The web is indeed growing. As a business that is having an online presence, having an active website/blog is essentially not enough. For small businesses, most of their web visitors come from search engines. And when it comes to SEO, keyword research is a thing you should never forget.
When you have a website/blog online, and actively creating new posts, you're trying to attract both human and bot visitors (search engines, aggregators and others). To get more out of search engines, in which will make more visitors coming to your website/blog, keywords research is essential. Keywords are like the backbone of SEO, and not only that it will make search engines able to rank you better, it will also make your website more strategic in targeting its human visitors.
Google and other notable search engines acknowledge that many people are over optimizing their websites and blogs by stuffing unnecessary things inside them. This include putting irrelevant keywords, use keywords more than enough, and failing in making their aimed keywords to reach their maximum capability.
Below is a list of some quick tips for you in finding the best keywords.
Aim for long-tailed keywords. The longer the better. Long-tailed keywords can reach a broader range of audience because these words need a wider explanation in which search engines should answer. As an average 2-5 or 3-4 words is enough to bring you closer to your targeted audience. Although some of your aimed long-tailed keywords may have relatively lower search volumes, they're still able to give a better exposure for a better ranking.
Avoid too many small-tailed keywords. Short-tailed keywords are common. Since this practice is already used by more than many, aiming for short-tailed keywords can end your website buried far behind in SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages). This way, your potential visitors will have a hard time in finding your website.
Analyze keyword traffic data. Different keywords perform differently from time to time. You should start with a small number of keywords, then see how they perform. When you see what are best for you, keep experimenting. Analyzing keywords is a continuous effort, and could be only achieved through research.
Refine and look for more ideas. With almost limitless possibilities in finding the best keywords that reflect you niche, the chances to get the bests can be difficult. Google AdWords provides the Keyword Planner tool that you can use to spark your idea. The tool can be also useful when you're building a keyword list as a strategy to know the different ways to target consumers.
Understand your content. The best keywords are those that best describe your content. People that are your targeted consumers should land on your site because they know what they're expecting. If you can't give them what they want because the keywords you used don't represent your content, the visitors you get will just increase your bounce rate. By understanding your content, you can find out which keywords are highly relevant.
Aim for the locals. Small businesses often thrive best in their local surroundings. To get more local audience, you need to target location-based keywords: As search engines are getting better in delivering SERPs based on the searcher's local area, targeting local keywords can give you a boost in this category.
Use web analytics. Google Analytics, or any other analytics software for that matter, can provide you a vast amount of information about how your contents are performing. With the information, you can have a better insight about what keywords are used by your consumers, and what keywords are perfect for your business.
Get to know your market. Knowing who your target visitors are makes you understand what they want the most. Using the keywords that describe what they need from you and what they expect from you, you can better influence more people to visit your site.
Analyze your competitors. You are not the only one that is analyzing keywords to get more audience. Your competitors are doing it, and they may have been doing it a lot longer that you do. Check what they are doing and what they are using to get traffic. Know their keywords, and work harder on them than they already do.
Prevent ambiguity. Search engines are getting better in understanding ambiguity, but that doesn't mean they know better that your audience. Not only that you should target keywords that are popular with your targeted audience, you should also use more direct keywords to target a more specific audience.
Do not optimize too much. Too much is not enough. But too much can also harm you. After finding the best keywords, don't try to overuse them, or try to compliment them with extra keywords just for the sake of better SEO. Search engines like the nature people use their service, not by abusing their system to get better result. Overdoing things will just get you worse than when you first started.
Conclusion
Search engines are getting better in generating their results, based on the queries that are given to them. As a business on the web with a website/blog as an official presence, targeting keywords is essential in order to appeal search engines that use keywords as a part to understand the web.
From a simple research to prioritizing actions for revenue, keywords research is not just about a way to get more exposure and more traffic, but it's also a way to get better leads, more revenue, and a better authority in your niche/business.