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Part of our #SEOseries, in this article we explore keywords. We explain what they are and how you can use them to drive the right people to your website.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the practice of increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to a website through optimising organic search engine results. Our #SEOseries will breakdown the process, giving hints and tips on how to improve a websites ranking on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP).
What is the purpose of marketing?
One of the main objectives of marketing efforts, both online and offline, is to garner attention. Whatever the product, service, topic that they are pushing may be, marketers want people looking.
But with a secondary goal also being to 'convert' those people, moving them along the sales pipeline, it is important to get marketing content in front of the right audience. It's no good telling a vegan how wonderful your free-range steaks are or a childless, singleton about your fantastic baby products.
In traditional paid advertising this is easy. Marketers pay a publication or website for an 'ad space' that targets the same demographic as their desired target audience - if the budget allows (!). But what about free advertising, driving relevant traffic to channels of communication - such as websites and blogs - that the marketer owns and has control over? This is where SEO comes into play.
When a relevant search is inputted into a search engine you want your content to come up in a high position on that first search engine results page. For example, if you are an 'all girls independent secondary school in Liverpool' you want your school website to show up when someone searches for 'girls schools in Liverpool' or 'independent school in Liverpool'. Luckily, so does the search engine. Search engines want to match the most relevant content to the search to provide the best user experience. To do this they need to understand what the content is about to determine if it is a good match for the search and one way in which they do this is by looking at keywords.
What are Keywords?
Keywords define what a websites digital content is about.
The words and phrases that a user inputs into the search engine are keywords. The search engine wants to provide that search query with the most relevant results and it uses an algorithm to do so. Many factors are consider by the search engine in its algorithm to determine the most helpful content to suggest an answer to the search query, one of the things it looks at are the keywords present on a website that match those in the search query.
Therefore, website owners and content creators need to consider what keywords their prospects will search for and ensure they are used on their web pages to rank well in the search engines algorithm.
There are different types of keywords to consider:
- Short-Tail Keywords are those that contain up to two words, such as 'Independent School'. They are generic and cover a broad spectrum with a high volume of search queries.
- Middle-Tail Keyword are search queries that use three or four words, such as 'Independent School in Cambridgeshire'. They are a little more specific than short-tail key words and as such have a slightly less search volume.
- Long-Tail Keywords consist of more than four words, 'Girls independent school in Cambridgeshire for music'. They are the most specific type of keyword and as such have the lowest amount of search volume.
The higher the search volume - the number of times that search query is inputted - the more competitive the keyword. More websites will be trying to rank highly on the search engine results page for that keyword, making it harder to do so. Long-tail keywords are more niche, have a smaller search volume as well as only being relevant to a smaller number of websites. This will mean that there is less competition and a greater chance of ranking highly for them.
Conversion rate is the percentage of traffic to a website that complete a desired goal, whether that is to download a prospectus, book on to an open day event or request a call back. More generic short-tail keywords with larger, broader reach also have a lower conversion rate. Long-tail keywords which match exactly what a user is searching for have a higher conversion rate.
But, whilst focusing on long-tail keywords is a good SEO tactic it isn't always easy to include them naturally in content, writing 'sixth-form college' into a sentence is easier than 'sixth-form college for girls near me'. And even if it was managed would the sentence be meaningful? It is important to keep in mind that keywords are necessary but only one of the factors that search engines consider when ranking websites for their search results. Having compelling content for search traffic to navigate to and find valuable is equally as important.
How to find the best keywords for your website and content
The best way to start keyword research is to get in the mindset of your ideal, target audience. In the case of education marketing this would be prospective students and/or the parent/guardian(s) who will involved and influencing any decision on which education setting to enrol in. What words and phrase do you think they will search for when researching education institutions? Consider your specific education setting - course offerings, location, type of school, USPs - and use those to create long-tail keywords to consider ranking for. Competitor research is useful to see what is working in the industry, as is consulting with prospective families and staff, who may have further insight into the consideration stage of education admission.
Looking at website analytics to determine where traffic has come from or which content is performing well already will inform you about keywords that are already bringing people to your website.
As ever, there are many SEO analysis tools to help with keyword research.
Utilising keyword research
Once a collation of keywords has been decided upon they need to be used effectively.
Keywords can be written into blog posts easily, whilst it is still imperative for the keyword rich content to be meaningful to the reader. Keywords can be included in blog:
- Titles
- Subheadings
- Post URL
- Alt text
- File names
- First and last sentences
- Meta description
Blog posts aren't the only place to utilise keywords though. They can and should be included (organically) in website copy and social media content.
We can help attract people to your website. We offer SEO audits for education providers, we delve into your site and your competitor's sites, check what needs improving and provide a full report with clear action points to improve your SEO. Find out more using the button below.
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