Top Three Key Considerations When Evaluating Keywords for SEO

The Short Answer: Search engine optimization shapes how buyers find businesses online. SEO helps companies reach their target audience at the moment people search for information related to their products and services, which drives conversions and business growth. The three most important considerations when evaluating keywords for SEO are search volume, competition, and search intent.

What Is Organic Traffic?

Organic traffic is the group of visitors who reach a website through unpaid search results. It is the opposite of paid traffic, which is driven by Google Ads and other online advertisements. Organic traffic is generated when people enter a search query into a search engine like Google, Bing, or Yahoo, and the search engine displays your pages in its search results. This traffic is highly targeted because users are actively looking for solutions related to a particular keyword.

What Is a Keyword?

A keyword is a specific word or search phrase people use when looking for information, products, or services on a search engine. Keywords connect what users are searching with the content websites provide. A keyword can be one or two words, like "coworking" or "marketing agency," or a longer phrase, such as "coworking space near me" or "digital marketing strategies for small businesses."

In SEO, keywords help search engines understand the information, relevance, and intent of web pages. When someone enters a search term, the search engine scans its index of web pages to find the results most relevant to the given keyword.

Why Are Keywords Important to SEO?

Keywords are the foundation of SEO for a few reasons:

• Keywords establish relevance by showing that your website matches what people are searching for, which attracts qualified traffic.
• Keywords influence search engine rankings because relevance to a query is a key ranking signal. Placing the right keywords in your title tag, meta description, headers, and body copy improves your chances of appearing in Google search results.
• Keywords reveal user intent, so you can understand the needs, interests, and motivations of your audience and tailor content to them.
• Keywords guide content optimization by helping you identify relevant topics and popular search queries. Our breakdown of technical SEO vs content SEO shows how this fits into a full strategy.

Types of Keywords

There are many types of keywords, but these are the most common in organic search.

• Broad keywords are short, general terms with high search volume and heavy competition, such as "phone repair," "skin care," or "healthy recipes."
• Long-tail keywords are specific phrases of three or more words that reach niche audiences. They have lower search volume and higher conversion rates, like "best running shoes for a marathon”.
• Commercial intent keywords show that the searcher wants to make a purchase or complete a transaction.
• Informational intent keywords are used when searchers want answers or educational content. They often start with "how to," "what is," or "benefits of."
• Branded keywords include the name of a specific brand or company, like "Lululemon leggings" or "Apple iPhone."

What Are Three Key Considerations When Evaluating Keywords for SEO?

Keyword research is a fundamental part of your SEO strategy because it shows what people search for when they look for your products and services. Those insights into your audience's specific needs shape search-friendly content.

A keyword research tool gathers data on search volume, competition, related keywords, and user intent. Google Keyword Planner is a free keyword research tool inside Google Ads that provides keyword suggestions, while Semrush and Moz Keyword Explorer add deeper competitive data. Our list of the best SEO tools can help you pick the right tool. Once you have your keyword ideas, weigh each one against these three considerations:

1. Search volume
2. Competition
3. Search intent

Search Volume

Search volume is the number of times a particular keyword is entered into a search engine over a set period, usually measured monthly. It shows the demand for a topic so you can direct your marketing efforts toward an audience actively looking for your products or services. Google Trends can also add context by showing how interest in a search term rises and falls over time.

Treat volume numbers as estimates. An Ahrefs study comparing Keyword Planner with Google Search Console data found that Keyword Planner overestimated search volume 54.28% of the time. Volume alone should not decide your keyword selection, so balance it with competition and search intent.

Competition

Keyword competition describes how hard it is to rank on page one for a particular keyword. Highly competitive keywords are often targeted by established websites with strong authority, which makes them difficult for newer sites with less authority to win. Low-competition keywords give you a chance to rank sooner. 

You can assess competition in three ways:

• Keyword difficulty score estimates how hard a keyword is to rank for on a 100-point scale. Tools calculate it using factors like the number of sites targeting the keyword, their authority, and their backlink profiles.
• Competitor analysis involves reviewing the websites that rank for your target keyword and comparing their domain authority, content quality, and backlink profiles to find ways to surpass them.
• SERP analysis involves studying the first page of results for a keyword and evaluating each page's content, optimization, user experience, and authority.

Search Intent

Search intent, also called user intent, is the purpose behind a search query. Matching keywords to intent attracts qualified traffic, and the engagement and conversions that follow support your rankings. Use these approaches to identify intent:

• Keyword modifiers like "buy," "how to," "best," "reviews," or "near me" point to transactional, informational, or local intent.
• Search results reveal intent through the pages that rank. Product listings suggest transactional intent, while articles and guides suggest informational intent.
• Context such as the industry, topic, or product connected to the keyword offers more clues.

Once you can read intent, group your keyword ideas by the goal behind each one. Pages built for the wrong intent rarely rank, since a how-to guide will not satisfy someone who is ready to buy.

Most searches fall into three types of intent:

• Informational intent keywords are used by searchers who want answers, such as "how to tie a tie" or "benefits of meditation."
• Navigational intent keywords are used by searchers looking for a specific website, like "Facebook login" or "Amazon customer support."
• Transactional or commercial intent keywords are used by searchers ready to act and often include terms like "buy," "discount," or "coupon," such as "best laptop deals."

What Keywords Does a Site Use?

Knowing what keywords a site uses helps you judge competition and find openings for your own pages. 

Site owners and content creators can follow these steps:

1. Open the Performance report in Google Search Console to see the queries that already earn your site impressions and clicks.
2. Run a keyword search by domain in a keyword tool like Semrush or Ahrefs to list the terms a competitor ranks for.
3. Review a competitor's page source with the Ctrl+U keyboard shortcut (Option+Command+U on a Mac) and check the title tag, meta description, and headers for the specific keyword it targets.
4. Run a content gap report to find keywords competitors rank for that you do not, then add those gaps to your content strategy as future blog post topics.

Tips for Selecting Keywords

These best practices help you balance search volume, competition, and intent. Few keywords score well on all three at once, so the real work is picking the trade-offs you can live with. 

The practices below will help you shape a list your site can realistically rank for:

• Long-tail keywords usually face less competition than broad terms and reach a more specific audience that converts at higher rates.
• Niche keywords that target subtopics within your industry help you build authority in a focused area.
• Moderate keyword difficulty scores that match your site's authority make the best starting point, with the hardest terms saved for later.
• Location-specific keywords help businesses in a defined service area reach nearby buyers. Our guide to local SEO covers this in more detail.
• One target keyword per page keeps your site organized. A product page should target a specific keyword for that item, while a Shopify smart collection can target a broader category term.
• Long-term planning matters because SEO results build over time and compound as you publish quality content.

Build a Keyword Strategy With 20North

Keyword research comes down to three questions. Search volume shows how much demand a term has, competition shows what it will take to reach page one, and search intent shows what the page has to deliver once someone clicks. Checking what keywords a site already uses fills in the competitive picture, and the selection tips above turn a long list of keyword ideas into a focused plan. Run every term you are considering through all three and your content will hold steadier positions in search results over time.

20North is a full-service digital marketing agency in Atlanta. Our SEO team handles keyword research, on-page optimization, and content creation. Our services also cover paid advertising, email marketing, and web development. 

Start with an SEO audit or contact 20North to build a keyword strategy that grows your business.

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