Ever heard of the term primary keyword? Suppose you have great content optimized on all major aspects i,.e, proper structuring, images, length, and more. But even then, your content is not ranking. Well, you might be missing one of the most important aspects of webpage content i,e. Primary keywords.
Primary keyword is the main keyword in an SEO strategy for which contents are supposed to rank in the Google Search result pages. Focus keywords also instruct the search engine what the page is about. Here, let us learn more about the primary keyword in detail.
What Is A Primary Keyword?
A primary keyword is the main term or phrase that your target audience is looking for. In Digital marketing, primary keywords are used to write a piece of content to drive traffic to the company website and improve the overall SEO ranking.
- Primary Keyword or the main character of the content of a webpage. Nobody ignores the primary keyword.
- It might be a phrase or main keyword for which an expert optimizes a page.
- A primary keyword having considerable search volume can bring good traffic and engagement to a webpage.
- The primary keyword is also known as the focus keyword or main keyword.
- A piece of content generally has one focus or main keyword and a couple of secondary keywords.
Read More: What are Short Tail Keywords? Complete Step-By-Step Guide To Find Short Tail keywords
Why Are Primary Keywords Important?
Primary keywords are the foundation of any content or SEO based strategy. Let us check how primary keywords can be an important ranking factor below.
- Primary keywords represent the main topic of the content you are covering. They instruct search engines and readers about the page.
- A focus keyword provides direction to your content and attracts the right set of audience.
- A search engine mainly relies on users’ queries to deliver the relevant results. When your content is well optimized around a primary keyword, you can rank higher for major searches.
- With well-optimised primary keywords in your content, you can drive targeted traffic to your web page.
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How to Choose A Primary Keyword? [ 3 Major Practice]
Well, choosing a focus keyword for content is an important task that needs proper research, consideration, and evaluation. The most important part is for you to know that the selected keyword aligns with your content goals and is relevant to the audience you are targeting.
1. Use A Keyword Research Tool
- Many tools are available that can be used to find the right keyword for content, such as Ahrefs, Semrush, Moz, Google Keyword Planner, and many more.
- These keyword research tools can help you find relevant keywords for your content. Each tool has its own set of features, helping you to implement an in-depth analysis.
- The two important metrics to check for are search volume and keyword competition. Prefer a focus keyword having high search volume but low competition.
- You can use Google Keyword Planner to check for average monthly searches, including CPC (Cost Per Click), and competition levels.
2. Keyword + Content Relevancy Is Important
It is important that the primary keyword is relevant to the content goal you want to achieve. For example, “Best running shoes” is a primary keyword that also tells the content will be about some of the best running shoes available. You cannot list the 10 best mobile phones with a main keyword of “Best running shoes” as they won’t be relevant. Google is a smart agent now; it can check the relevancy of your content and then only rank it on search result pages.
Marketing specialists must choose a keyword that matches the purpose of the content. For example, a blog about a course program on digital marketing must contain digital marketing-related keywords.
- Focus or main keywords help to structure content.
- It improves the overall quality and relevancy of the content
- When your keyword aligns with the content goals, it can enhance your users’ engagement.
Read More: What Is SEO Writing? How to Write SEO-Friendly Content
3. Matching User Intent Is the Key
It is very important that the primary keyword matches with user intent. It is what users are searching for when they type a query or term. The keyword chosen must accurately represent the content. Also, Google matches the content intent with the user’s query and then displays the search result.
Your content and keywords must align to pass Google content intent matching, which will also result in the ranking of your content on search pages.
4. Keyword Must Have Good Search Volume
The focus keyword you are choosing must have a good enough search volume to get you enough traffic and engagement. You can easily check the search volume using any keyword research tool.
1. Low Volume Keywords
These keywords generally have 10-500 searches in a month are usually long tail keywords that are highly specific and offer less competition. These keywords might not have much traffic, but they often have higher conversion rates as users type these queries when they are on the verge of making a decision.
2. Medium Volume Keywords
These keywords generally have 500 to 5000 monthly searches. This range is something most businesses or bloggers choose for their content. These keywords are balanced as having good traffic potential along with lower competition, which makes these keywords easier to rank on search result pages.
3. High Volume Keywords
These keywords are the ones with heavy search volume, having the probability of getting you lots of traffic, engagement, and interaction. But these keywords are also very competitive, and to rank on these keywords, you need to have good domain authority along with good quality content.
As your rivals will have trusted websites with good authority. These are short-tail keywords with massive traffic and extreme competition. If you want to rank on these keywords, you will require having good domain authority, backlinks, and quality content.
5. KD (Keyword Difficulty) Is Important
In the above figure these are medium and high competitive keywords. While below are some of the easy ranking keywords i,e. keywords with low difficulty.
Whenever you are doing keyword research, usually for the focus keyword, make sure you take into consideration i,e. Keyword difficulty. It is an important metric that estimates how hard it is to rank on the first page of search engine result pages. You can check the KD of any phrase or keyword on the keyword research tool.
- Generally, the KDs are marked in colors, with RED being the most competitive keyword and green meaning considerable or good-to-go keywords with low competition.
- A numerical Keyword difficulty score ranges between 0-100 scale which represents difficulty.
- A higher KD score means it faces intense competition from other web pages.
How to Find Primary Keywords Using Semrush?
Semrush is a popular keyword research tool that can help you find your primary keyword easily.
- Step 1: Go to your Semrush account. Log in with your credentials.
- Step 2: Head to the “Keyword Overview” Section on the homepage of Semrush.
- Step 3: You have to type your seed keyword, which is related to your niche or the content you are covering on your website. The main keyword might be highly competitive.
- Step 4: You will find many related keywords with relatively lower competition, which you can choose easily.
- Step 5: You can check the “Keyword Ideas” section to find some good related keywords with low competition.
- Step 6: You can also use the “Keyword Magic Tool” in Semrush to generate high search volume keywords with lower competition.
How To Place Primary Keywords In Content? [Best Practices]
There are certain places in your content where you must place your primary keyword to ensure good ranking in search results pages.
- Meta Title/ Description: Your title and meta description must contain your primary keyword, as it helps search engines understand your content. It tells Google about your page and the content it is covering.
- H1 (Page title): Your title is the first thing your readers or Google interprets, and hence it is important that you add your primary keyword in the title.
- URL/Slug: It is important to have a short, focused URL containing the primary keyword of your content.
- Image alt text: The images that you are using in your content can contain the primary keyword. It is one of the best SEO practices.
- Body of the Content: It is important to distribute the primary keyword throughout the content. Your keyword must be equally distributed throughout the content i,e. Do not only use keywords in the beginning or at the end, but keep it balanced throughout the beginning, middle, and ending parts of your content.
- Subheadings: It is also said that mentioning primary keywords in your subheading is a good practice. It makes your content feel more aligned with the user’s intent.
Note: Make sure you don’t follow “keyword stuffing”; your content must feel natural. Use primary keywords only where it might make sense. Google can now understand the intent behind the content, and hence it is important that you focus on maintaining the quality of your content along with the primary keyword best practices.
Keyword Stuffing FAQs
Q1. What are primary keywords?
Ans: Primary keywords are the main phrase or focus keyword of the content, which tells Google or users what the content is about.
Q2. Why use a primary keyword?
Ans: A primary keyword is the main term of a webpage for which content is expected to rank. Google checks these primary keywords to understand the intent of your content and then gives you a rank accordingly.
Q3. What is the difference between primary keywords and secondary keywords?
Ans: A primary keyword is the main phrase of the content, which is also included in URLs, title, meta description, and throughout the content. Secondary keywords are close variations, synonyms, or subtopics of the content you are covering.
Q4. How to find primary keywords for SEO?
Ans: You can find primary keywords using a keyword research tool. These tools provide you with the search volume and keyword competition which is very important while choosing a keyword for your content.
