Target SEO Keyword: What You Need to Know, 13 Examples
Can you predict the success of your target SEO keyword? Unexpected wins and challenges regarding my target SEO keywords are reviewed.
Are you a member of Ahrefs?
I check Ahrefs at least once daily to see my keyword rankings.
After about two years at the site, I have one observation to make:
Boy am I confused.
Let’s start looking at the analysis I conducted for 13 articles.
By the time you are done reading, you have a better understanding of how to choose a target SEO keyword for your blog post articles.
How I Chose a Target SEO Keyword
Replicate my analysis for choosing a target SEO keyword. The procedure will become routine. You can use this guide as an action plan, but eventually, going through this analysis will become second nature to you as a blogger.
Do you HAVE to go through these procedures?
Yes! If you want to be found on Google and have possible years of traffic pouring in, you need to choose a target SEO keyword for each post and then optimize your post with that keyword.
SEO keyword research is part of being a digital marketer.
Example 1:
My post that shares free meme generators fell from 3rd to 4th place for the keyword “Best I can do is meme.”
However, what really confuses me is that the percentage of traffic the post is contributing to my site went UP from 8% to contributing 9% of my blog’s traffic.
Example 2:
My post offering MeWe reviews, reviews of the MeWe social media site is in first place for a Featured Snippet.
However, the post is years old and in Position 1 beats out the likes of Mashable and other top blogging dogs.
Example 3:
My post about the “hottest subreddits,” Reddit communities, just made the top 3 in Google’s SERPs. However, the post is years old and I never update it with fresh information which Google likes if you want Google rankings.
Why not? Frankly, I’m embarrassed by the sexual implication of the keyword I went after.
Example 4:
My post about a free creepy text generator is my 5th best performing post despite the fact that the main keyword sits in Position 13, almost in the middle of Google’s Page 2.
Example 5:
I wrote an article about free social networking sites. It is my 6th best performing post despite being written over 3 years ago.
What I find really confusing is the fact that I published almost an identical post at the same time and the other tanked. It underperformed.
Example 6:
My PosterMyWall article is my 7th best performing post. It was written years ago.
Do you want to know the main keyword it ranks for? “My wall poster.” Apparently, 1400 people type that into Google each month.
My wall poster?
Example 7:
I have the same confusion with my productivity post. Apparently, 600 people each month type into Google “productivity is the combination of.” Who would type that? I picked the keyword since the keyword research tool said it would bring traffic. Yet, the keyword doesn’t make sense. How could this be a user’s query let alone 600 users’ queries each month?
Example 8:
My post explaining how to do a free TikTok MP3 download sits at the bottom of Page 2 in Position 20 for the keyword TikTok to MP3. However, that wasn’t my target SEO keyword. My target SEO keyword was TikTok MP3 download.
Example 9:
I have the same confusion when it comes to my post explaining how to use a free Pinterest downloader. The post ranked for a much more competitive keyword, Pinterest video downloader. The post fell to Position 19, the bottom of Page 2 for the harder keyword. Now, I feel I have to compete for a difficult keyword I never sought in the first place.
Example 10:
My article offering the pros and cons of Instagram is consistently in my Top 2 posts, yet only 300 searches for the keyword monthly occur.
Example 11:
I also consistently see my post explaining how to grow on TikTok in my Top 10 each day. However, according to Ahrefs, the post sits in position 6 for the keyword and only brings me 2% of my traffic.
Example 12:
Back to my confusion over the wording of search users’ keywords. My article Hobbies for Retired Men” ranks for the keyword “fun retirement jobs that pay a small fortune.” A guest author sent me the post. Why would 700 people each month word their search query that way?
Example 13:
Why not get me started on spelling? My post about the keyword tool Ubersuggest ranks despite being years old. However, it doesn’t rank for Ubersuggest or Ubersuggest review. The post ranks for the keyword “Uber suggests.” 2600 people type that spelling into Google monthly Why does my post rank in my Top 50? It’s years old and I didn’t use that incorrect spelling in the article.
Wrapping Up: Target SEO
I realize my articles rank for additional keywords besides the ones mentioned here, but the main keywords they rank for were discussed in this post.
By reading this post, you are able to better understand the analysis that goes on behind choosing the target SEO keyword for a post.
Also, the results of this analysis: Google may like a keyword better than we do.
My advice: Defer to the keyword tool and don’t overthink. That’s why you have the keyword tool to help you analyze the target SEO keyword so you don’t have to.
Do you believe the metrics will be different depending on the accuracy of the keyword tool you choose? If they are different, how do you know which to pick? How do you know which is accurate?
