Basics for Successful Keyword Mapping for SEO

Every search engine optimization (SEO) professional has the main target in mind – their client’s website ranking first on search engine results pages (SERPs). SEO is grounded on various principles, but keywords are most crucial in this process. In general, keyword mapping refers to the process of researching and discovering relevant keyword clusters and their different variations and referring them to certain pages on your website. It presupposes the page optimization needed to target those variations: primary or focus keyword. After that, you can apply these variations to other website pages. 

Generally, keyword-optimized websites appear higher up in the search results and get more traffic to their pages. However, seizing position number one mainly depends on your operating market. The Guardian suggests that, in the mobile phone space or travel industry, paid search and a bigger budget are often required to rank. However, if you’re, for example, offering a niche product or a service in a defined geographical area, your chances to rank are higher. In this article, you will find out fundamental things to know about how to use keyword mapping.

1. Improve Keyword Targeting 

• Use appropriate pages with pre-existing authority to take full advantage of targeting. You cannot use random pages for keyword variations, so try to assign a keyword to a specific page. This procedure will improve targeting, as the search engine already considers the page for the keyword/topic you’re assigning it to.
• Avoid keyword dilution so as not to confuse search engines targeting topics or keywords. Using a relevant keyword and targeting an appropriate page are the main prerequisites for avoiding keyword dilution. It primarily concerns pre-existing pages with thick content, so determine the topic/keyword for the page and then stick to a specific keyword.
• Planning improves keyword targeting, as you know what you are going to see before having any work done. Strategizing at the start will enable you to construct the perfect page that serves the keyword’s intent. Take into consideration that one strategy will not serve you all the time. Generally, SEOs use different strategies for various purposes. Make a plan, do the keyword research and outline what keyword will correspond to what page.

2. Use Keyword Mapping Tools

The main reason for utilizing mapping tools is that you need to know the target keyword behind your website’s page. Let’s use the page Essay Writer as an example. Looking at its URL, https://essaywriter.pro/, we may say that the target keyword behind this page is “essay writer” or “write a professional essay.” It’s obvious without taking a closer look at the organic page footprint and the keywords it ranks for on Google. 

Google Search Console is a free tool that can be used for a website’s search traffic monitoring. It’s an excellent source of data, providing the overall organic performance of the website. The Google Search Console report gives a list of search queries, helping you understand your site’s organic traffic, supporting keywords and their variations. Note that there could be hundreds of supporting keywords ranking for your page. 

Other keyword analysis tools – SEMrush, Ahrefs and even a Google Sheets template – are very simple to use and provide organic performance data on your site. Take into account that keyword mapping is more useful for websites with an organic footprint. New websites usually don’t rank for keywords, so it’d be no use to map the right keywords to the website pages. However, there’s an opinion that new websites enable webmasters to create a better site and page structure that will work better for the necessary keywords.  

Source: pcgcompanies.com

3. Add Optimization Elements

There are several tips that may improve your keyword mapping strategy. It’s not obligatory to use all of them, but the more you know, the more options you’ll have to choose from. 

• Improve load speed.
• Add interactive elements to improve engagement.
• Develop a strategy for internal and external link building.
• Use relevant anchor text.
• Optimize meta titles and meta descriptions.

Do not delay page optimization, as it will boost your search engine ranking.

4. Consider Supporting Keywords

You already know that the number of supporting keywords and their variations are very high. Supporting keywords can be used to cover the main questions that someone new to the topic would ask. However, you should be careful with keyword distribution because it can negatively affect your site’s ranking if you split similar content across two pages.

5. Avoid Keyword Cannibalization

The problem of keyword cannibalization occurs when the SEO strategy doesn’t have any proper keyword tracking and mapping process. It results in publishing pages or content targeting the same keywords. It puzzles Google’s ranking system since it – and other search engines – treat your pages with similar keywords as competitors. Keyword mapping helps you avoid these kinds of mistakes since you focus on high-quality content on one page. 

Well-selected keywords are based on search volume, commercial intent and your website’s ranking ability. If you are having some difficulties with keyword creation, use the tools to perform good research: Google Ads, Keywords Everywhere, SimilarWeb, Linkody and many others. It will allow you more time to create your map and match those keywords with your pages.

6. Integrate Keywords Into a Page’s URL

The keyword mapping benefits for SEO purposes are better rankings and click-through rates. That’s because you’re using a high-authority page that will definitely make it a number one on search engine results. The chart shows you that URLs containing keywords will serve the reputable kind of intent within Google.

Source: Backlinko.com

Conclusion

The process of keyword mapping influences an overall strategy and the creation of content. The successful results of on-page SEO and existing page optimization are undergoing the keyword mapping impact. Keyword mapping plays an essential role not only for your existing pages but also for the new ones. However, different opinions on this question exist, so you should decide on your own what to optimize.