Every marketer, advertiser, and SEO professional understands the importance of a keyword list. Not only do keywords provide direction for online campaigns, but they also align with the customer journey, connecting content to user intent.
However, simply developing a keyword list is not enough to ensure the long-term success of your marketing efforts. On the contrary, keyword lists should be audited on a regular basis, ensuring ongoing relevance.
In this post, we’ll highlight the importance of having a keyword list, explain the value in keyword auditing, and provide some general tips to make your next audit successful.
Why Keywords Matter
First, it might be helpful to establish just what makes keywords so significant.
A keyword list is valuable because it provides you with insight into what actual consumers (including the members of your target audience) are searching for online. Strong, effective keyword research provides you with a good sense of how people look for information on the Web, which questions you can answer with your content, and which words and phrases match your users’ search intent.
A good way to think about keywords is as a form of “call and response.” Your target audience uses certain words and phrases to “call” for information. You can employ those same words and phrases to answer their call, ideally appearing in the results of their search, positioning your brand as an authoritative resource.
Why Auditing is Important
Your keyword list is an invaluable resource, but it shouldn’t remain static.
There are a few reasons why keyword audits are important. The first is that user behaviors change over time. There are words and phrases that are popular today, but they may not be as widely used in a few years’ time. Keyword usage can shift according to consumer behavior as well as trends in technology. For example, the increased use of voice search has changed the way users frame their search queries, leading to a greater emphasis on long-tail search terms.
Also note that your keyword audit should encompass your competition. If your competitors are all aiming for the same search terms, it might make those terms more competitive (and, on platforms like Google Ads, more expensive). As such, you may wish to reposition, focusing on alternate keywords that aren’t quite as competitive.
For these and many other reasons, we recommend consistency in auditing your keywords. Ideally, you should audit your keyword list at least once per year.
How to Audit
With all of that said, where should you begin with an audit of your keyword list? Here are a few general suggestions and jumping-off points:
- Analyze current search rankings to see which keywords are performing well.
- Review competitor keywords, adding any to your list that you think might be valuable.
- Rank and prioritize your list, taking into account how difficult it is to rank for any given term.
- Use Google Analytics to look for trends in audience engagement, specifically changes in which pages are visited and for how long.
- Try using Google Auto Suggest to trigger new ideas for alternate keywords or related terms.
- Google Trends can be helpful for a big-picture comparison of trending topics.
- Think from a content writing point of view. What are some topics related to your target keywords? Often, brainstorming topics can help you think of additional keywords to aim for.
A regular keyword audit can keep your marketing and SEO efforts relevant and effective. With any questions about how to audit successfully, we invite you to contact the team at Woland Web. Our strategists are here to answer your questions, and to help you develop the right plan for regular keyword maintenance. Reach out to us whenever you’re ready to schedule a chat.
