Having an online presence in today’s time plays a vital role in helping businesses reach their target audience, regardless of their geographical location. It has helped businesses build a credible brand reputation, diversify their target audience, and drive more conversions. However, creating an online presence that generates revenue calls for a lot of work. One of them is keyword research.

Keywords are phrases or words that your potential customers often use to search for something online. Identifying and leveraging them will give your business a competitive edge and drive more organic traffic to your website. While there are many ways to conduct keyword research, it is essential to consider important parameters. Inadequate or insufficient keyword research can yield keywords that don’t align with your goals and can dampen the effectiveness of your existing strategies.

Here are some mistakes to avoid when you are conducting keyword research.

1.Targeting a broad spectrum of keywords

Many businesses make the common mistake of opting for broad keywords merely because they have a high search volume. As a matter of fact, these keywords usually have a higher competition.

Furthermore, consider using long-tail keywords, as they are more likely to attract users who are conducting a highly specific search. These keywords have the potential to outperform broader keywords and can be beneficial for websites that are looking to rank higher on search engines.

2.Not producing high-quality content

While finding the right set of keywords that can help your business gain organic traffic is important, it is also essential to consider if these keywords are in sync with your content marketing strategy as well.

Creating high-quality and intent-oriented formats of content will ascertain that you are providing value to your potential customers. Without focusing on the quality of the content being produced, even the most potent keywords will fail to attract organic traffic to your website. Your online presence is incomplete without high-quality, reliable content.

3.Not tending to search intent

Search intent is the main goal a user has in their minds while they are searching for something specific. Using keywords that do not go on par with your strategy will result in content creation that is not aligned with your desired results and goals. It will only end up in you creating mountains of content pieces that are not generating any results.

It is crucial that you understand the intent behind the keywords and then produce content that serves the intent. Mismatched intent makes it challenging for your content to find an audience that will pay attention to the presented information. On the same note, it is important also to identify the format of content that suits the search intent correctly.

4.Focusing on only one channel

Oftentimes, when we talk about SEO or search engines, we end up thinking about Google (News - Alert). Which limits and narrows down one’s ability to reach their target audience.

Aside from Google, many other search engines exist, including Bing, Yandex (News - Alert), DuckDuckGo, Infinity Search, etc. There is a high possibility that you could be missing out on valuable traffic by not focusing on them. Each of these platforms has a different algorithm, requiring one to customize their SEO and content marketing strategy to grow their business.

5.Relying heavily on free tools

While free tools are good if you are testing the range of data available for analysis, relying on them solely for your keyword research is not the best idea. Most of the free trials are to give you an experience of using the tool.

Free tools often end up providing misleading, inaccurate, or old data that can dampen your keyword strategy's effectiveness. Instead, consider investing in paid keyword research tools like RankWatch that can provide accurate, real-time, and up-to-date data. Moreover, paid tools make tracking a broader range of data possible. This can even help strengthen your SEO strategy.

6.No attention to keyword difficulty

Keyword difficulty refers to how hard it would be to rank for a particular keyword. The higher the difficulty, the more challenging it will be to get your content ranking for it.

This is because these keywords already have a high competition rate that has been competing for a really long time, making it challenging for new contenders to rank. Instead, consider looking for keywords with significant search volume but low or medium difficulty. Ranking for these keywords will be more straightforward and more worthwhile.

7.Not focusing on keyword localization

People from different parts of the world (or even the same city) might use different search terms to look for what they want on search engines. Focusing only on ultra-specific keywords can help you reach people who are using those keywords for their search.

Instead, consider including more long-tail and semantic keywords to diversify your strategy. Competitive research can be beneficial in finding search terms that your competitors are also targeting.

Empower your website to drive more organic traffic

Keywords are essential for any website that aims to attract more organic traffic and conversions. With keyword research being an integral part of achieving this, it is essential to identify and honor search intent with valuable and relevant content. Additionally, avoid practices like keyword stuffing or producing content based on one keyword only, as it can limit your ability to reach your target audience.