How Vanity Keywords Can Derail Your SEO

Millions of bloggers create articles daily, and many of them use SEO to drive organic traffic. Many factors affect the optimization process, including vanity keywords.

This class of keywords can derail the aspirations of these writers, especially when their articles fail to rank. Sometimes, bloggers may quit and abandon their dreams of free traffic and sales.

What are Vanity Keywords?

Vanity keywords are broad search terms that deliver high traffic volume but are irrelevant to the target website. They are usually too broad, too competitive, and hard to rank.

Category or Broad Keywords: Some search terms are usually too broad and cover entire industries or categories. Bloggers may try to rank for them because of the high traffic volume they can deliver. Examples are casinos, video games, fashion, and movies.
Vanity Keywords are Highly Competitive: One good reason to avoid vanity keywords is their competitiveness. Too many users are vying for them, which makes it challenging to rank for them.
Irrelevant Keywords: Since most vanity keywords have one or two words, they are usually unrelated to the websites optimizing for them.

What Are the Principal Problems With Vanity Keywords?

Many bloggers get burnt out or turned off when their websites do not rank. They fail to grasp some of the main problems associated with vanity keywords.

One key issue that prevents ranking for these terms is user intent. Most searches for vanity keywords are driven by research and curiosity, and these surfers have little or no buyer intent.

Visitors spend less time on a website, giving it low UX ratings. This lowers the chances of ever getting ranked for these keywords.

Another problem facing bloggers who use vanity keywords is their investment. Due to the high number of competitors, SEO for these terms is costly. Even though a blogger may spend a lot of money, the buyer intent of these surfers is too low to make it worthwhile.

Is There Any Value in Using Vanity Keywords?

Vanity keywords have a purpose and can be very useful to large companies. These key phrases are ideal for brand awareness campaigns.

Since these keywords are top-level, they deliver a high volume of traffic that can enhance any branding project.

However, businesses must understand that sales conversions will be very low. Here is a summary of the benefits of vanity keywords.

Vanity keywords are great for branding campaigns.
Due to their high search volumes, it is excellent for news sites.
Ranking for these keywords can bring prestige.

What are the Features of Vanity Keywords?

Vanity keywords are mostly short terms made up of one to two words. They have a high volume of traffic but deliver little or no sales.

For example

cars
House
mobile app

Short-tail or vanity keywords are not recommended for new websites or bloggers. They are difficult to rank, have huge competition, and have low buyer intent.

A better alternative to these terms is the long-tail keyword.

What are long-tail keywords in SEO?

Long-tail keywords are search terms that contain three to five words. They help search engines understand the user’s intention and deliver an exact response.

Here are some common examples of long-tail keywords

online casino that accepts bitcoin
SEO service with free backlinks
Playing cards for the Indian Games

Benefits of Long-Tail Keywords

They deliver users with high buyer intent.
It is easier to rank these phrases due to low competition.
SEO services are cheaper for this type of keyword.

Where to Find Long-tail Keywords

Browse Google Trends
Use Google Webmaster Tools
Scroll to the Google People Also Ask section
Register with Mangools Keyword Suggestion
Use Google’s autocomplete

Conclusion

Although vanity keywords deliver high traffic volumes, they are not the best option for bloggers. These keywords have derailed the SEO goals of many writers. A better optimization strategy is using long-tail keywords.

About this Article

April Pad creates articles that help our users and visitors find answers to search engine optimization (SEO) issues. This post covers the impact of using vanity keywords. Some of our content demonstrates the implementation of SEO strategies and techniques.

Although we do not reject automation, we only use AI to edit and optimize our content. Users can always trust that our information is verified by experience, practice, and in-depth research.

Warner Williams is an SEO and content writer with over ten years of experience. He holds a BA in English and, in 2024, helped over 175 web admins rank on Google’s first page.