What Are SEO Keywords, and How Do You Choose the Right Ones?

If your website isn’t showing up when people search for what you offer, keywords are usually the first place to look.

Not because stuffing the right words into a page will magically fix things, that thinking is about fifteen years out of date. Rather, understanding how keywords work gives you a clear, practical framework for making smart decisions about your content and site structure.

Let’s break down what SEO keywords actually are, how to find the ones worth your time, and exactly where to place them on your site.

What Is an SEO Keyword, Exactly?

A keyword is simply any word or phrase someone types into a search engine. When Google decides which pages to show in response, it aims to match the searcher’s intent with the most relevant, trustworthy content available.

Your job isn’t to trick the algorithm. Your job is to ensure that your pages are genuinely relevant to the searches your potential customers are already doing.

To map out your strategy, you need to understand three core concepts:

• Short-tail keywords: Broad, high-volume searches (e.g., “mechanic“). While this gets a massive number of searches every month, it is incredibly competitive and vague. The person searching might just be looking for a career path, a definition, or a giant corporate chain. It’s hard for a local shop to rank for, and the traffic isn’t highly targeted.
• Long-tail keywords: Highly specific phrases (e.g., “brake repair specialist Richmond” or “logbook service for Audi Melbourne“). These have much lower search volume, but the searcher has a specific car, a specific problem, and a specific location. They are much closer to picking up the phone and booking an appointment.
• Search intent: The “why” behind a search. Someone searching “why is my engine clicking” wants information (informational intent). Someone searching “emergency towing and mechanic near me” wants to buy or book immediately (transactional intent). The intent dictates whether you need to write an explanatory blog post or optimise a direct service page.

How Do You Find Keywords Worth Targeting?

Start with what you know. Write down the questions your clients ask most often. The problems they come to you to solve. The phrases they use to describe what they need, in their own words, not yours.

Then validate those ideas with data.

Google Search Central is a good starting point for understanding how Google thinks about relevance. For actual search volume data, tools like Google Keyword Planner (free, requires a Google Ads account) give you a sense of how often terms are searched each month.

Paid tools like Ahrefs and SEMrush go deeper, showing you what competitors rank for and how difficult it would be to rank for a given term. Useful if you’re investing seriously in SEO, but not essential for getting started.

When evaluating a keyword, think about three things:

1. Relevance: Does this search reflect something you actually offer? Don’t target keywords just because they’re popular.
2. Volume: Is anyone actually searching for this? A keyword with zero monthly searches won’t bring you traffic regardless of how well you rank.
3. Competition: Can you realistically rank? A brand-new website isn’t going to outrank established players for broad, high-value terms right away.

The Sweet Spot: Look for keywords with moderate volume, clear relevance to your business, and manageable competition.

Where Should You Use Keywords on Your Site?

Once you have selected a primary keyword for a page, place it in the areas that carry the most weight with search engines.

• Page Title (tag): This is the strongest signal you can send to search engines. It also acts as your clickable headline in search results, so ensure it reads naturally for humans.
• The First 100 Words: Introduce your primary keyword early in your introductory paragraph. Don’t force it, but don’t bury it either.
• H2 Headings: Headings structure your page for readers. Including your keyword—or a close variation of it—in at least one H2 reinforces the page’s topic.
• Meta Description: This is the short summary snippet under your title in search results. While it doesn’t directly impact rankings, a compelling, keyword-rich description directly improves your click-through rate.
• URL String: Keep your URLs short, clean, and descriptive. A URL like /services/seo-keyword-strategy is far better than /page?id=4892.
• Image Alt Text: Search engines cannot “see” images; they read alt text to understand them. Adding descriptive alt text improves your SEO while ensuring your site complies with WCAG accessibility guidelines for screen-reader users.

One rule to live by: Avoid keyword stuffing. Repeating a phrase ten times in a paragraph ruins the user experience. Google’s algorithms easily detect this and will penalise your site for it.

Does Every Page Need a Different Keyword?

Yes. This is where many businesses trip up.

Each page on your site must target a distinct keyword or topic. If multiple pages target the exact same search term, they will end up competing against one another, a problem known as keyword cannibalisation.

Think of every page as the definitive answer to one specific question:

• Your homepage targets your core, overarching service.
• A service page targets a specific offering or location-specific term.
• A blog post answers a niche question a prospect might search for before they are ready to hire you.

Data from the HTTP Archive’s Web Almanac (which tracks macro SEO trends across millions of sites) consistently shows that websites treating every single page as a purposeful, distinct asset vastly outperform sites that treat content as filler.

Practical Checklist: Before You Publish

Before hitting “Publish” on your next page, run through this quick quality check:

• Have you identified exactly one primary keyword for this page?
• Is the keyword in the page title, the first paragraph, and at least one H2?
• Does the meta description include the keyword and offer a clear reason to click?
• Is the URL short, readable, and clean?
• Does the content actually satisfy the search intent, or does it just repeat the keyword?
• Do all images include descriptive, accessible alt text?
• Are you certain this keyword isn’t already being targeted by another page on your site?