The Embryo Guide to Keyword Mapping
Good long-form content is held up by great keyword mapping. But solid mapping is rooted in strategy and keyword research – and not everyone has the time to frequently review and realign.
However, the importance of keyword mapping can’t be underestimated. When it comes to making an informed internal linking strategy, bolstering – and measuring – how effective your SEO efforts are, and making your client reports shine.
In this guide, we’ll touch on the basics, the benefits, and how you can apply them to your strategy – straight from the minds of our very own SEO experts.
Let’s find out more.
What is keyword mapping?
Keyword mapping is, essentially, all about matching a target keyword to their end-goal pages.
Of course, this is fairly simple. The act of using keywords to ‘signpost’ users to their respective destinations isn’t revolutionary, but the be are certainly worth taking the time to implement them.
From ranking with the right pages for the right keywords and showing up to people at the bottom of the search funnel, to catching mistakes and reacting to data – keyword mapping is crucial.
Ok – why does keyword mapping matter in SEO?
Dan McCartney, Embryo’s Head of Organic, explains the keyword mapping process in a little more detail:
“Our process involves exporting all existing ranking keywords for a client’s website and reviewing which pages the search engine is serving for each search term”.
“From here, we will assess whether the most appropriate page is ranking. If not, we may need to create a new page which better meets the search intent or optimise existing pages to ensure Search Engines are picking up on the right one.”
So why do we do it in the first place?
“Ultimately, this process ensures that our resource is being used in the right areas to drive commercial value from your SEO campaign,” Dan says. “We don’t want to focus on terms that won’t deliver performance.”
Good keyword mapping means we hone our focus on the sections of the website that are delivering the desired metrics, boosting organic visibility for trackable – and hopefully, scaleable, results.
How to integrate keyword mapping into your SEO strategies
Now you know why it’s so important – there’s no better time to start. In this section, we’ll outline the key steps to get everything set up and moving forward.
Conduct keyword research
The obvious bit comes first- get the ball rolling by brainstorming relevant keywords related to your website’s unique scope and desired audience. You can do this by using SEO tools like SEMrush, Ahrefs, or Moz keyword explorers to tap into search volume, competition level, and related terms – helping you shape your research.
Group keywords into themes
From this keyword list, analyse your terms and group them by similar topics. Once clustered, you can visibly identify the main user intents behind each keyword group, making your assignments much easier.
Identify landing pages
Now, you need to closely check your existing website content to identify existing pages that match your new keyword clusters.
Here, you might also find gaps that need filling with new pages required to target specific keyword groups.
Map your keywords
From your pages, you’ll need to assign a primary keyword (the most important) and secondary keywords (supporting terms) to each one.
The key here is to make sure your chosen words accurately reflect the content and purpose of the page, so the two make sense from a user – and intent – perspective. This is a practice directly adopted from the mind of everyone’s favourite Googler, John Mueller.
Optimise your structure
Scatter your target keywords throughout your content (without keyword stuffing, mind you!) – placing them naturally within:
- Headings
- Meta descriptions
- Body text
Based on your chosen keyword themes, you can then optimise your website’s internal linking structure to naturally ‘weave’ between relevant pages.
Refine, refine, refine
Make sure you’re keeping an eye on your keyword rankings and actively track your content performance over time. By regularly gleaning data, you can analyse these metrics to identify better refinement opportunities further down the line – consistently sharpening and improving your content strategy.
To help you keep track of all the moving bits and pieces, why not create a spreadsheet to fully visualise your keyword map. This will help you visualise your strategy and make adjustments as needed.
By using the following steps as a rough guide, you can fully begin to create a keyword map to use in your SEO efforts moving forward. However, these things cannot work independently. They need the support of constant refinement and monitoring to ensure things are on the right track – as is the way for most things within the SEO industry.
Need to get started? Turn to Embryo.
When it comes to SEO strategies, keyword mapping is just one part of a foundational strategy. To truly understand the potential of your content, you need to understand that high-quality, user-led pieces are the ones that will resonate – and reach – your audience.
However, with targeted keywords behind content that’s written with expert intention, you can’t go far wrong.
If attracting readers and bolstering authority in your area sounds like your cup of tea, then we can help. Our SEO experts are here to create top-level keyword mapping strategies and great content, so your website hits all the right notes, every time.
To start your journey, get in touch with us today!
