Using Subject, Qualifier, and Geographic Keywords for your Website SEO
There’s no question. Keywords are a critical part of any SEO strategy. They tie the people searching for your products/services to your business. But getting the most profitable traffic is more than just scoring high with the name of your business, product, service, or features.
Getting the right SEO keyword mix is how you’ll successfully draw the most profitable traffic to your website.
Most often, the first keywords that come to mind are about what the business does. For example, if you’re a carpenter then you know you want to rank well for “carpenters” and “contractors.” This is only half the battle though. There’s more types of keywords than the ones that describe what you do and what you are. Keywords that help you ascertain the intent and constrictions of the person searching.
Here are the 3 categories of keywords you’ll want to consider while creating your SEO keyword strategy:
- Subject keywords – These are words about what you actually do.
- Qualifier keywords – These are words that describe the searchers intent.
- Geographic keywords – These are regional/geographic restrictions.
People tend to search in sentences. In any good sentence, there is always a subject (what the sentence is about) and a predicate (information about the subject). Likewise, a search will most often have a subject and a predicate (or what we’re calling a qualifier here). Geography is important simply for local and regional searches.
Subject, Qualifier, and Geographic Keyword Examples
A few examples:
Home builders in Victoria, BC
“Home builders” = subject, “in” = qualifier, and “Victoria, BC” = geographic.
carpentry contractors for commercial offices
“carpentry contractors” = subject, and “for commercial offices” = qualifier.
Buy nails South Vancouver Island
“nails” = subject, “Buy” = qualifier, and “South Vancouver Island” = geographic.
Qualifier Keywords Often Overlooked
It’s pretty common to overlook the qualifier keywords. They are worth adding into your SEO keyword mix though. You will start capturing a searchers intent, not only the thing. You may not want your eCommerce store’s front page to rank well for qualifier keywords that imply a person is only researching. But if they had the intent to buy, you’d definitely want that person to visit!
We’ve discussed 3 different categories of keywords to consider in your SEO strategy. By using various keywords you can capture a searchers intent, bringing a higher quality visit to your website.
Are there any other types of keywords you like to throw into your keyword mix? How do you go about finding your best keywords? Leave a comment below and let us know what you think.
