Have Keywords Really Become Obsolete?

It's really become apparent this past year that keywords are becoming less and less important, when it comes to your search engine optimization (SEO). We know that Google now gives the highest priorities to content and links -- so where does that leave your keywords? Do they even matter anymore? Well, it depends on who you ask. Luckily though, there's some intelligent people out there doing their own research and studies, and we can really learn a lot from the results they're finding.

Link-building has always been a major component of ranking well on the search engines. While the methods, tactics and best practices have changed dramatically over the years, the end goal remains the same -- to have as many high quality, authoritative websites linking back to yours.

Your keyword strategy has always been based around your content. After all, your keyword research should really dictate the language and information you use to create your content. Once upon a time, your keywords within that content were crucial. Today, things have changed. Google has recently admitted that RankBrain is the 3rd most important ranking factor within their search algorithm -- that's pretty big news, given what the program is designed to do. Essentially, it's machine learning that is capable of making assumptions, connecting dots and generalizing based on past experiences. What this means is that the intent behind the search performed is what's taking priority. Google wants to focus on understanding user intent, rather than the actual words and terms being used.

So what does all this mean for keywords? Rand Fishkin, co-founder of Moz, really hit the nail on the head in a recent Whiteboard Friday session. The 8 minute video is well-worth your time, and will essentially give you a 3rd option that many SEO'ers haven't tried yet.

Rand's advice is simple: combine the two methods for optimal success. You can draw a clear line between old school and new school SEO techniques. Old school was doing your keyword research, and creating content around very tight parameters, to ensure as much keyword density as possible. The quality of the content was not important. New school is quite the opposite. Many are throwing keywords to the wind, and focusing their content on broad topics, ideas and concepts, and assuming that the search engines will understand that the searcher's intent matches the content on the page. The main goal is to create rich, original content that readers will want to consume, and also share.

What everyone should be doing is starting with keyword research -- but don't waste your time creating wordy, useless content just for the opportunity to repeat your terms as many times as possible. Separate from your keyword research, invest some time to strategize and plan around what your broader topics, concepts and interest points will be for your content. Really take the time to consider the user intent behind the queries. How can you group your keywords to your various concepts? That's where the real SEO gold mine is. You're targeting your keywords intelligently -- you're using the keywords from your research, and wrapping those terms into your broader concepts. Your broader concepts and ideas are where the great content comes from -- but now, you're ensuring that the search terms being used are incorporated into your awesome content.

So to answer the original question -- are keywords dead? Absolutely not. You just need to get smarter about using them.