There’s a good way to think about SEO and a bad way.

We all know that the keyword stuffing days are gone, but still, a lot of people associate SEO with keywords and with hacking the algorithm.

Like it’s some kind of formula (you know I hate formulas) that works every time.

Don’t get me wrong, SEO is critical.

But in order to master the game you have to know what the rules are and sometimes, break them.

I’m currently writing a couple of comparison pages for a SaaS client and I asked them for a list of keywords.

But it’s not because we want to game the system.

There’s a more important factor at play.

Intent.

Understanding what people are searching for and what their goals are.

We’re comparing competitor products to theirs and knowing what ideal prospects are searching for will help build our arguments.

Keywords don’t matter as much as they did when you inject them into your copy – but they inform the copy you write.

Imagine you were looking for a software that worked well for SMBs and instead you land on a comparison page that’s all about serving enterprise companies.

Instant mismatch.

Keywords can tell you what underlying themes and motivations people have in mind when they land on your page.

And you should adjust your copy with that information.

It helps you pick certain specific words over others.

And it gives you topic ideas you can expand on.

Reason why I never hate on my SEO buddies.

They are doing god’s work.

I talk about this in one of the podcasts I’ve been on, you can have a listen here.

P.S. I’m filming my third Youtube website teardown this Thursday. Have any website you’d like me to look at for improvements in copy and UX – for free? Now’s the time to shoot me an email.