Many different SEO experts will tell you that keywords don’t matter as much as they used to, Orange County, or that they don’t matter in quite the same way. The reason for that is because when Google introduced the Hummingbird algorithm update, it made it so that the search engine was better at understanding user intention. The upshot of this was that keywords still mattered on a site, but they didn’t guarantee that pages would rank in the SERPs just because of their presence. If a different website from yours was deemed to be a better match because of its content, then that might trump your keyword usage.

Still, that doesn’t mean that you can forego keywords. They still matter for SEO, and you’re better off having them than not, even if their value might not be quite what it was. That means you need to be up to date with best practices regarding what it takes to find them.

Keyword Hunting Strategies

Keyword hunting or keyword research is best approached as though you or your SEO company were collecting rare specimens intended to become the centerpiece of an exotic collection. Obvious keywords are of little value because everyone in your niche is already using them. Long-tail keywords that others have yet to identify as valuable will serve you best because while people may be searching for them, your competitors aren’t featuring them on their sites yet. But where to find them?

Keyword research must trace its root to your mission statement, Orange County. It is first helpful to ask what your company is all about. What is it that you’re trying to sell? What makes you special? What do you promise the customer? The answers to these queries will begin to give you some ideas of what your keywords should be.

Next, try to put yourself in the minds of your customers. For what are they looking? What search terms will they probably use? If your sales mission is clear, then you should be able to generate a list of possible terms relatively easily.

After that, use some of the tools that are out there to identify which of your terms are likely candidates for use on your site. Google Adwords Keyword Planner and Yoast Suggests should both be on your radar.  

Once you have a list of keywords, including long-tail keywords, about which you feel confident, then you can use them in your on-page content, Orange County. As previously stated, they’re not going to be a sure way of ranking, but you still need them to be there. They remain a part of SEO, and it seems unlikely that will ever completely change, no matter how many times the Google algorithm is updated.