Keyword for him could look like: “cozy family hotel with wellness offer”. This already narrows down the search result and increases the visibility of the homepage.

What are focus keywords?

The Focus Keyword can be equated with the term main keyword. It summarizes the most important content features of web content so that a searching person on the net is directed to exactly the appropriate pages based on the entry of a search term. It is of great importance for the SEO of a URL, which is often noticeable in many blog articles where the focus keyword is used heavily in the text.

In addition to keyword focus, the significance of secondary keywords should not be forgotten. Synonyms of the main keyword should be used more often in web text to avoid overwhelming the reader with a frequently used keyword. The text should always be easy to read, demonstrate a reasonable writing style, and yet the focus keyword must appear at an optimal density, so that search engines become aware of the web presence. Then Google will classify the website as relevant and list it accordingly high in the search results.

But one should not only ask, “What are focus keywords?” but “Where do I best place them?” Important keywords should appear in the title of the homepage, page titles, descriptions of photos or image names and, most importantly, in meta-descriptions. A well-thought-out use of keyword focus in metadata will not only attract the attention of Google and Co, but will also immediately show the internet user in the search result that this is a suitable web presence. Don’t forget and buy backlinks.