How should you choose target keywords and prioritize them in stages?

When choosing target keywords, consider audience needs, search intent, search volume, ranking difficulty, and the content and business value your website can offer. If resources are limited and broad, high-volume keywords are difficult to compete for, you can start with mid-tail and long-tail keywords that address more focused needs. Then, as traffic builds, assess whether to expand into broader keywords based on your rankings and the competitive landscape. A phased approach means adjusting priorities as website performance and demand change—not switching targets on a fixed monthly schedule.

Stage 1: Identify demand, then select keywords worth targeting

Do not prioritize keywords by search volume alone. First, ask what problems your target audience wants to solve and whether those needs relate to your website’s products or services. Then check search volume and difficulty. High search volume, low difficulty, and commercial potential are an ideal combination, but you still need to consider your website’s own strengths and limitations.

• Demand: Are searchers looking to learn, compare options, or buy directly?
• Competition: How good is the content on the pages currently ranking, and how authoritative are those pages?
• Your website: Is your existing content relevant to the topic? Does your site already rank for the target keyword?

General difficulty scores do not necessarily reflect an individual website’s chances of competing. Site-specific difficulty estimates and ranking predictions can help you shortlist keywords, but predictions are not ranking guarantees.

Stage 2: Start with more focused keywords when broad ones are hard to compete for

In a 2023 article, awoo recommended that small and medium-sized businesses with limited resources start with mid-tail and long-tail keywords, build relevant traffic, and then compete for rankings on broader keywords. Broad keywords typically cover a wider range of search intents, attract more searches, and face stronger competition. Mid-tail keywords are more focused, while long-tail keywords address more specific needs but usually have lower search volume.

For example, “health supplements” covers a broad topic, while “when to take probiotics” clearly asks about how to use them. Content targeting the latter should explain when and how to take them and any precautions, rather than automatically steering searchers toward a purchase simply because the website sells the products. The article suggests that mid-tail and long-tail keywords have relatively higher conversion potential, but this does not mean every long-tail keyword is easy to rank for or will necessarily generate orders.

Stage 3: Use search results to determine the content format

Once you have selected candidate keywords, examine high-ranking pages to identify the content formats and information users expect. If the main results are guides, lists, or tutorials, provide the relevant information and use clear headings and paragraphs to help readers find answers easily.

A single keyword can also reflect multiple search intents. In Semrush’s example of “business English vocabulary,” both course landing pages and informational content appear in the results. In such cases, you can test different content formats rather than relying solely on a tool’s single classification.

At Procrustes, we turn the questions clients genuinely care about into articles, with ongoing content planning, writing, and updates.

When to expand: Review performance before targeting more competitive keywords

After mid-tail and long-tail keywords have generated traffic, reassess your opportunities to compete for broader keywords rather than immediately committing resources across the board. Review search volume trends, existing rankings, and page traffic to identify content that needs updating. You can also identify other keywords that high-ranking competitor pages rank for, then filter them by search volume, difficulty, and intent. Expansion and refinement should go hand in hand: when existing content underperforms, first check whether it meets searchers’ needs before deciding which new targets to add.