What is a Keyword?

This is part of the series, “Understanding SEO for the Small Business Entrepreneur”.

Contents

Undoubtedly, you have been following my video tutorials or reading about search engine optimisation (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM) or online marketing and keep seeing references to keywords. So, what exactly are keywords?

What are Keyword Definitions?

Surprisingly, there are a variety of definitions for keywords and a keyword can be many things depending upon the context. It can be:

1. A word that serves as a key to a code or cipher.
2. A significant or descriptive word.
3. A word used as a reference point for finding other words or information.
4. In text editing and database management systems, a keyword can be an index entry which identifies a specific record or document.
5. Keywords are used to reveal the internal structure of an author’s reasoning, rhetoric, reasoning and comprehension. They are an essential part of any language.

For search engine optimisation, search engine marketing and general online marketing purposes, keywords can be defined as a word or phrase identifying text on a page.

So the best definition I can create for our purposes, is:

• A word or phrase used as a reference point for finding other words, data and/or information.

What a Keyword is Not!

A keyword is not a single word but a concatenation of one or more words. Maybe the word, “Keyword” itself is badly named, maybe we should say, “Keyword Phrase”!

Search Engines and Keywords

Think of keywords as defining specific terms used by searchers looking for something on the web. To find this page, you may probably entered a search term such as, “keyword definition” or “define keywords” or “what is a keyword” or “keywords, what are they” and so on.

Purpose of Keywords

The purpose of keywords is to drive more traffic to your website, gain more visibility on search engines and generally be found for a wider variety of keywords that people searching for the products or services you provide, are using. The biggest risk if you don’t use keyword optimisation on your web site is that your competitors will gain the advantage and steal market share from you.

Pay-Per-Click (PPC)

For pay-per-click advertising, keywords are defined as words used by prospects for which advertisements can be created and placed on search engines.

• With PPC, keywords are defined broadly.

Because of the way PPC platforms like Google and Yahoo work, a good general idea of search subject patens is all that’s required. An advertisement can then be place to cove a broad spectrum of possible outlets.

• For example, a broad spectrum ad for “Dog Kennels” would be displayed not only on pet sites but on holiday sites as well, just what we want.

Keyword Stuffing

A quick word on keyword stuffing, don’t do it. Keyword stuffing is considered to be an unethical SEO and SEM technique. Keyword stuffing occurs when a web page is loaded with keywords in the meta tags and/or the content of the page.

• The repetition of words in meta tags may explain why many search engines no longer use these tags.

This method of SEO and SEM is completely outdated and adds no value to rankings today. In particular, Google no longer gives rankings to pages employing this technique.

Conclusion

Identifying keywords can be tricky. In general, the solution is simple, you want to identify the phrases being used to search specifically for your product or service and then incorporate those in your Internet marketing. Easy! Yes!

For help with keywords you might like to see my article on SEO Tools here.

Well, I hope you found something useful and enjoyed this article, please don’t forget to let me have your thoughts in the comment box below. See you soon.