Types of Keywords Users Should Be Aware in 2023 – What are they?

Keywords is a term that many of us hear a lot, especially when talking about SEO, content creation, and digital marketing. Given these different intents of the users, there are many different types of keywords. The better your use of keywords in your content, the more enhanced your SEO.

Here are some of the broadest categories and keywords that every user and marketer should be aware of.

The Types of Keywords Are

Short-Tail and Long-Tail Keywords

These are the most common types of keywords, and everyone knows about them. These keywords are named after the number of words they contain.

So, as their names suggest, short-tail keywords are the ones that are very short in length, generally comprising three words or less. Alternatively, long-tail keywords are longer and comprise four or more words.

Short-tail keywords are used a lot by people, which means they have a very high search volume. However, these keywords are very competitive as well. Generally, users put in these keywords when they are at the beginning of their buying stages and just looking for some information. So, these keywords really don’t speak much about search intent and don’t do much good for your SEO strategy.

On the other hand, long-tail keywords become more specific because when the users are looking for particular things, they tend to be more explicit about them. These keywords also show the search intent of your target audience, and while they have a lower search volume, they have a lower competition as well, and it can be easier for you to generate leads and drive conversions when you use long-tail keywords.

Targeting Keywords

These are the most specific kinds of keywords you can find and the most used ones. You plan your entire SEO and content strategy targeting a particular goal. So, you must know the right keywords that will help you achieve your targets.

Targeting keywords are basically the ones that focus on a specific market segment. For example, these keywords can target a specific product line, customer type, brand, location, etc.

Based on the different things they target, targeting keywords have many different subtypes such as-. 

1. Market-segment keywords – associated with a particular industry niche/brand.
2. Customer-defining keywords – defining the type of customer/audience based on their gender, age, and other similar criteria.
3. Product keywords – associated with products and services offered by specific brands.
4. Branded keywords – keywords containing brand names.
5. Competitor keywords – keywords relating to a competitor within the same industry niche.
6. Geo-location keywords – keywords specific to a particular location and most used for Local SEO.

Primary and Secondary Keywords

These keywords are the most important part of any SEO strategy. Therefore, when planning your SEO content, you must pay attention to the Primary and Secondary Keywords.

Primary Keywords are the keywords that directly go into your SEO Content. Primary Keywords are the ones that directly relate to your product or service, something that you are explicitly targeting on your website/web page. For instance, if you provide web development services and create a landing page to promote the same, then “web development services” become your primary keyword.

Secondary Keywords are related, or LSI (latent semantic) keywords and are variations of your primary keyword. For example, secondary keywords can be “services for web development,” web development services company,” etc.

Google Ads Keywords

Advertisements are the best way to promote your products and make sales. So, Google Ads come in a very efficient manner for business growth. However, to get your Google Ads Campaign results, you need to target the right keywords.

Given the importance of keywords in your Google Ads, some specific keywords for Google ads make your campaigns more effective. Here are the different types of Google Ads keywords that you can use in your ad copies-

1. Broad Match Keywords: When you put any keyword within this category, your ad copy is shown in the search results for the exact keyword or any other variation.
2. Phrase Match Keywords: These are keywords that limit your ad in search results for the searches containing the exact phrase you have put in the Phrase Match Keywords. It can also be a part of a longer keyword as long as it contains the phrase you are targeting.
3. Exact Match Keywords: These are the keywords that limit the visibility of your ads to extremely close terms in relation to the keywords. Only singular/plural words and misspellings are considered in this case. Exact match keywords don’t entertain any variations either.
4. Negative Keywords: These keywords prevent your ads from being shown in unwanted and unrelated search results. These are the keywords or search terms that you specifically want to exclude from your search campaigns. Using these keywords essentially prevents unwanted clicks and costs associated with the same.

Check out the Keyword Research tool 2022 here.

Buyer Keywords

Buyer Keywords, also known as buyer intent keywords, are the ones your target audience uses at the last stage of the buyers’ journey. These keywords show a strong intent on the users to buy a product or avail of a service.

Generally, buyer keywords can be divided into four different types-

1. Informational Keywords – These keywords do not specifically lead to sales and are the ones the buyers use when seeking information about the product or service they seek to purchase.
2. Navigational Keywords – These are the keywords that the buyers use when they want to navigate to a specific website or web page. These keywords generally include the brand name or specific product or service.
3. Commercial Keywords – These keywords are much like navigational keywords, and buyers generally use them to gather more information about a product or service. At this stage, they are precise to a brand. They might be looking for reviews and descriptions of products and services using commercial keywords.
4. Transactional Keywords – Buyers use these keywords when they are at the final stage of closing a deal. They are sure about making the purchase, and all they have to do is enter into a transaction. These keywords generally include the terms “Buy,” “Order,” etc.

Check out the blog about Buyer keywords here.

Are These Keywords SEO-Friendly?

So, this was all about the different types of keywords used in SEO and content strategies. All the keywords strongly resemble and relate to the target audience's search intent, and when you correctly use them, they can bring in phenomenal results.

We hope that this article was helpful, and you will find it easier to use and incorporate keywords in your SEO and content strategy with an idea of all these types of keywords.