GUESTS & RESOURCES
- Steve Clark: Website // LinkedIn
- The Voices of Search Podcast: Email // LinkedIn // Twitter
- Benjamin Shapiro: Website // LinkedIn // Twitter
Episode Overview:
Join host Ben as he concludes his conversation with Steve Clark, Head of Digital Growth at Tangent. Together they discuss keywords and thinking beyond keywords.
Keywords are important, but there is a hang-up on the types of keywords. Keywords that are focused on intent should be prioritized. Keywords need to go beyond phrases, but also look at voice, video, and other entities that can help things rank. It’s easy to be consumed by your list of keywords, but you need to look at the bigger picture – are you providing value to your users.
Keywords are valuable and they are a target list of objects. These are leading indicators that can lead to traffic and conversion. But just because you are ranking high in a keyword does not mean you are winning. The challenge is if there is no value, then the effort is lost.
Leveraging your keywords will lead to success in your KPIs or objectives. Click-through rates or conversations are often associated with high-ranking keywords, but you can get the same or better results by focusing on lower-value keywords. It’s critical to think more about the journey from the SERP to the end. You want to look at the lifetime value of the customers and their journey. Then you can optimize based on that data and hone in on growth from SEO and beyond.