Keyword

What counts as a keyword

A keyword is a word or phrase people type, or say, into a search engine. In SEO the term is used loosely for the topics and phrases you want a page to be found for. "Wedding photographer Cornwall" is a keyword. So is "how to fix a dripping tap". Search engines no longer need an exact match to understand a page, but knowing the words customers use still shapes good content.

Seen in practice

A dog groomer lists "full groom" on her site. Looking at Search Console, she sees people finding her for "cockapoo grooming" and "puppy first groom". She writes a short page for each, with photos and prices, and those pages begin to bring in bookings from owners of those breeds.

Why it matters for your content

Owners often describe their services in trade language that customers never use. A firm might call itself a "domestic heating installer" while customers search for "new boiler". Keyword research closes that gap, so your pages speak the same language as the people looking for you.

Checking your own pages

Open Search Console, go to the Performance report and sort queries by impressions. You'll see the words people actually used before your site appeared. Compare them with the words on your pages. Where customers say "new boiler" and your page says "heating installation", you've found an easy fix.

Traps to avoid

• Stuffing the same phrase into a page again and again. It reads badly and doesn't help.
• Targeting broad terms you can't realistically win instead of the specific ones you can.
• Building a separate page for every tiny variation of a phrase, which leads to keyword cannibalisation.
• Ignoring what Search Console already tells you about the searches that find you.

Related content terms

• Long-tail keyword: A longer, more specific search phrase, often closer to a decision and sometimes easier to rank for.
• Search intent: The likely goal behind a query: learn, navigate, compare or buy.
• Search volume: An estimate of how often a query is searched. Treat tool figures as rough estimates.
• Keyword difficulty: Third-party estimates of how hard it is to rank for a term.