As a new website owner who is trying to learn the ropes of creating, optimizing, and promoting your website, you'll eventually stumble upon the topic of keyword research. Sure, you know it's important -- but what is it, and what exactly does it do?

What keyword research is

While the phrase keyword research can have several different meanings, in the simplest form, it is just the act of analyzing a keyword, or keyword phrase, and how it pertains to your goals for your website or marketing campaign. The goal with keyword research is to identify keywords, or phrases, which may help you to bring in search engine traffic, while helping you to produce the results that you are looking for on your website -- sales, signups, leads, etc.

What keyword research does

Really, keyword research has a few different meanings, and it has several different functions, depending on what your goals are, what your needs are, and when you are using it. Here are a few of the roles that keyword research plays:

For on-site optimization

-It can tell you which keywords you should use on your website -- keywords for your page titles, page names, and keywords for use within the content of your pages.

-It can tell you which keywords convert into buyers, which keywords convert into signups, and which keywords cause your visitors to "bounce" from your website.

-For off-page optimization / marketing

-It can tell you closely related keywords, which can help you find websites to obtain links from, and it can tell you which words or phrases to use as anchor text for your incoming links.

For PPC marketing

-It can tell you which keywords to use for your initial list, which keywords result in desired actions taken place on your website, and which keywords are just a waste of your money.

-It can tell you which keywords your competitors are using, and how much they are paying. This function is unique to specialized keyword research software, however.

What keyword research is not

Just as it is important to understand what keyword research is, and what it does, it is also important to understand what keyword research isn't. Namely, it is important that you understand that keyword research isn't a fixed formula that has a single function in one particular situation.

Many website owners mistakenly think that keyword research is limited to discovering keywords to use for their website, and that's the end of it. However, it is so much more than that -- the importance of keyword research extends itself into nearly every aspect of your website's optimization and marketing.

You can use keyword research to identify a profitable niche market, even before choosing a topic for your website, you can use it to help you to discover keywords for your website, and you can use keyword research to help you pick keyphrases for your marketing campaigns. What's more, though, is that keyword research can be used after-the-fact as well -- internal keyword research will help you to determine keyword groups that result in a desired action taking place on your website.

Keyword research plays an exceptionally important role in a website's success today. Now that you know what it is, and what it can do -- it's time to take action. Find a keyword research tool, learn how to use it, and get ready for online success!