What is a phrase?

Keywords are queries that a user enters into a search engine – for example on Google – when he searches for something on the Internet. Of course, there are billions of passwords entered into the search engine and new ones appear every day, but there is a large pool of those that are repeated many times – from this group we choose valuable phrases for website positioning.

But one by one: what is it about positioning for specific phrases? When a user enters a specific term into a search engine, the algorithms rank the results for them. It contains the pages that most likely answer the internet user’s question best. The assessment of whether a website should appear high in the search results for a specific keyword is influenced by many factors – including the quality and credibility of the website, the correctness and formatting of texts or links from other websites. However, one of the most important is whether the headings and the texts themselves on the page contain the specific phrase that the user has entered on Google. When it appears, it is a signal to the algorithms that the recipient is likely to find the answer to their question on this site, which makes them rank it high in the results.

Key phrases in texts

The discovery that algorithms take into account key phrases has brought a real plague of texts written exclusively for bots. They were packed with the most searchable keywords, but they were of no value to the user. However, Google quickly put an end to these practices by introducing an algorithm aptly named Panda to the search engine. It was created to promote high-quality websites that provide reliable knowledge and contain original content. From that moment, inserting phrases in each sentence ceased to make sense and today it is necessary to ensure that the optimal number of phrases is included in the text and that they are naturally woven into the sequence of the narrative.

Key phrases – types

Key phrases can be short – one word – or even a few words. Most often, we divide them into general phrases and long tail phrases, i.e. the so-called long tails.

General phrases are short and – as the name suggests – rather imprecise. They are entered by users who are usually at the beginning of the shopping path, i.e. do not yet have specific expectations as to the service or product. General phrases can be, for example, slogans like “summer dress”, “sneakers” or “car mechanic”. They have a lot of searches on the web, which is why they are often considered the best for website positioning. In fact, this is not always the case, because often the user entering such a phrase is only doing initial research and is not determined to make a transaction.

Long tail phrases are much more complex and quite precise, because they are entered by users who already know what they are looking for. Long tails have fewer searches than general phrases, but are often more effective – because if the Internet user has already formulated his expectations for a product or service, it means that he is most likely ready to decide on them. Long tail phrases are becoming more and more important in website positioning, as the popularity of Voice Search, i.e. voice search, increases every year. This type of search favors the use of longer and natural-sounding search terms, i.e. long tails.

Selection of key phrases

How to choose key phrases? There is no universal way here. It all depends on the type and scale of business, offer, competitors’ activities and many other factors. For example, if we run a hairdressing salon, local phrases will work first, i.e. those that give the name of the city or district in which the establishment is located. Positioning for very general phrases is unnecessary, because the logic requires looking for customers only in the area. Online stores will not use local positioning, but should focus on longer passwords that match their product range. The selection of phrases should therefore always be preceded by a thorough analysis of the industry and competition and the formulation of the goals we want to achieve.