Keyword research is one of the vital things in SEO. The keywords filled in the blog or article make the content match the search queries placed in the search engine. One method of planning that makes it simpler to find particular keywords within your niche and decide where to place them on your website is keyword mapping. So, let’s talk about keyword mapping and how to do it in this blog.
What is Keyword Mapping?
The planning and study of the keywords and long-tail phrases used on a website is known as keyword mapping. It is a crucial step in creating content because it makes it simpler to choose the areas where semantic SEO keywords should be placed together in a way that makes the most sense.
Additionally, keyword mapping can help your team to develop topics more effectively by assisting them in recalling which terms are used in which parts of your page. One specific keyword for the main subject of the page and several additional keywords are typically included in keyword maps.
The page title, meta description, and an overview of what the page should contain and the topics covered in most articles. Although there isn’t a specific structure for creating a keyword map, most digital marketers maintain a spreadsheet with this information and consult it as needed while to create content.
Why is Keyword Mapping Important?
Keyword mapping is essential for several reasons:
- It helps search engines understand your site’s content and rank it appropriately for relevant search queries.
- It helps enables you to organise your site’s content and structure in a way that makes sense to both search engines and users.
- It allows you to identify gaps in your content and areas where you may need to create new content to target specific keywords.
Benefits of Keyword Mapping
You can’t just create any old blog post or article and expect it to instantly drive tonnes of organic traffic to your website regarding content. Instead, you must develop a plan and organisational framework that suit your requirements.
The following are some of the main advantages of keyword mapping:
It Maintains Your Keyword Organisation
The importance of keyword mapping to the content creation process is undoubtedly clear by now. It not only enables you to organise the different keywords according to which ones are main and supporting, but it also prevents you from repeatedly referencing the same topic or same keyword.
It can be used to avoid duplicate contents
When you have a keyword map, everyone on your team is aware of where particular subjects belong based on the coordinating keywords. Additionally, this prevents you from writing articles about the same topic or competing with one another for the same spot in the SERPs, a practice known as keyword cannibalisation.
How to Do Keyword Mapping?
Although it sounds complicated, keyword mapping is relatively easy.
Adding it to your workflow initially requires a little bit of extra effort. However, having access to all your content creation information in one place allows you to save time in the long run, which is unquestionably a benefit. So, let’s see how to do it effectively.
Create a Spreadsheet
Setting up your spreadsheet document is the first real stage of creating an effective keyword map.
Depending on your preferences, this can be Excel or Google Docs, but if you plan to collaborate with team members, we suggest google sheets because, with that, it can be easy to edit the content with the whole team.
Conduct Keyword Research
It’s time to start your keyword research now. It’s up to you how to go about it, but be sure to consider factors like overall search traffic and keyword difficulty.
Create a second spreadsheet document or page in your current keyword map to group these things together. Next, choose which subjects are sufficiently related to and which are being placed on the same page. Depending on what makes the most sense, these can be different spellings of the same query or phrase, queries that support the same perspective for your niche, or any other combination of these.
Gather them all together before continuing to the next step of keyword mapping.
Map Out Your Contents
Finally, mapping out your keywords should be done at this point.
Make a decision regarding which keywords belong on which pages and submit them to the initial keyword mapping spreadsheet. Choose a primary keyword to create your page title, meta description, H1 tag, and other components.
Complete the fields on each sheet, making an effort to make each one distinct from the others in the outline. You can also take note of related sites for internal linking if you like.
When assigning keywords to pages, keep the following best practices in mind:
Use primary keywords: Assign your primary keywords to the most relevant pages for those keywords. These are the keywords that you want your page to rank highest for in search results.
Use secondary keywords: Assign secondary keywords to pages that are relevant for those keywords but less important than your primary keywords.
Use long-tail keywords: Assign long-tail keywords to more specific and targeted pages. These keywords are typically longer phrases that have lower search volume but higher conversion rates.
Avoid keyword cannibalisation: Don’t assign the same keyword to multiple pages on your website. This can confuse search engines and then hurt your search rankings.
Assign only relevant keywords: Assign keywords only to pages that are relevant to those keywords. For example, if a keyword doesn’t accurately describe the content on a page, don’t assign it to that page.
Create Content and Publish
Finally, you should start writing the quality content that your keyword map has suggested and optimise the keyword for the content. This involves ensuring that each page’s content is relevant to the assigned keywords and includes those keywords in strategic locations. This is when you’ll start to notice the results of your work and realise how important the entire process is to your success with SEO and organic traffic.
Final Thoughts
Making a keyword map for your content is a fantastic way to stay organised, avoid keyword cannibalisation, and make sure that everyone on your team agrees on what should be on each page of your website. You can save a tonne of time and effort later by spending the additional time now to complete one of these documents. You may also see improved overall SEO results.
