The process of determining which words or phrases people type into a search engine in order to find information, goods, or services on the internet is known as keyword research.
If you are aware of the precise search terms, you will be able to give them content that is pertinent to their purpose and meets their expectations. Rethinking a company’s digital marketing strategies is one way to increase customer engagement and draw in new business. Regardless of your job function or background, this Digital Marketing training will provide you with insights into digital marketing as well as the necessary skills to apply in your workplace through a combination of videos that you can watch at your own pace, live workshops, and hands-on projects.
The process of researching keywords will result in a list of keywords as follows:
- That could end up bringing you a lot of customers. Spending time and effort trying to rank for keywords that won’t bring traffic to your website is a waste of both time and resources.
- That may help increase the number of sales you make. To put it another way, keywords that are in line with the objectives of your company in order to increase sales, leads, or earnings from affiliate programs.
- You are actually able to rank for. Unfortunately, due to the competitive nature of the internet, it is impossible to rank well for all of the keywords that you would like.
Step 1: Familiarize yourself with your specific market.
- The first thing you need to do when conducting research on keywords is to learn as much as you can about your specific market or niche.
- If you are able to identify your competitors, you will be able to generate a more accurate keyword list and an SEO strategy that will be more likely to produce the desired results.
Step 2: Create topic buckets and jot down ideas for topics to write about.
- After you have completed step 1, the next step is to get more specific by writing down (in a spreadsheet) ideas for topics to discuss.
- Conduct a brainstorming session and make a note of everything that comes to mind regarding your company’s niche, industry, and products.
- Try putting yourself in the shoes of the person who is using Google to search for something and think about what terms they might type into the search bar.
- If it’s necessary, go back to the websites from step 1 and take a closer look at the titles of the pages on those websites. This can provide you with additional ideas about topics related to your niche that you may not have thought about previously.
- Create topic buckets out of your gathered thoughts by grouping them together. It is important that each topic bucket contain ideas that are related to the topic.
Step 3: Using the various keyword research tools, discover seed keywords for your topics.
It is time to convert your list of ideas into SEO keywords now that you have your ideas organized into topic buckets and a list of ideas to choose from.
Some of the most popular keyword research tools are:
Agency Dashboard
Agency Dashboard is an all-in-one Digital Marketing white-label platform that offers a free keyword explorer. That allows digital agencies to quickly discover which keywords are most relevant to a particular website or business. Besides, it provides detailed analysis of search volumes, competition levels, potential cost per click, and other metrics. Agency Dashboard also helps agencies uncover new opportunities for growth, by providing keyword suggestions and insights into the current landscape of online search.
Google’s Keyword Planner
Google’s Keyword Planner is by far the most popular tool for determining which keywords should be optimized not only across an entire website but also on individual web pages.
Google Analytics
Google Analytics plays a vital role in the evaluation and optimization of SEO strategies. You are able to gain an understanding of the types of visitors you are receiving as well as the behaviors they engage in, allowing you to provide superior service.
Moz Open Site Explorer
Moz Open Site Explorer is an excellent tool that can be used for the process of link building.
BuzzSumo
BuzzSumo is the ultimate search engine optimization tool that allows users to discover the types of content that are trending on social media.
QuickSprout
QuickSprout is the best tool available for determining the state of your website’s search engine optimization (SEO).
Step 4: Analyze the purpose behind the use of each keyword.
Now that you have a list of seed keywords, it is time to investigate the search intent behind each individual keyword.
When users conduct a search, they have specific types of information in mind that they want to find, and this is referred to as the search intent.
While the search intent may be immediately apparent for certain keywords, it may not be so clear for others, in which case further investigation is required.
Entering the keywords into Google and analyzing the first page of results is the most effective method for determining the purpose behind a keyword’s use in a search.
Google is doing an excellent job of understanding the actual intent of the user, which means that what they show on the first page is very close to what users are looking for.
You need to carry out this activity in order to identify the keywords on your list that serve a purpose that is distinct from what you are offering and remove those keywords from your list. You don’t want to waste time targeting keywords that don’t bring in the right kind of traffic, so avoid doing that.
Step 5: Find keywords with a long ending “tail”.
As you move through the list of your seed keywords, you will come to the conclusion that the majority of them, if not all of them, are extremely competitive.
When you search for these keywords on Google, you will find that hundreds of websites are competing with each other for a spot in the top 10 results.
If you already have a well-known website, this might not be that big of a deal for you; however, if you are just getting started, this is a significant obstacle.
What action should you take? Make some adjustments to the way you approach keyword research and look for phrases that have less competition, also known as long-tail keywords.
Long-tail keywords account for 70 percent of all searches, and using them is your only chance to start ranking highly on Google for keywords that can drive targeted traffic to your website in a relatively short amount of time. Long-tail keywords also make up the majority of all search queries.
Step 6: Investigate which keywords your rivals are ranking for.
As part of your keyword research, you compiled a list of websites that you consider to be your most direct competitors. You’ve been to their websites and gone through their content; now it’s time to find out which keywords they actually rank for and how much traffic they get from Google searches.
Step 7: Select the most appropriate keywords for your website.
You should already have a list of keywords (both seed and long-tail keywords) that you would like to rank for by the time you get to this point.
There is no doubt that it is a long list and one that is not easily manageable.
Now that you’ve updated the list once more, it’s time to narrow it down to 20–30 keywords that you can target by creating landing pages optimized for SEO.
In order to determine which keywords should be kept and which should be discarded, we will use the information that we have gathered thus far from the preceding steps. In addition, we will add two more parameters to the mix: the difficulty of the keyword and the authority of the domains that are ranking on the first page of Google.
Step 8: Transform the keywords you found into page titles.
When you get to this point, you’ll finally be able to kick back and relax because the tough part is over. Converting those keywords into page titles and writing the content can now be done.
