Every SEO article you follow talks about the importance of keyword research. Still, none of them talk about how to do it.
While you can’t reinvent the wheel whenever you want to find new keywords for a specific campaign, knowing what questions to ask will get you on the right path.
This blog post will go through some simple steps to help you assess which keywords are worth your efforts and identify your campaign goals. We’ll cover keyword volume, competition, and a few other metrics that can give you an idea of whether or not a keyword is worth pursuing. It will allow you to learn more about the basics of keyword research without wasting time and effort on keywords that aren’t going to allow your business to grow.
Table of Contents
Why Is Keyword Research Essential To SEO?
Before we start into the different aspects of keyword research, it’s essential to understand that keyword research is not something that you do once and then forget.
Whether you’re promoting a site on which you want to attract web traffic for your websites, keywords play a crucial part in the success of your SEO strategy. But without proper plans and tactics around them, keywords can backfire, meaning they’ll either fail to yield results or reduce organic traffic to your website.
A wrong keyword can ultimately lead to the demise of an SEO campaign – this is why SEO professionals must know how to do keyword research to draw positive results from the process.
What Is The Role Of Keyword Research In Digital Marketing?
In general, keyword research is the process of finding out what people are searching for online. It is also known as ‘search engine optimization (SEO).
It’s not a one-time activity, either. On the contrary, it’s an ongoing keyword research process requiring constant monitoring and updating to achieve positive results.
While most people think of “keyword research” as a specific piece of software they use to collect data, there’s more than just running a keyword tool and getting results from search engines.
Instead, keyword research involves identifying your target customers or potential customers’ needs and establishing yourself as an expert in a particular niche.
Brainstorm A List Of Topics
Before starting any keyword research, it is vital to guarantee that you are looking for the right keywords. Before you move on to the actual keyword discovery process, you need to brainstorm a list of topics related to your business and then research each one using the keyword research tools mentioned in the next section.
It will help you determine whether or not a particular topic is worthwhile and offers good potential for search engine success. Otherwise, it is best to drop it.
With this initial research, you will be able to establish if your keyword will be one that people are searching for regularly. You should be able to determine if your keyword is something that you can research further or whether it offers too little in terms of potential.
Make A List Of Important Relevant Topics Based On Your Business
It is the first stage of the process. When you list relevant topics to your business, you can establish if something is worth pursuing further or if you can drop it and move on.
When making this list, it is always essential to think about how people will search for these topics. If people are not likely to use the exact words that would come up when you searched for them, then your keyword might not be too worthwhile from an SEO perspective.
Try to think about the kind of language that you would use when searching for these topics, and then run a quick word search on Google to see what types of results come up.
Figure Out How Search Intent Affects Keyword Research And Analyze It
Once you have a keyword list of subjects to base your keyword research on, it is time to assess the organic search intent behind them. It is a fundamental part of the process as it can help you determine which keywords will be most effective and allow you to hone in on specific topics that might not be relevant at this time.
The search intent behind any particular keyword is what dictates the level of competition around that keyword, meaning that if someone sees a product or service and wants to find out details about it, their commercial intent is different from someone who already has that exact item but wants to find out similar offerings from other companies.
Research Relevant Search Terms
The next step is to research relevant keywords to the topics you identified as worthy of further investigation.
Ranked in your list of potential keywords, you may find some you will want to research further. This study can take place by selecting the keyword you want to look into and researching it for a certain period.
When doing this type of study, make sure that you have a clear idea as to what the intent behind each keyword is so that you can determine whether or not a particular offering is going to draw enough traffic or if it’s a keyword that will be neglected by the audience who are searching for it.
Make Use Of Google Keyword Planner
You can use handy keyword research tools to help you with your keyword research strategy, such as the Google Keyword Planner.
The Google Keyword Planner is excellent for helping you to identify which keywords will be most relevant to your business. It’s even possible to run a keyword report using the Keyword Planner and immediately use that information to create a content strategy related to those keywords.
Research shows that using the Keyword Planner early in creating a piece of content can help search engines determine which keywords are linked between your website and those used by the people searching for it, ultimately boosting your SEO rankings.
Analyze Keyword Difficulty And Search Volume
The next step is to analyze the keyword search volume and keyword difficulty behind these keywords. These will help you determine your goal for SEO keyword and are essential as they show you how much potential an increasing or decreasing search volume has over time.
It’s also vital to analyze the keywords linked with the keywords you are interested in, which is pretty easy to do with the Google Keyword Planner. It can help you determine whether there is a direct correlation between the two and whether or not those words could work together on a page.
Check The Monthly Search Volumes For Keywords You Have Chosen
To determine how much relevant traffic you can expect from your search volume, you must check the monthly searches for keywords you have selected.
The size of the search volume will help you determine whether or not a particular keyword will be worth investing time and effort in. Suppose there are only a few searches for a keyword. In that case, it might not be too worthwhile from an SEO perspective, mainly if it is difficult to rank highly on search engines when it comes up.
Know-How Competitors Are Ranking For Those Keywords
When it comes to competitors, you must thoroughly study the keywords that are relevant to your business. The keywords you investigate will help you determine how to approach this.
The brands that rank high on search engines for your chosen keywords can tell you a lot about what people are searching for and the type of content those brands are using on their websites to attract those people. It is an essential step as it allows you to see how well-known your competitors are in relation to the topic of the keyword that has been selected.
Carry Out A Competitive Keyword Gap Analysis
The following step is to carry out a proper keyword gap analysis, which is a study of your competitors’ keywords. You can do this by going to the Search Traffic Monitor Tool and running this research.
It will enable you to see which terms or topics are searched for more than other keywords and whether or not you are getting the most out of your search volume. It will give you an estimate of how many searches you could expect if people were able to use those terms when searching for your product or service.
End Note
In conclusion, keyword research is integral to any business’s marketing campaign in today’s digital age. This information is critical for companies looking to improve their SEO rankings and get the most out of the search engines.
With the help of keywords and their search volumes, it’s possible to determine your target audience and produce content topic that will attract them. Using this sort of data can also help you decide which target keywords are more popular than others and can boost overall SEO with little effort on your part.
