Keyword research is the building block of your overall SEO strategy. Remember Jenga? Think of keyword research as that one piece stacked somewhere in the middle that could send the whole tower tumbling down, unless pulled out properly. You don’t want your SEO strategy breaking into pieces after all that hard work, just like you don’t want your Jenga tower tumbling down after all that effort.
So how do you avoid that? I think you already know the answer to that; read the headline again if you don’t (don’t worry, we’ve all been there).
Keyword Research is important and pays in dividends if you get it right. The most common problem marketers face with Keyword Research is not knowing where to begin, or what tools to use, or how to group keywords properly. Read on for answers to all these burning questions!
By the end of this article you will be well versed in the following:
- What are keywords?
- How to find the right keywords?
- Grouping keywords.
- Best keyword research tools
What are keywords?
A lot has been said about keywords lately but what are keywords? Keywords are the language customers use in the online world to find what they are looking for. They are the search items that are put in a search engine by a user to search the desired result. Businesses want users to get to their website as quickly as they can and also in large volumes. This is the reason why it is very important to research the right keywords that can get business the desired website traffic. Keyword research is the market research of the 21st century!
How do I find Keywords?
Finding keywords is easy, all you need to know is where to look. Think for a minute. Keywords are what? Search terms, right? So if you think like your target audience, you can get a very good idea of what your customers will search for. You can ask yourself questions like “what does my target audience search that are related to my business?” Next, head on over to Google and type this searches away. Scroll down to the bottom and here you’ll see a list of related search terms that are fetched based on what people are searching for. These are related keywords that come straight from Google. Other than Google, you can use Reddit and Wikipedia to identify potential keywords. Put these together and you have a list of terms that you know your customers search for. Now you have a preliminary list of keywords that you can perform further analysis on. Next step will give set your agenda straight and help you unearth some amazing keywords for your site.
Now log into Google Ads and make the most of the all-purpose Keyword Planner tool. The Google Keyword Planner Tool gives you a list of all the keywords associated with your search term, along with volume, competition, and cost per click. Simply download these keyword ideas and sort them in an excel sheet to set things up for the next step.
An important thing to remember while doing your keyword research is the fact that higher volume keywords have more competition while ranking organically. Therefore, your website is expected to rank higher for long-tail specific keywords because of lesser volume. Moreover, keywords can be categorized based on location as well as seasonal trends. This can be analyzed in google’s keyword trend analysis tool called Google trends.
How to Organize Keywords into Groups?
Now that you have all the different search terms. Open your excel sheet file and sort them by volume. Now start scrolling down and highlight all the terms that you think your customer would search for as a buyer. Note that you need to focus on search terms that bring conversions. A search term like “best dog food brand” shows the user is looking to buy a particular brand, if it is the best. Alternatively, a search term like “why do dogs like dog food” shows the user is simply interested to know why dogs like dog food.
Figuring out user intent properly helps you align your search engine optimization strategy for maximum conversions. Once you have a combination of short and long term keywords from the list, simply put them in a separate document, decide on a primary keyword, and start writing.
What are some of the best Keyword Research Tools?
To help you get the most out of your keywords, we’ve outlined the top 5 Keyword Research Tools that can help you get all the data you need to build a solid SEO strategy:
Google Keyword Planner
The Google Keyword Planner tool takes the top spot because of the immense pool of data at its disposal and the fact that it is operated and maintained by Google. No keyword strategy is truly complete without a walk through the good old Keyword Planner Tool.
Google Trends
Google Trends shows you the relative trend of particular search terms over a defined period of time. This helps you optimize certain content pieces to peak around the right time for maximum traffic and conversions. Google Trends also has a related queries box that shows you related search terms for a more robust keyword pool at your disposal.
Google Search Console
The other two tools on the list show you new keywords. But what about the keywords you’re already ranking for? This is where the Google Search Console comes in. It tells you what queries sent the most clicks to your website and how you’re ranking for these particular terms, as well as clicks, impressions, and average position; all of which are insights that you don’t want to miss out on.
UberSuggest
This tool gives you an insight of which keywords seem to be working for your competitors. It also suggests you keywords based on what people are more likely to type. It also gives a detailed analysis of volume, traffic and seasonal trends for particular search items. Head on over to UberSuggest to learn more.
SEMrush
SEMrush is a very useful tool for identifying the right keyword for SEO. This tool lets you find the difficulty level of your desired keyword. However, this is a premium service and requires you to spend some bucks.
Over to You!
Keyword Research can be gruesome but only if you let it. The things outlined above can help you find a path inside the world of keywords and SEO and work as an excellent building block to springboard your keyword research strategies.
If you’ve got a website that you can’t seem to rank, then get in touch with us for a Free SEO audit and we’ll tell you what exactly you’re doing wrong and how to fix it in a way that makes it stand the test of time!.