Is Keyword Research Still Relevant in 2024?

In this article, I am going to teach you why keyword research is still relevant and is super important for the growth of your business.

To succeed in 2024 you must understand keyword research and search engine optimization(SEO). These two aspects of digital marketing are the driving force behind every search on the entire internet.

To grow your brand online you have to be easily searchable and available to the internet., and the only way to do this is to know SEO and keyword research. So get ready for a crash course on how to use keyword research and search engine optimization to grow your business/brand online.

What is Search Engine Optimization(SEO)

Search engine optimization in simple terms is the process of improving any type of online content to increase its ability to rank higher and receive organic traffic on search engines, such as Google, YouTube, or Bing.

Search engine optimization is one of the most important aspects of digital marketing. Many Fortune 500 companies have entire marketing teams whose only job is to focus on improving their online through search engine optimization. 

It is known that the ability to rank higher in online searches can increase sales, leads and build overall brand credibility.

The Benefits Search Engine Optimization Can Have On Your Business

• Establish and Maintain Brand Credibility and Awareness
• Generates organic online traffic to your website, business, or YouTube
• Makes your brand or business appear more trustworthy to new clients or customers
• Builds Your Authority in your niche
• Increased user experience resulting in higher returning customers

These are 5 examples that show you how improving your search engine optimization efforts can dramatically grow your business. 

Search engine optimization is a very important topic that could cover the entirety of this article however this article is about the importance that keyword research can have on your business, so let’s get to it!

Why Keyword Research Is Still Relevant In Your Business

What are Keywords?

Keywords are words and phrases that people type into search engines to find what they are searching for. They are extremely important as they set the entire foundation for search engine optimization(SEO).

The basic goal of SEO is to rank your content for keywords that your target audience or customers are searching for. Without using or understanding keywords it is virtually impossible to have your content in the way of your desired audience or any potential customers.

Every time a user searches anything in the search bar google analyzes their search and breaks the question or phrase into related keywords. This allows closely related content to also be shown and not only results of the exact phrase that was entered.

Your ability to correctly use and understand keywords will have a massive impact on the online presence of your business.

That being said it is not just important to know what keywords are you also have to be aware of when, where, and how to use them.

How To Use Keywords Correctly

Believe it or not, there is a wrong way to use keywords.

 Bad practices such as keyword stuffing will hurt your SEO efforts as it will appear as spam. Google classifies keyword stuffing as unnatural keyword usage or repeated keywords on a webpage with the intent to manipulate Google’s ranking.

Being flagged for keyword stuffing or spamming could have detrimental effects on your business as Google could limit the organic exposure to your online platform or mark it as spam which would make users fearful to interact and engage with your content.

Make sure when using keywords to promote your business you follow these best practices that I’m going to list below to have the best effects on your business.

Best Keyword Practices

Use the main focus keyword in the first 10% of your content

Using the main keyword in the first 10% percent of your article/content is essential as it increases the SEO ranking of allows Google indexing robots to properly categorize your content and push it to your desired audience.

Use variations of the keyword throughout the entirety of the content

Use a variation of the keyword throughout the article/content to avoid being marked for keyword stuffing or spamming as this can negatively affect your content.

Use Latent semantic indexing keywords (LSI) rather than repeating the same keyword repeatedly  

Use conceptually related keywords in your content to further optimize your content. For example, my article answers the question “Why is keyword research important”, so a conceptually related keyword would be “SEO” or “Search Engine”.

What Is Keyword Research?

Before you can understand why keyword research is important for the growth of your business, you first have to know what keyword research is.

Keyword research is the process of analyzing search terms and phrases that users enter into search engines to target a desired audience for a specific reason. Keyword research done correctly is one of the most powerful to market your business online.

Now there are many strategies, tools, and methods for keyword research that all are interchangeable depending on who you ask. Nevertheless, everyone can agree that without keyword research majority of the content you produce will be mishandled by Google crawlers or the popular name “The Algortithm”.

Keyword research is critical for all types of content from blog posts, to YouTube videos, all the way to social media platforms. Researching your intended keywords is massively important because there are many keywords that you simply cannot rank for (depending on your authority).

For example, if you are a small finance blogger and you want to write about the best credit cards to use, this keyword might not be the best choice for you as it is extremely difficult to rank for.

Difficult keywords to rank for do not mean that you cannot write, record, or publish content about them it just me there is a high likelihood that your content will be swallowed up and lost by the high authorities in your niche who will rank above you.

As your marketing advisor, I wouldn’t recommend it.

The sole purpose of keyword research is to find easy to rank for relatable topics with high search volume. It is key to focus on relatable content to your niche so you can attract your desired target audience & build authority in your topic so you can go after and rank for stronger keywords which will result in more money.

Tools To Help With Keyword Research

No matter which strategy you employ when it comes to keyword research you need keyword tools to properly analyze the search term so you can know which are the best keywords and phrases to go after.

There are plenty of SEO keyword tools out there to help you properly select and analyze hundreds of thousands of potential keywords. 

Here are just a few,

5 Free SEO Keyword Tools

• Ahrefs Free SEO Tools – my personal favorite
• Semrush Free SEO Tools
• Ubersuggest
• Moz Keyword Explorer
• Google Trends

5 Paid Keyword Tools

• Ahrefs Paid Version – my current keyword research tool
• Serp Sat
• Sem Rush Paid Version
• KWFinder 
• Moz Keyword Explorer Paid Version

How To Research Keywords for an Article

Now that you know what keyword research is and have a variety of free and paid tools at your disposal it is time to understand how to properly research keywords. Researching keywords can be a very tedious process but it is absolutely crucial when writing any type of content on the internet.

When starting to research keywords the first thing you want to have in mind is the authority your website carries in your niche. Depending on your DR (Domain Rating) & UR (URL Rating) you may be able to attack highly difficult keywords if you do not carry a strong backlink profile I would not recommend going after strong & difficult keywords as it can be a waste of your time.

It is smart to target keywords with a KD (Keyword Difficulty) that is around the strength of your authority or backlink portfolio. If you do not know the authority you carry visit Ahrefs Free Backlink and Website Authority Checker.

You want to search for niche-related keywords that produce enough traffic that it is worth going after. Easy-to-rank keywords that are not receiving consistent traffic will serve you no point as not enough people are searching for this query. It is important to take search intent into account when researching keywords for an article.

You then want to open the Ahrefs SERP Checker to search your desired keyword. The SERP Checker will tell you the word counts of the top 5 articles, it is good practice to check the word counts of these articles and make sure your article’s word count is not too far under the average of the 5.

These are just 5 strategies to employ in your keyword-researching efforts. Implement these strategies to your business and you will understand why keyword research is important for your business to succeed.

Why Keyword research is important on Social Media

Social media is one of the biggest active platforms in this new digital era. With 4.78 billion users daily (60% of the global population) the opportunity to market yourself on these platforms is massive and can increase brand recognition overnight.

Social media managers will say using trending audio and mind-blowing content strategy will easily get you viral and as there may be some truth to this, in all actuality keywords and SEO are just as important on social media as it in search engines.

Let’s take Instagram for example, pages that use keywords describing their location along with their niche grow significantly faster as they are easier to find by the Instagram search engine.

It is also true that keyword research is different for social media than it is for an article or a YouTube video. Social media keywords belong more properly in the alt tags, captions, and hashtags of a post. While keyword research looks different on social media it is still very important if you plan on making a searchable account that has a broad reach into your target audience.

Now It’s Your Turn

I hope after reading this article you understand why keyword research is important for your brand/ business to grow in 2024. Keywords are one of the fundamental marketing tools in today’s day and age. The understanding of keywords is crucial to growing your business online.

It is now time for you to implement these lessons that I have taught you to properly market your brand/business and become an authority in your niche.

I thank you for your time, if you enjoyed my article I invite you to follow me on Instagram for more marketing strategies to grow your business online.