Nearly 70% of all activity online starts with search engines and queries from users. That's why companies need to base any digital marketing and many Public Relations campaigns they create on keywords. The goal of keyword research is for companies to figure out what their target audiences are trying to find when they're searching online, and then determine what they need to do to rank on the various search engines for the exact same keywords that the audience is using. However, if a company doesn't know which keywords and needs to target, it won't be able to optimize its business website, know which content it needs to create to reach the target audience, or which phrases and queries it needs to use for more link building efforts.

Keyword research

Keyword research is the process of figuring out which search terms the target audience of a business is using in search engines to find various websites and businesses that are similar to the company, and then optimizing all of the company’s content so that it starts showing up in the search engine results pages. For example, if a business provides its customers with a meal delivery service, the business can assume that most of the target audience will be searching for "meal delivery in my location" on search engines. That means the company needs to ensure it has content on its business website that is going to show up higher in the results pages for this specific search term.

Importance

Companies that want their target audiences to be able to find the business website, whether that means an e-commerce website, a blog, or even local businesses providing services, need to create their own SEO strategy to help the customers find the business. That means companies need to utilize various SEO efforts that will improve their ranking on search engine results pages so that whenever a potential customer uses a specific query on search engines, one of the first results they see is going to be the company's business website. One of the most effective strategies that companies can use is the right keywords, which is where keyword research comes in. For any given search query on Google, the first result in the search results pages gets the most amount of traffic, almost half of the time. Then, the second result tends to get the most traffic about 22% of the time, but by the time a user finds their way to the second page of search results, they tend to click on every result they see less than 1% of the time. That means the company that wants to reach the target audience, and get that audience to click on the companies business website needs to figure out which keywords they're using when they're searching for the business and the services it offers, and then create contact is going to match their search intent.

About the Author: Mike Paffmann is CEO of Virgo PR, a leading PR agency.