One of the most commonly asked questions by marketers who are trying to plan and budget for an SEO campaign is how to calculate SEO keyword value.
Of course, you want to ensure that you are getting maximum ROI from your SEO strategy and, therefore, it makes sense to use the most valuable keywords. Unfortunately, there is no way of calculating keyword worth with 100% accuracy.
That being said, you can make a good estimate of the SEO value of keywords, as long as you know what you are looking for and where to look.
In this guide, we will look at the difference between high value and low value keywords, establish how you can find high-value keywords and cover how to plan your keywords based on their cost-per-click (CPC) value.
What are keywords?
Before we dive into the values of keywords, what they mean, and how to determine keywords to use, you might be wondering what’s a keyword? In SEO, keywords or keyphrases are terms added to content to improve search engine rankings. Keywords are the words that search engine users enter into search engines when they perform a search query. Now you know the SEO keywords meaning, let’s dive into what are high value keywords and how to define keywords for SEO.
High Value Keywords
When undertaking keyword learning, it is important to know the difference between value and cost. Just because a keyword is deemed to be high value does not necessarily mean that it will be expensive.
That being said, costly keywords, known as high commercial intent keywords, can result in higher conversion rates. This is because the users who have searched for these commercial keywords on search engines actively need what they are searching for so are more likely to click on your pages if they are relevant to their needs.
A good SEO keywords example of a user who has high commercial intent is “SEO experts London.” The user who has searched this phrase is highly likely to utilise the services of an SEO expert in London, and, therefore, this is the perfect use case for PPC. Your targeted ad would be placed right at the top of the search results page, offering you a highly targeted lead.
Often marketers make the mistake of focusing purely on highly competitive, high search volume keywords (find out more about search volume meaning here) that often don’t result in many conversions. However, high value keywords have high commercial intent, meaning that the users who search for them are more likely to make a purchase.
That being said, it is important to focus on a combination of these high SEO value keywords and long-tail keyword phrases that are less expensive but highly targeted.
When planning your SEO campaign, you need to ensure that you consider both the value of the keywords you choose and their search volume.
When it comes to the value of SEO, it is very important for your site. To find out which keywords you should be targeting in your ads, you need to find out the answer to “what does the keyword mean to the people using them?”
To search by keyword meaning means you will know the searcher’s intent before you create your ad. Once you have figured this out, you can see where your website ranks against a particular keyword. The keyword ranking definition is where your pages position within search results for specific search queries. If you are lower than you would hope, you could then start a targeted ad campaign targeting this keyword to get your page seen.
Why use high value keywords
When trying to discover how to rank for a keyword and get your website on that sought-after first page of Google, there are many elements that you need to consider, from establishing a great website by having an effective linking building campaign, to having a built-in network to share your content with, to carrying out sufficient keyword research.
When looking at high value or high commercial intent keywords, it is worth knowing that these are best suited to paid search campaigns. This is because:
- Paid search ads get your placement at the very top of the search page
- You can make adjustments to optimise for cost per click, cost per lead and cost per conversion
- Google Shopping Ads are highly appealing to searchers with commercial intent and tend to get clicks from users who are actively ready to make a purchase
Targeting high commercial intent keywords can dramatically improve your click-through rates and offer you the ideal opportunity to focus on increasing your number of conversions – isn’t that what every business ultimately wants?
How to identify high value keywords?
Now that you know what high value keywords are and why they are important for SEO, it is time for you to start identifying the right ones for your business. Knowing how to find buyer intent keywords is vital.
The good news is that there are several ways you can begin to identify high commercial intent keywords:
AdWords Keyword Planner
One of the best ways to identify the most valuable keywords, AdWords Keyword Planner is fairly straightforward to use. You can use AdWords Keyword Planner as a keyword value checker as the platform easily lets you see the keyword SEO value.
Simply log in to your AdWords account, access the Keyword Planner from the “tools” tab and select “search for new keyword and ad group ideas.”
Now enter your product or service in the search field. You will then be presented with a list of suggested keywords, allowing you to identify the high commercial intent ones.
How? The keywords with the highest suggested bids are the ones that have the highest commercial intent value. Competition for these keywords is fierce because they are highly likely to result in conversions.
Google Analytics
Another way to identify high value keywords is by using Google Analytics. All you need to do is access this tool, open the “AdWords Keywords” report and you will be able to see your top-performing keywords and how they directly relate to your conversion goals.
Have a look and see how many of your top ten performing keywords are high commercial intent keywords.
If there aren’t any, it might be time to start adding some to your AdWords account and see how much better your conversion rate could be if you targeted some high value keywords. Yes, this will come at a cost, but the rewards should speak for themselves.
How to find out how much a keyword costs
You’ve got the answer to what does a keyword mean, and you know that phrases with a high keywords value are likely to be buyer intent keywords where the searcher conducts a query to buy something. The most valuable domain keywords are often the most expensive as these have a higher SEO click value to your business and are likely to bring in customers. Before you use all high value domain keywords, you need to consider your budget for your campaigns.
Google considers the SEO click value and the number of clicks a keyword receives when allocating a keyword a price. This keywords intelligence means that the most popular keywords are often the most expensive to buy.
Is SEO expensive when it comes to using high value keywords in your ads? The answer is that yes it can be. There are many keyword estimator tools you can find online that can give you a rough cost for the campaign and keywords you want to use.
However, there are ways to lower the costs of your campaigns. Once you know what the keywords you want to use are, you can reduce the cost by:
- Choose keywords wisely that match your website and the services you offer.
- Improve your click through rate for keywords and get more visitors to your website.
- Ensure your website is user friendly as this will increase your authority.
Low Value Keywords
On the other end of the scale, when you are trying to identify exactly what does a keyword mean in terms of success, a low value keyword is one that advertisers are not willing to pay much money for.
Why? Because they have low commercial intent. This means that the users who search for these keywords are not likely to make a purchase.
A key example of a low commercial intent keyword is the word “free.” If a user includes this in their search query, they are unlikely to be wanting to spend any money.
However, if you have a freemium business model, you may still want to go after these low value keywords, as they may be able to convert free users into paying customers by driving valuable traffic to your site.
Bidding on low value keywords is a risk. You may be able to convert some buyers, but many may result in users bouncing from your site.
Are you ready to discover the SEO value of your keywords? Get in touch today.
Additional Related Articles
- https://www.clickintelligence.co.uk/could-the-increase-in-voice-search-affect-keyword-strategies/
- https://www.clickintelligence.co.uk/keyword-selection-strategy-2017/
- https://www.clickintelligence.co.uk/keywords-ranking-on-google/
- https://www.clickintelligence.co.uk/what-are-long-tail-keywords/
- https://www.clickintelligence.co.uk/do-organic-keyword-rankings-still-matter/
- https://www.clickintelligence.co.uk/how-search-engines-are-improving-through-machine-learning/