Kinds of Keywords: Market Defining Keywords

Keyword ResearchWithout the right keywords, your SEO Marketing Campaign will go the wrong way. This guide to the kinds of keywords you can optimize is aimed to help you determine which keywords you need to include in your SEO marketing campaign to set your SEO plans in the right direction. For the first of this per-lesson tutorial, I’d be tackling Market Defining Keywords.

What are market defining keywords?

Market Defining Keywords are the most common, come-to-mind keywords there is. These are the keywords that usually pop into your head when you’re thinking of starting your SEO Marketing campaign for your company, business, product, etc.

Let’s take a scuba diving keyword campaign for example. If I wanted to use market defining keywords for my scuba diving campaign, I’d choose from a list that looks something like this:

  • Scuba dive
  • Scuba diving
  • Night diving

The key questions you need to ask yourself is:

“What are the words my market uses to describe itself?”

“What words does my target audience use to describe my industry?”

Does it describe itself as a scuba diving market? A night diving market? Does my target audience recognize my market as “scuba diving”? Or are they more familiar with the term “scuba dive”? From there, you will get to know your market defining keywords.

People who are looking for information in your market would query in things like:

  • Scuba diving blog
  • Scuba diving information
  • Scuba diving sites

In thinking up keywords, it’s best to get into people’s minds. Try to think of what can they possibly type in as a search query and start from there. If it’s a market defining keyword you’re after, then think like your target readers in those terms.


This entry is part of the SEO Hacker School series:How to do Keyword Research
You can also check out: Keyword Research 101

Next up: Customer Defining Keywords

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Sean Si

About Sean

is a Filipino motivational speaker and a Leadership Speaker in the Philippines. He is the head honcho and editor-in-chief of SEO Hacker. He does SEO Services for companies in the Philippines and Abroad. Connect with him at Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter. Check out his new project, Aquascape Philippines.