Keyword research is considered to be the first step towards the creation of a successful SEO campaign. If you are interested in learning about Search Engine Optimization, you might have probably already heard of this important activity. But why is it mentioned so often you might ask yourself. If you were thinking of skipping this part of SEO, we advise you to not do it and keep reading!
Every time someone is looking for something on the web, they type in a keyword that leads them to find relevant results. Therefore, you should dedicate some time to learning more about this practice. Who knows? you might end up finding great keywords to use in order to target the right audience and lead them to your website one day!
What is a Keyword?
First of all, let’s define what keywords are. Keywords are words and phrases that people type in search engines like Google to find what they are looking for. These keywords can lead to finding products, services or specific information.
What is Keyword Research?
Keyword research is a part of Search Engine Optimization and is best described as the process of gathering keyword ideas that people type on search engines when they are looking for something specific. For instance, as a business, you might want to analyse which keywords would help you the most in attracting the right audience to your website.
When to Focus on Keyword Research?
Well, focusing on keyword research is a critical phase and should be done at the beginning of your website creation. Anyways, keyword research should always be a strategy to rely on when planning new content ideas, trying to find a new niche and optimizing the existing content on your website. Therefore, this is an ongoing practice to implement into your SEO routine.
How to do Keyword Research?
There are multiple elements to be considered when starting the keyword research process. Moreover, many tools and tips should be analyzed before choosing a specific approach, in this article, we will give you relevant tips, elements to focus on and a useful template to use at the beginning of this critical process.
Why is Keyword Research Important?
Whatever the size or nature of your business, carrying out keyword research is crucial. The main reason is that if you are trying to rank high in search engine results pages, you must focus on the right keywords.
Moreover, you should focus on attracting the right audience to your website and to do that, you must understand it and create valuable and relevant content. In order to create valuable content, keyword research must be executed and it will help you understand which keywords to target to achieve the best results.
Elements of Keyword Research
- Relevance: Google ranks content for relevance. As can be seen more in-depth later in this article, search intent must be a priority when doing keyword research. Search intent means meeting your audience’s search needs when creating content for them. In addition, your content must be the best resource out there for the query. After all, why would Google decide to make your page rank better than others if not because of the relevancy of the content?
- Authority: Google will provide more importance to sources it deems authoritative. That is why you must do whatever you can to become an authoritative source. This goal can be reached by enriching your website with relevant and helpful information content and promoting it to earn backlinks. If you do not become an authoritative website, you will definitely have a lower chance of ranking unless your content is exceptional.
- Volume: You might rank on the first page of Google for a specific keyword, but if no one ever searches for it, it will not lead to any traffic coming towards your website. That is why it is crucial to look at the search volume of the keywords you want to target. Search volume is basically the number of times a specific keyword is searched on search engines.
Best SEO Keyword Research Tips
Come along to find out more by reading these effective keyword research tips. These tips will help you find the right keywords for the right audience and might be exactly what you need to skyrocket your website rank right to the first page of Google.
1. Focus on Search Intent First
When focusing on a keyword to target on a website, the first metric that people naturally look at is search volume or how many people are searching for that exact keyword. However, search intent must be the first thing to focus on.
Search intent is the understanding of what it is users actually look for when typing a specific keyword. It is crucial that you check on Google what is actually ranking for a specific keyword before deciding to target a keyword that might be considered of high difficulty to rank for.
Google will help you by showing what it considers to be the best website ranking for a specific keyword and it will be up to you to choose the right one. Furthermore, if the content you end up creating does not answer the search intent in a similar or better way than your competitors, you might want to choose a different keyword.
2. Study your Niche
A great tip would also be to analyze everything about your niche by brainstorming from a logical perspective. Think about researching industry forums, groups and Q&A websites. Look at all the ways possible to improve how you do keyword research and create relevant content. Always try to think outside the box!
3. Use these Keyword Research Tools
There are many tools that will help you reach your keyword research goals but, since there is no point in listing all of them, we will focus on mentioning the main ones we advise you to use.
The first one we will focus on is Google Keyword Planner. This tool is reliable since all of the keyword data is gathered directly from the main source, Google. While using this tool, you will be able to find out more about search volume, discover more relevant keywords and be able to use a number of other metrics.
Secondly, Ahrefs is considered to be one of the best keyword research tools out there. Ahrefs is an all-in-one tool with plenty of features to choose from. Its Keyword Explorer Tool helps you discover thousands of keyword ideas right away. Other than metrics such as search volume, this tool will show you how many clicks a search entry gets so, you will be able to analyse and choose the most relevant and effective keyword for your website.
Thirdly, AnswerThePublic is a free keyword research tool that gives you the chance to type in a keyword and many relatable questions people are asking will pop up. The tool itself then divides all the questions into different prepositions (where, who, which, etc.) with which people start their queries. Make sure to use this valuable tool at the beginning of your keyword research process as it will help you kickstart your ideas.
4. Give Google Search Results a Chance
As the most popular search engine, Google focuses on providing the best search results to its audience. So why not use Google to look for what consumers search for when they look at brands similar to yours?
You just have to type the right search term in Google and you will notice a list of similar and relevant search terms popping out. These newly generated terms can provide value while performing keyword research.
5. Do Not Forget to Analyse your Competitors’
Last but not least, focusing on competitive analysis is one of the most important tips we can provide to you. Understanding your competitors first is crucial, and it is a great way to find out the right keywords which will help you achieve similar or even better results than them. You must have a concrete idea of whom you are competing against.
After finding out clearly who your competitors are, you should identify their strengths, so you might try to emulate this yourself. Moreover, you should be analyzing their weaknesses as well in order to avoid making the same mistakes.
By using the above-mentioned keyword research tools, you can analyse your competitor’s website SEO health and check exactly which keywords they are ranking for. Ahrefs is a great keyword research tool to use during this important endeavour.
How To Use our Keyword Research Template
Our keyword research template is easy to use and has a step-by-step explanation in the first sheet of the file. This template will help you understand better which keywords to implement in your SEO strategy by analysing your main competitors.
Download the Keyword Research Template
Are you ready to perform your first keyword research campaign? Then look no further, we advise to download the following Free Keyword Research Template and start practicing right away!
