The biggest problem with SEO and content creation is that some marketers focus on very few variables when choosing keywords for that blog post or a product/service page.
Tunnel vision isn’t helpful with SEO.
Yes, Google looks at far more than keywords. You’ll often rank for keywords that aren’t even in your content. But you should still target keywords.
Leverage these ideas and resources to enhance your own efforts for even more success.
Relevance (tied to business priorities)
Is the keyword phrase so broad that it can be confused with other industries? Just look at the SERPs and see how well your industry is represented within the first 1-20 results.
Searcher Intent
As a starting point, focus on searcher intent to better match your keywords to possible conversions.
Transactional: Buy, Schedule, Download
Informational: What Are, How, Study
Navigational: Cost Of, Brand Mentions, Testimonials
You can dive more into this area with these articles:
Why You Shouldn’t Ignore Search Intent Optimization
SEO Isn’t Just About Keywords; It’s Also About Searcher Intent
Searcher Intent: The Overlooked ‘Ranking Factor’ You Should Be Optimizing For
Know Your Sweet Spot
Are you even ranking among the top 10 on Google for non-branded keywords? If you do, correlate the rankings with average monthly search volume data. If you’re ranking #5 and the search volume is in the 10-50 range, why target 1,000 searches? Maybe you rank 11-20 and the search volume is 300-500. That’s good. You can go after relevant, higher volume keywords because SEO tactics can help you move toward the top.
Content Plans
Maybe new content can help you move that ranking move much higher – way up. The “Sweet Spot” tip, for example, is just one key consideration.
Paid Search
You can pay for the top spot. The same landing page may be an SEO ranking disaster. But why not look at the paid search data? Is that page converting? Can you target the same priority phrases or at least similar ones?
Other keyword considerations:
Domain Authority: Your score is a dead giveaway for how well you may rank for competitive keyword pages.
Domain Name: The presence of a keyword still matters (look at the SERPS and your own rankings).
Crawlability: What are the odds that the content you optimize or the page you add will be indexed?
Internal Links: What is the internal link status? What are your internal linking plans?
Page Load Speed: You need to be focused on search engine standards and your users. Incremental improvements may affect rankings for your keywords. Is your company working on website performance?
Website Themes: Topic clusters help establish and reinforce themes (and support internal links).
Similar Pages: How well have other pages done over time on your website?
Amount of Page Content: Yes, short pages can rank. But why not plan on 400, 500 or even 2,000 words?