Keywords are an integral part of SEO. Good keywords provide little in the way of competition but still provide adequate levels of traffic. They are also targeted to ensure that the resulting traffic is responsive and open to the message that you are portraying on your web pages. Poorly targeted keywords or overly generic ones can make it virtually impossible to rank highly and generate reasonable traffic.

1 - Regular Research

Keyword research should ideally be conducted on a regular basis. Popular keywords change on a regular basis and what may be popular today could be gone tomorrow. Similarly, you may find that entirely different keywords are those that you should be targeting in a month or two. By conducting new keyword research regularly, you will be able to find the most beneficial keywords.

2 – Use Semantically Related Keywords

Not every page needs to concentrate on a single keyword, especially not since search engines have introduced LSI. By combining several semantically related keywords into one page it is possible to reduce the number of pages on your site and offer more detailed content. Don’t get too carried away though. You will never manage to effectively optimise a page for too large a number of keywords.

3 – Use Targeted Keywords Rather Than Generic Ones

Generic keywords are more difficult to rank highly for than the more specific ones. They also generate less active traffic. Generally speaking, single word keywords are very difficult to rank highly for and most people when searching for a specific product or service (when they are more likely to want to part with their money) will use two or more words.