5 Ways Keywords Can Improve Your Marketing Strategies

As a marketer, I’m sure you’ve heard 100 times before that keywords are important. With over 40% of website traffic starting with a search query, it’s essential that your company ranks for those queries. Whether it be organically or paid. And with over 3.8 billion Google searches a day, that 40% can make a huge difference in your website traffic and consequently your conversions. Fortunately, keywords can be easily implemented into any marketing strategy to improve your company’s website presence. Before we go into the 5 ways keywords can improve your marketing strategies, let’s go over the types of keywords to better understand what types you should use in your marketing plan.

Types of Keywords

Before you try to improve your marketing strategies, it’s important to understand the different keywords out there and how to use them to drive the most success. We’re going to start off with a few types of keywords that can be used in your ads, as well as landing pages, blog content, and other non-paid content.

Short-Tail 

As the name implies, short-tail keywords are short and to the point. Generally, they are 1-3 words long. Short-tail are broad search terms and will often result in more clicks than long-tail keywords. Just because short-tail keywords will drive more traffic, doesn’t mean the traffic is all qualified. Since short-tail keywords are not as specific as long-tail, the volume of traffic may not yield high-quality results, like conversions. Examples of short-tail keywords that Visitor Queue uses include “lead generation” and “B2B lead generation”. They may seem similar, but the more specific keyword drives more qualified traffic to our website.

Long-Tail 

On the other hand, long-tail keywords are made up of over 3 words. They are more specific than short-tail keywords and drive fewer clicks. Even though they drive fewer clicks, the clicks they do receive will be highly relevant. As a result, more likely to turn into a conversion on your site. An example of a long-tailed keyword for Visitor Queue is “B2B lead generation software”. As you can see, this is more specific than the short-tailed keywords mentioned above. This keyword is clicked on less than the short-tailed. But the people that do click on this keyword are more likely to visit more pages, spend more time on our site, and lead to a conversion. Long-tail tend to be more expensive, because they are so specific and Google knows that they yield more conversions.

Geo-Targeting

If you are a business that targets specific geographic areas, then this tactic is perfect for you. Geo-targeting is typically used by small to medium-sized businesses that sell their product or service locally. They may be in competition with large retailers like Target or Walmart. Typically geo-targeted keywords are also long-tailed that drive a very specific consumer to your website. This type of keyword requires a little more research than others. This is because it is such a specific type of keyword and you want it to receive engagement. An example of this could be “Lead Generation Software New York”. When using this type of keyword, you’ll want to ensure you are targeting New York specifically. Excluding other geographic locations. Depending on the business, you could include areas close to New York.

Intent Targeting

Intent keywords are a great option for a variety of businesses. They are referred to as informational, commercial, or transactional search terms. They are also often long-tailed that reflect a search query in the form of a question. An example of this could be “What is a Lead Generation Software?”. When the user clicks on this result, it should take them to a page that answers their question. You can subtly plug your brand and show them how you can make their life easier. Now, let’s go over some keywords that are used specifically in advertising.

Types of Keywords for Paid Search

When you are creating search ads for Google, Bing, or other search engines, you’ll have to be familiar with the following types of keywords. Every business should aim to use a combination of each of these keywords in each of their ad groups, when applicable. 

Broad Match

Broad match is the most commonly used type of keyword. They will show your ad to a wide audience in hopes to get a lot of views and therefore clicks. If you choose a broad match keyword like “lead generation”, your ad will appear for search queries that include “lead” and  “generation” anywhere within the query. As well as any synonyms and related topics of lead generation. As a result, broad match search terms can often result in website visitors that are not your ideal customer. Therefore they will never have any intention of converting. If you are using a lot of broad match search terms, ensure you make an extensive list of negative words to try and keep your clicks relevant. You do not have to include any notation around your broad match keywords.

Phrase Match

Phrase match keywords are the second most popular type of keyword to use when advertising. When using phrase match, your ad will show for searches that include the meaning of your keyword. They are a lot more specific than broad match, meaning they will generally drive fewer views. However, the more specific your ads are, the more likely that your clicks will lead to conversions. To use phrase match keywords, you must include quotations around your keywords.

Exact Match

Next, we have exact match keywords. Exact match keywords will only include the exact words that you use. However, they can include misspelled words, plurals, or abbreviations. For example, if your keyword is “Lead Generation” your ad may also appear for “Lead Gen” since it has the same meaning. Exact match is useful if you want to target your competitor’s keywords and rank for their name on search engines. Generally, companies tend to use exact match less than the other two options because it can often result in fewer impressions. To use exact match keywords, you must include square brackets around your keywords.

Negative Keywords

Negative keywords are an essential part of any successful ad strategy. They will ensure your ads are only shown to relevant searchers. You should monitor the search terms that people are using to find your ad, and use their terms to create new keywords and new negative keywords. For example, if you are bidding on your competitor’s keywords, and you see a lot of searchers are clicking on your ad for the search term “Competitor X Careers”, you should think about negative matching the term “Careers” since they are most likely not going to convert to a paying client when they are looking for a job. For more information on Google Ads and how they can be used to drive conversions, check out this article.

Keyword Research

Keyword research is an essential part of creating a successful campaign. The research will allow you to discover the most searched queries that your potential customers are using that relate to your company. You may be asking yourself, “How do I come up with the right keywords?”. Luckily, Google has made this easy. By using the Google Keyword Planner tool, you can type in a keyword or phrase that you think your searchers are using, as well as enter in the link to your webpage, and Google will show you all of the relevant search terms that people are searching for. You can use this tool to find keywords that you want to use in your campaigns, as well as negative keywords that you don’t want to rank for. Now that you’re a pro with keywords, let’s jump into the 5 ways keywords can improve your marketing strategies.

1. Increase Landing Page Traffic

Using keywords on your landing pages will help your company rank both organically and improve your paid search ads. Once you have completed your keyword research, you should add the most popular words to your landing pages. If you are using a landing page for a specific ad, then you’ll want to align the ad keywords and the landing page keywords as well as create content for the page that reflects those keywords. Be careful not to overuse keywords, as Google will penalize your page. Typically using 1-3 keywords for every 100 words is a good number to aim for. You’ll also want to include keywords in your titles, subtitles, and metadata. If you’re struggling to build the perfect landing pages, take a look at this article.

2. Optimize Your Blogs

Writing blog articles is a great way to rank organically for keywords, for free. Before you even begin to write your blog articles, you should research common search queries that your target audience may be searching for. This will help your blog generate relevant traffic that will be interested in what your company has to offer. On every blog post, you should include a few call-to-action phrases, pop-ups, or buttons that will continue their journey with your company. Whether they are subscribing to your newsletter or reading multiple articles, your reader will become more familiar with who you are as a company. Even if they don’t convert today, they may at some point.

3. Enhance Your Social Media Strategies

Keywords can be used for more than just website and ad optimization. Using keywords in your social media content, whether it be your hashtags, image ALT text, or your actual content, will drive more views and hopefully clicks. By using keywords on your social media channels, your posts can be suggested to relevant users who may have similar interests or have engaged with similar content previously. In addition, on most social media platforms your business can follow popular industry hashtags, and you can use these posts to engage with or get ideas for your own posts. 

4. Increase Website Traffic

You might be thinking, “Why does website traffic matter if my visitors aren’t converting?”. That’s a great concern, but it can easily be fixed with the help of Visitor Queue. All of your keyword efforts are going to result in an increase in website traffic, but 98% of website visitors will leave your website before converting. With Visitor Queue, identify the companies that visit your website. It doesn’t stop there, also find out who the key employees at those companies are, and reach out to them by email, phone number, LinkedIn, and more that are all conveniently located in your Visitor Queue account. Stop losing leads that you have worked so hard to get to your website. Start your free trial of Visitor Queue today!

5. Increase Conversions

Increasing the number of conversions that you receive on your website is one of the key indicators that you’re doing something right in your marketing plan. Increasing your conversions is always a goal that marketers aim to achieve. With high-quality, relevant keywords and supporting content, you will attract website visitors that are looking for exactly what your product or service has to offer. Fortunately, you can easily track your conversions in your Google Ads and Google Analytics accounts, and track exactly which words perform the best in terms of conversions. It’s important to monitor your conversions rather than clicks or impressions because the number of conversions you receive will tell you that your keywords are bringing in high-quality website visitors. If you’re unsure about what will drive the most success, try out two different but similar versions of your content and see what works the best.

Wrap Up

Keywords are an essential part of building a successful marketing strategy. As mentioned above, they are vital to not only your website, but also your ads, social media pages, blog content, and much more. If done right, keywords will significantly increase your website traffic and therefore conversions. I hope you were able to learn something new about implementing keywords in your marketing strategy! As always, if you have any questions about how Visitor Queue can help your business generate 10-20% more revenue, do not hesitate to contact us.