SEO & Search
What is a keyword?
In search marketing, a keyword is a word or phrase that a business targets with its content because people use it when searching. It is closely related to, but not identical to, a search query: the query is whatever a person actually types, while the keyword is the term chosen to represent that demand in planning and measurement.
Keyword vs search query
A query is what a real person actually types or says, misspellings, oddities and all. A keyword is the representative term a business selects to stand for a group of similar queries in planning and measurement. One keyword such as “small business accountant” represents hundreds of query variations. The distinction matters because content should target the intent shared by the group, not one literal string.
How keywords are used
Keywords are the working unit of search marketing: keyword research discovers which are worth pursuing, content is planned and briefed against them, and keyword tracking measures how visibility for them changes after publishing. Used well, a keyword is shorthand for a real audience need, not a string to be repeated mechanically through an article.
Related terms
Keywords are chosen through keyword research based on search intent, search volume and keyword difficulty; the specific, lower-competition kind are long-tail keywords.