Is Keyword Research Relevant In 2022 – An SEO Company Weighs In

by Rajeev R | Published on Dec 29, 2021 | SEO

‘Keyword’, as the name suggests, is a word or phrase used by online users to search for information on the internet. The ranking of a particular keyword is a major metrics of SEO. The ranking is very important as it drives business value by determining the traffic of the website as well as conversion and revenue.

Keyword research is an effective technique used by businesses globally to understand the needs of their users. Usually, companies use various keywords research tools to find out the words or phrases popularly used by their target users when searching for their products or services. They incorporate such words into their website to increase ranking in Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs). Keyword incorporation along with other SEO best practices determines when and where the page would show up in the SERPs. Digital marketing service companies can assist a business in keyword research and implementation, which would enable in-house employees to concentrate to on other core activities.

So, is keyword research important in 2022? Experts in the field say it is indeed important. If you want to earn a good position in the popular search engines, SEO keyword research is indispensable. Given the significance of keywords and key phrases, let’s take a deep dive into their continuing relevance.

Keyword Research

Keywords help websites increase their rank on SERPs, grab the attention of users and thereby increase organic traffic to the website. The users utilize different types of keywords such as branded, non-branded, local + global, brand + geography, and brand + product.

Keywords are directional towards the specific needs of the users. However, a major problem that arises is in the vocabulary difference between the index system and end user. That means, users can ask the same query in different ways. As a result, Google and other search engines utilize highly advanced query expansion technology, to meet the requirements of every user.

To grab a high rank or visibility for your content or website in SERPs, you should include keywords which users commonly use to search on the internet. Keyword research is an important part of strategic SEO Before incorporating keywords in your content, make sure that the list of keywords you have, matches what users are searching for. Well-planned keywords can show the difference between site visit and resultant sale. An excellent list of keywords can place the content at the top of the search results. Content writers and search engine optimizers work together to achieve this task. Businesses can utilize content writing services to ease this task effectively.

However, before writing content, the writer and SEO specialist should know the audience, the business’ competitors, and market to identify the right keywords. You should perform keyword research before and after building the website. Also, closely observe the ranking of your keywords as well. There are different types of keywords such as:

• Long-tail Keyword
• Short-tail Keyword
• Fresh Keyword
• Evergreen keyword

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However, there are certain factors which you should take into account before proceeding to keyword research. This helps you to prefect your SEO keyword. The factors include:

• Keywords having high search volume
• Relevance of keywords
• Should have strong conversion value
• Should be specific
• Should have audience appeal
• Should be competitive
• Should be proven

At the same time, what will be the future of keywords? Without any doubt we can say that the demand for keywords would increase in the coming years. There are certain factors which maneuver the growth of keywords in 2022.

Factors Contributing to the Success of Keyword Use

1. Use of Proper Keywords: Keyword research is an important and primary step of SEO. If it went wrong, then the end result would be disappointing. Low search volume and incorrect usage are the results of improper usage of keywords. Let’s check out the effects:
   • A keyword with low search volume means very few people or no one uses that particular keyword. As a result, the content receives a lower rank or would be removed from search results.
   • In contrast, a word with high search volume would retain its position in search results for a longer period. However, always remember that there are competitive pages that use the same keywords with the same motive.
   • If you choose irrelevant keywords, then the visitors are not likely to stay on the page. This results in a negative impact by increasing bounce rate.
   • If a selected keyword doesn’t fit in your content, then the content might disappear or may not be found in organic search.
2. Keywords Provide Information to Your Article: After keyword research, you should list out the best keywords with high visibility and ranking. Then categorize each keyword into relevant websites. Then make use of those keywords for a proper content.
3. Keyword Clustering: Research is the backbone of keyword clustering. You can include more than a keyword in a single content. Thus, it gains a lot of transactions in SEO. As a result, it improves the potential of ranking. However, before clustering keywords, you should conduct a proper keyword research.

Tips for Effective Keyword Research

Proper keyword research helps you to list out effective keywords for your websites. It helps you to categorize keywords thematically in a core topic. Here are some tips for effective keyword research:

• Should have close relation with audience: The ultimate aim of SEO is to increase traffic to a website. However, before incorporating keywords and SEO optimization, you should know the problems of the audience and what they need and add possible and relevant keywords to your content which in turn helps to increase traffic
• Use the audience’s language: Know your audience and use their language in your content. While doing research, do it according to the category of your audience.
• Analyze competitor websites: Competitor websites are the great source of information. Analyzing their websites helps you to catch up relevant keywords
• Make use of low-competition keywords: Low-competition websites helps you to raise your website ranking. Try to choose keywords with about 1000 searches per month helps you to invite more visitors to your website.
• Research like a user: Research a keyword like your website audience would. Try to find out the possible keywords that users would use to search on a particular topic.
• Aware about the current trend: Seasonal trends had a great impact on search engines. Try to find keywords for a product related to current seasonal trend.
• Make use of keyword tools: There is a lot of tools design for SEO purpose which helps to conduct keyword research effectively.

Keyword Research Tools for 2022

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There are a lot of improved tools crafted especially for SEO purpose. Among them there are tools for conducting effective keyword research. Here are some of those tools which has improved features and would remain popular in 2022:

• Soovle
• Google Keyword Planner
• Jaaxy
• SEMrush
• Ahrefs
• Serpstat
• Keyword Surfer
• Ubersuggest

Keywords are the backbone of SEO. Without keywords, optimization of content is not possible. It helps to rank up as well as rank down a website. An experienced search engine optimization company helps to rank up your website by including latest trends and factors. Today, more business firms and companies are relying upon digital promoting especially after pandemic. Thus, in one word we can say that, as the demand for digital marketing is increasing day by day, the relevance of keyword also increases accordingly in the coming years.