Most of the time people
use the terms “keyword” and “query” mean roughly the same thing. But when someone
is saying “query” where it should be the word “keyword.” But Query and Keyword both are different.
What Are Keywords?
A keyword is the exact
term that you are targeting in a paid search or organic search campaign. If you
want to win a PPC bid for the term “house paint”, then “house paint” is your
keyword.
Keywords are what
marketers, SEOs, and search professionals come up with. They define the
strategy. Users don’t know about them, don’t care about them, and don’t have
anything to do with them.
What Are Queries?
Queries are what the user
types in.
They are searching for something online, and they type stuff in Google, speak something to Siri, or otherwise perform a search. It’s called a query.
Queries often include
misspellings. Many times, these misspellings are corrected by Google, but
sometimes they are retained in the search.
What’s The Difference?
The major difference
between keywords and queries has to do with who is using them.
- Marketers use keywords.
- Users use queries.
Users don’t know what
keywords are. That’s not because users are dumb; it’s because they don’t know
what companies are targeting which keywords. The user is simply typing stuff
in, hoping to find information or products that will meet her needs. How can
she expect to know that your business is targeting a keyword that she will type
in?
We as marketers are
sitting in front of our computers strategizing over this marketing entity known
as a “keyword.” We research keywords and hope that our keywords will match what
users are searching for. Marketers have keywords,
but real users type in queries. There’s nothing wrong, of course, with the
marketer’s use of keywords. That’s how you begin a successful SEO campaign —
with keywords. But the real source of power and information comes from learning
the queries — the words which actual users are tying in.
- Keyword: What you’re targeting.
- Query: What users actually type?
Here’s a helpful diagram
that clearly displays the difference between queries and keywords:
How to Use This Information
Now that you know the
difference between a keyword and a query, what should you do with your profound
intelligence? Correct your coworkers? Share this information in comment
threads?
Every successful SEO
campaign starts with keywords. You have a set of words or phrases that you want
to win ranking for. You want potential customers to find your website when they
type in that specific keyword. But remember, keywords are not reality. Keywords
only represent what you want, not what real-life users are actually doing. What
kind of traffic do you really want?
The best sources of
traffic will come from the conventional queries that users are inputting. Your
Google Webmaster Tools account shows you some of the search queries that drive
traffic. Access GWT, and navigate to “Search Traffic” and “Search Queries” to
see this information.
Keep in mind that the
information from GWT will be limited, because it only identifies actually
queries that brought users to your site. You may want to target queries that do
not yet bring any visitors to your site.
Another method of gaining
search query ideas is to use Google autocomplete. The autocomplete feature is
built into Google’s search functionality. When you begin to type any query into
the search box from the standard desktop search screen, you’ll see prompts for
various searches.
Where do these
auto completes come from? How does Google decide what to provide as their
auto complete fulfillment? The algorithm primarily depends on popular search
trends to inform it. For example, if you type in “popular vacation sp” then
Google may provide this autocomplete:
Auto complete
predictions are automatically generated by an algorithm without any human
involvement, based on a number of objective factors, including how often past
users have searched for a term.
Google provides:
Our algorithm
automatically detects and excludes a small set of search terms. But it’s designed
to reflect the diversity of our users’ searches and content on the web. So just
like the web, the search terms shown may seem strange or surprising.
Once you understand what
is popular and/or expected in a Google query, you can narrow down the queries
that you want to target.
How Does This
Work?
Here’s how this works.
For example, let’s say you’re targeting the keyword “personal branding.” You do
some research on and around this term.
Eventually, you discover
that your target keywords are surrounded by a variety of different queries.
- personal branding steps
- steps to personal branding
- personal branding success
- personal branding statements
- personal branding examples
- personal branding blog
- personal branding statement examples
- personal branding blog twitter
- personal branding blog templates
- 10 steps to personal branding
- 5 steps to personal branding
- build a personal brand
- build personal brand strategy
- build personal brand online
- build personal brand with social media
Now
you have a few powerful queries that people are actually using. These are
important to know, track, and target in your SEO strategy.
From this seed query, you
also discover other relevant queries:
- how to be popular online
- build your personal brand social media
- tips for online popularity
- online popularity guide
- online popularity score
- become well-known online
- become well-known online YouTube
Conclusion
The difference between “keyword”
and “query” is subtle and nuanced. But it is important. Knowing how to
distinguish between an ideal keyword and the reality of queries will help you
to refine your strategy and success as an online marketer.
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