SEO is a multi-faceted online marketing skill, concept, and tactic. For starters, SEO is probably one of the most daunting and overwhelming tasks for the average small business owner. It seems complicated and scary, and you know you want to make Google happy and keep Google happy, so you want to do everything right and avoid doing even 1 thing wrong.

SEO Keyword Research and Searcher Intent

I completely agree that there’s a lot to understand about SEO. Things like…

• SEO terminology and the rules for each Terms like title tag, meta descriptions, ALT tag, sitemap, headings, and more. How do you add each to a blog post or page? What are the best practices for each? How do you know what text to enter?
• Each page or blog post needs a unique title tag and meta description Google doesn’t like duplication of these!
• Each title tag and meta description needs to directly relate to the content on the page 
• Speaking of the content on each page…it needs to be unique, well-written, have keywords naturally incorporated throughout the content, headings, links to other blog posts or pages on your site, and be at least a good 4-5 paragraphs long
• How to conduct SEO keyword research
• How to choose the right keyword phrase for any given page
• How to research your competition’s SEO
• The chicken vs. egg scenario if you have existing content you want to optimize vs. writing brand new content to optimize for search Do you choose the keyword phrase then write the content, or research the best keyword phrase to represent the content you are working with?
• How to think like a searcher How I like to explain this concept is this: SEO is like a game of Family Feud. What does the survey say? You want to think about the most common phrases a searcher would type into Google to locate the content you have published on your site.
• Pros and cons of choosing really popular keyword phrases The more popular phrases are more widely used, but the competition is fierce. The keyword phrases with a low count of searches aren’t so popular but may be laser focused on your content.

Think about Searcher Intent when Choosing SEO Keywords

And then in addition to the above list of 10 things to know about SEO and keywords, you need to consider searcher intent. By that I mean what kind of search are they doing? Are they seeking information about something as part of their research? Are they going deeper into some comparisons to help them better focus their buying decision? Are they ready to buy? So depending on your content (either existing or future content you are planning for), the searcher intent for that content will directly affect your chosen keyword phrase.

An example might be:

• Office Supply Store in (City Name) – This is more general and information-based
• Differences between Inkjet and Laser Printers – Comparison between 2 products you are considering purchasing
• Buy an HP All In One Inkjet Printer – Transactional in nature. This searcher is ready to buy.

You can tell from the example list above that the right keyword phrase for your page, blog post, or product listing’s SEO is going to vary based on the nature of the page, the content on it, and the mindset of the Googler completing that search.