What Makes A Good Keyword? How To Use It Wisely

By | August 28, 2016

 

Good Keywords

 

This article is about what makes a good keyword and how to use it wisely to increase traffic to your website.

There is an infinite number of keywords and keyword combinations that can be used today. Most people think that there are only a finite number of keywords.

However, with over 3.4 billion searches on Google every day, there are over 500 million of these searches performed by a first-time user.

 

Just think of the opportunities this makes available to you in the keyword search marketing world. This opens up many new possibilities of keywords for better website rankings.

 

 

Keyword phrases, also known as “long-tail keywords” usually separate the information only seekers from the buyers. These keyword phrases are usually more specific in nature which narrows the search term down. A broad search term, like “airplane”, can be narrowed down to more specific term as “airplane turbines”, or “airplane wings, etc.

 

 

long-tail-keywords

courtesy of Yoast.com

 

The narrower a search term gets the more specific it becomes. “I know this”, you say, but you want to know what makes one keyword better than another.

Or more specific, which keywords generate better website rankings, which translates to more traffic.

 

 

 

 

If you really think about it, all websites use many of the same keywords in their content without even knowing it. The more content that a website publishes, the more keywords become available to help increase the search engine rankings. Regardless of the niche, any site has the ability to rank from any keyword that is relevant to their niche.

 

 

In the search engine world, as everyone knows, “content is king”. So it is safe to say that the more content a site has, the higher the number of certain keywords it will use more often. This helps the overall rankings of the site. It now becomes a numbers game.

 

 

 

Generally, nothing seems to be working until around three or four months as far as traffic. Then traction begins

 

 

 

As an example, let us assume site A publishes an article two times a week. In one year that number is 104 posts, 2 times 52 weeks equals 104. So as more posts are added the more traction the site will get from the search engines. The longer a site remains current with fresh, relevant content, the better the search engines can determine the authority of the site.

 

 

Certain keywords are being used more than others because of the particular niche. These particular keywords now generate more authority than the other random keywords found in their content.

 

 

What Makes A Keyword Good?

 

A good keyword is a word or phrase that allows a website to get their post or page onto the search engines results page or SERPS. To find this “good keyword” most webmasters scour the search engines database for hours searching for the “ideal” keyword phrase.

 

 

This snapshot below is my website, which shows the position that this post was able to capture by using Jaaxy, a keyword tool, that helps in finding and selecting just the right keyword to acquire a better position in the SERPS.

 

 

Google page 1 position 1

 

 

The two Key Components of defining a keyword good is:

  • Search volume
  • Competition

 

 

Many SEO advisors or professionals have various formulas to pinpoint the exact keyword phrase that will generate the most searches. These formulas all have one thing in common: to find the keyword and/or keyword phrase that has the most searches per month with the least amount of competition.

 

keywords
In the affiliate world as with most other websites, these formulas generally start with the number of searches per month of at least Fifty. Anything less than fifty is not considered a good keyword because for the amount of traffic a website would get. It is not sufficient. If keywords were to have a money value, then less than fifty the website loses money. It spends more money generating content than what it could make in income to offset the expenses.

 

 

 

However, the opposite is true if the website was selling a very expensive item, for example, something like a Rolls Royce, or Seiko watch, even a trip into space. Less than fifty searches a month could be justified. Generally, the higher priced an item is the fewer items that need to be sold to generate a nice profit.

 

 

 

 

As in real estate, for example, the standard commission for brokers is 6% of the selling amount. In order for the broker to generate a $100000 a year salary, they know how many properties they must sell each month. Again, it is a numbers game.

 

 

The same is true for a website. The cheaper the selling price of an item that is in demand, usually the less profit that can be generated. Consequently, the higher the volume of sales is necessary to achieve an efficient amount of profit. This is simple Supply and Demand.

 

 

This does not include the other important part of the formula: Competition.

 

 

Competition is the other very important part of a good keyword tool to find a good keyword. What happens when someone finds a keyword phrase that generates 4100 searches a month? They think that wow, they just discovered gold! But if the competition is high, then they actually found a keyword that they will never rank for in the short term, possibly never.

 

 

The number that I shoot for in the competition category is anything under three hundred. The reason being is that I do want some competition, but the smaller the better. To find any keyword that generates a search volume of at least 50 generally 74% of these keywords will have at least three hundred, if not more in their competition category.
I usually get a good choice of keyword phrases to choose from using my formula of over 50 and under 300.

 

 

 

If the Google Adwords Planner is being used as a free keyword tool, the competition is only displayed as Low, Medium, or High. It is not shown as a number. This could have a nasty repercussion of the actual results the website gets.

 

 

Using Keyword Tools To Find Good Keywords

 

These webmasters also use various keyword tools to aid them in their search. Some are expensive, like Semrush, which has monthly costs for Pro at $69.95; Guru at $149.95; and Business at $549.95.

 

 

$549.95 per month? Really? A website really has to be generating some serious profit to justify a $549.95 a month expense. Yes, I know it is a business write off, but still, they have to be profiting much more than that to justify the expense.

 

 

With the Internet generating more than 4 billion last year some websites are obviously generating a lot of profit. These websites have deep pockets to bid on the top keywords and keyword phrases. This places them on the top and now also at the bottom of the search results. However, they are displayed as an ”AD”.

 

 

There are several “free” keyword tools” that are widely used every day. The first one to mention is obviously, Google Adwords Keyword Planner,  which before it became the Adword Keyword Planner, it was the Google keyword External, which in my opinion was much better. Now it is saturated with only the keywords that all other websites are bidding on, not necessarily the best keyword phrases to use to get the website ranking higher.

 

 

 

This helps Google sell keywords, not necessarily displaying the choice keywords to use in your content. Another free Keyword Tool is http://keywordtool.io/ which is an alternative tool to use instead of Google. This tool gives you suggestions for free to use in Google, Bing, YouTube, and Amazon. Just type in your keyword or keyword phrase and it gives you suggestions based on your entry.

 

 

Google Analytics is an important tool to use in order to fine tune a website for more conversions. It does take some skill on how to use this tool. You can learn more about this tool, as well as others that very important to a website’s success by clicking HERE.

 

 

 

Most other Free Keyword Tools are actually “free” only for a limited trial period. Then a nominal monthly charge is assessed each month. One of these tools is the tool that I use. I have found this tool as the BEST Keyword Tool for the money! This tool is Jaaxy. Jaaxy is a Keyword Tool that features several optimized metrics to find the perfect keyword phrase for any website around. I highly recommend this Keyword Tool. It is my favorite!

 

 

To learn more about how keywords and SEO all work together to rank a website on page one, I suggest you also read another article about SEO Keywords Tool.

 

 

 

 

jaaxy keyword website

 

 

 

For starters, it gives the user thirty free searches before a required monthly fee of $19 a month is assessed. That in itself is a bargain! It gives an analysis of the average monthly search volumes, suggested alternatives to the entered keyword phrase, the traffic that the search term will receive if the website is in #1 position, QSR, or Quoted Search Results, which is the number of websites competing for the search term entered, the KQI, which is the Keyword Quality Indicator, which is shown in color: Red = Poor; Yellow= okay; and Green = great. It also gives the SEO value which is a score based on traffic and competition, the higher the score, the more likely you will rank for this keyword on the first page (score of 1-100, higher is better).

 

 

Jaaxy SEO keyword

 

 

Another great benefit is that it also will give you the domain name, the .com, .net, .org, etc if it is available for the search term indicated. For example, search for the keyword SEO, gives a search volume of 162531 per month; traffic of 27631; QSR of 398; KQI is in RED; SEO is 0, and any domain name with only SEO is unavailable. (see the graphic above)

 

 

It also has several other features that my other post, Keyword Tools, will show in much more detail.

 

 

Conclusion

 

Finding a Keyword that gives you a search volume of at least 50 and traffic, or competition of less than 300, in my opinion, is a good keyword or keyword phrase to use. Stay away from a search volume that is under 50. Also keep in mind that the competition number ideally is as low as it can be. However, shy away from the keyword if the competition is higher than 300 because this keyword search term is not possible to rank for.

 

How To Use The Keyword Wisely

 

The search engines are the highways that bring traffic to the websites. Without them, the website is nothing more than a file stuck somewhere on a computer hard-drive. So in order to use the search engines, you must first comply with their prerequisites.

 

 

To rank for the keyword or keyword term, a certain hierarchy is mandated. First the Domain name; second the Title of the post or page; Third the use of the term in the first fifty words in the content or in the description of the post or page inside the SEO Plug-in All In One SEO or Yoast; At least twice more within the content itself. Latent keywords within the content then hold much more value in SEO.

 

 

It is also wise when entering Keywords for your content in the SEO All In One plugin that you enter only one keyword. For the second keyword, write another post featuring that keyword. So that after the first several months there are several posts written that are featuring certain valuable keywords on the niche which, will all combine to get the website to rank much higher.

 

 

Free to start business

Everything that I have disclosed here is from the training I have been getting from Wealthy Affiliate. Knowledge is Power and by becoming a member of Wealthy Affiliate I have been adding to my knowledge about Internet Marketing and how to earn a passive income from home. Remember, Knowledge without application is meaningless.

 

Wealthy Affiliate. There is even a free version that gives you two free websites to start with,  plus ten lessons to get you started.

 

 

 

I hope that you found this post satisfying as far as providing good information and that you were able to learn valuable insight to get your website to rank well in the SERPS. It has been my pleasure to provide this information to help you and your website benefit from my experience.

If you have found this post informative, I hope that you share it with either your friends or on social media to help others learn about this information.

 

To Your Success!

 

 

 

 

24 thoughts on “What Makes A Good Keyword? How To Use It Wisely

  1. Daniel OA

    A well researched article indeed! You have been so clear and plain for me and i must thank you for that. I am hoping to subscribe soon to Jaaxy for all my next keyword searches because it is quite affordable as you have indicated. Time to apply this keyword knowledge in my posts as well!

    Reply
    1. Kenneth Merrick Post author

      Daniel, you will find Jaaxy not only a very powerful keyword tool but also an excellent domain name finder, a website rank checker, and the suggested keywords are golden gems. Remember 50> searches and <300 competition. I wish you much success!

      Reply
  2. Jeremy

    Thanks for this detailed post about what makes a good keyword. I had recently been going after super low competition keywords (less than 50) where I rank high quickly but there just isn’t that much traffic so the clicks are slow to come by. I think I will try some higher traffic keywords with a little more competition.

    Reply
    1. Kenneth Merrick Post author

      You know Jeremy, I also like the low-hanging fruit of the seldom used search terms. They are ripe with really good keywords. But always select any keyword with at least 50 a month searches – else, it is pointless. It is the balanced approach, 50> searches and <300 competition. I wish you much good fortune Jeremy!

      Reply
  3. Cat Pillar

    That was a pleasure to read. Nicely set out and from a personal point of view, I appreciated the information on keyword hierarchy. Much obliged to you for the reminder.\:-)

    Also appreciated your listing of all the free keyword tools available – and it was fun to read how expensive some are when Jaaxy’s available at $19/m.

    Reply
    1. Kenneth Merrick Post author

      Thank you, Cate, for agreeing with me about what makes a good keyword. Everything that I shared with you is in the training we receive at Wealthy Affiliate. Maybe that is why WA has so many successful entrepreneurs operating successful online businesses – because of the training. Good luck to you Cate!

      Reply
  4. Joshua

    Wow Kenneth, this was really informative. I’ll be reviewing my use of the AIO SEO plugin for WordPress come tomorrow evening to ensure that I’m using my keywords in an optimal way. Just a few questions, my formula is to use anything with 100 searches minimum and 200 QSR. Is this too ambitious? I’m still a bit new to this so I just want to make sure I’m not cutting myself off from promising traffic early on.

    Thanks again!

    Reply
    1. Kenneth Merrick Post author

      Good day to you Joshua. My tip to you so that you open the door to receiving more traffic to your website is to follow my formula, must have at least 50 searches a month and no more than 300 QSR or competition for the keyword term you are using. Then, depending on if the keyword is for a post, a page, or even an ad on fb, then the numbers are a little different. This is all in the training at Wealthy Affiliate Good luck to you.

      Reply
  5. Mike

    Great article on keywords, Ken. I like that you give metrics and targets to shoot for when performing one’s own keyword search. You mention Jaaxy as your go-to keyword tool. Would the QSR (competition) be similar between all keyword tools that show a numeric value? That is, if Jaxxy shows a competition score of 100, is it safe to assume a similar or free keyword tool out there will pull the same data? I’m wondering how consistent these values are across the different platforms and where the data is pulled from. Thanks again for a solid article.

    Reply
    1. Kenneth Merrick Post author

      Good morning to you, Mike. Similar yes. Google Adwords Planner doesn’t give you a breakdown in numbers. It only displays the competition to be Low, Medium, or High. That does you absolutely nothing. Jaaxy, on the other hand, gives you competition in numbers. I’m a numbers guy so I can work with this. The metrics I work with allow for a good mixture of search volume and low competition. The same is true for the FREE keyword tool at Wealthy Affiliate. All data is derived from Google. So the data should be very close to an exact match. Hey Mike, good question. To Your success!

      Reply
  6. Troy

    Hello Kenneth,

    Great post and very informative. Thank you so much for this valuable article! I just would like to ask about making a title to a one’s posts/pages. Supposing I got a very good keyword with high search and low competition but the phrase is not grammatically correct. DO you think it would be good to use the keyword as the title to my post article? For example keyword = “herbs reduce blood sugar” has 96 monthly searches, 17 traffic, and 16 competition. Do you think to make the title “HERBS REDUCE BLOOD SUGAR” is good? Do I still need to make the title make more sense like adding some words into it like, title= “BEST HERBS TO HELP YOU REDUCE YOUR BLOOD SUGAR” or whatever title phrase that makes sense grammatically speaking.

    Thank you.

    Reply
    1. Kenneth Merrick Post author

      Troy that is a very good question and one that perplexes many webmasters. Do we write to please the Search Engines or people? Ideally we will please both. Google understands what people are searching for even though they may leave out certain words. Like in your case, Best herbs to help reduce your blood sugar is correct grammatically but also very different from the search term that has the best numbers. What I would do? Leave Title as the same search term: “Herbs Reduce Blood Sugar”. This would also be my keyword phrase. In my first sentence I would explain my title better, like, ” Tips to know about how herbs reduce blood sugar for most people”. Then write a post with this as my subject.

      Reply
  7. Edrian

    Thank you for this awesome post! I really want to learn how to make money over the internet and I think I found a site that can help me with that! I know the secret to getting traffic to my site is using the right keywords. Your formula sounds like just what I need. Thanks a bunch!

    Reply
    1. Kenneth Merrick Post author

      Hey, Edrian, I am glad you found my formula for keyword domination helpful to you. I am sure it will help you get better website ranking. Cheers and good luck to you!

      Reply
  8. Deepika

    Very detailed article on a very important aspect of website building, especially for affiliate marketing. I want to thank you for revealing these secrets on search engine ranking. I do want to point out though I don’t agree with your formula because it narrows the available keywords you can use.
    Regards,
    Deepika

    Reply
    1. Kenneth Merrick Post author

      You are correct, Deepika, on my formula narrowing down the choices available for content writing. But if you think about it, there are only a very few spots reserved at the top of the search engines. My formula will get you there. Thank you for your observation.

      Reply
  9. nanshilar

    Thanks for this great information, very informative and valuable article. Now I understand well about what makes a good keyword after reading your page. And I also read the other peoples’ comments on this page, that was a pleasure to read. I like your formula, at least 50 searches a month and no more than 300 QSR. I can’t wait to start using this new formula on my posts!

    Reply
    1. Kenneth Merrick Post author

      Thank you nanshilar for your kind words. My formula will get your content ranked higher in the SERPS. Keywords, or should I say, the correct keywords, are the keys to receiving traffic to your site. The formula is like a recipe for something good.

      Reply
  10. Justin C.

    Hello Kenneth, thanks for putting together this article. I have been with Wealthy Affiliate for over 6 months now and I have really enjoyed the learning process.

    The learning never stops. I learn something new every day!

    For instance: I’ve been ignoring keywords with search results less the 100 just because it didn’t seem worth the time to write content around them.

    However, I was neglecting the point that you made “higher priced items require less sales to be effective” and I totally get that. I know of quite a few of keywords that I can now go back and revisit.

    I’ve been using the free keyword tool over at Wealthy Affiliate but I do believe that I am going to make the investment into Jaxxy. I did like the trial that I got so I think its time to spend a little money 🙂

    Thanks once more for putting together this great read !!!

    Reply
    1. Kenneth Merrick Post author

      Hey, Justin, if all you learn from Wealthy Affiliate is how to select good keywords to write your content about you will be in the top 3% of online marketers. Most online marketers don’t have a clue on how to select keywords or how to perform good SEO. You are in good company and I wish you much success.

      Reply
  11. Garmin Smith

    I really like the way you explain the importance of using a good keyword to rank a website. I now see using a keyword tool can find a good keyword for me. Thank you for sharing this information.

    Reply
  12. Darren

    Hey, this is some of the best keyword information I have been able to find! I took your advice and used Jaaxy keyword tool. I’m highly impressed! Thank you for sharing!

    Reply

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