Over the years, SEO has undergone various changes, but keyword research remains important. Keyword research is still the first step for SEO services at all levels, especially when building new websites or improving or expanding existing ones.
In the field of search engine optimisation, keyword research and analysis play a vital role. This article aims to shed some light on the beginner’s guide to keyword research for search engine optimisation. Let’s get started.
What Is Keyword Research?
Keyword research is figuring out what keywords are most important for a website. Thus, you need to recognize the keywords you should rank for and the ones you would like to rank for. Researching keywords can also help you come up with interesting blog topics besides deciding what to write about.
There’s a close connection between keyword research and competitive analysis. Your research can help you discover what your competitors are ranking for that you aren’t, which is valuable for both your SEO strategy and your company’s growth.
Why is Keyword Research Important?
The best keywords for your target market can be found using keyword research, which also provides data about the Google searches your target market is making. The knowledge you gain may serve as an inspiration for your smaller-scale marketing plan and content strategy.
When doing online research, people use keywords to find answers. Therefore, if your content shows up when our audience searches, you’ll get more traffic. You should therefore focus on these search terms. There are many benefits to conducting keyword research, including:
Provide Insights into Marketing Trends
With keyword research, you can learn about current marketing trends and focus your content on the topics and search terms used by your audience.
Increase Organic Traffic
The keywords you choose for your content will determine how well you rank in search engine results and how many visitors you get.
Bringing in New Customers
If your business has relevant information other business professionals need, you can satisfy their needs and guide them along the buyer’s journey.
If you study keywords for popularity, search volume, and general intent, you may answer the questions that most of your audience wants to know.
Key Elements of Keyword Research
There are three key components to consider when conducting keyword research.
Relevance
Relevance affects how Google ranks articles. At this point, search intent enters the picture. Search engines will rank your material if it meets the searcher’s needs. You must also have quality content to answer the query. In the end, why would Google rank your article higher if it doesn’t offer much value?
Search Volume
No one will ever visit your website if you’re on the first search results page for a certain keyword. It’s like opening a shop in a desert. MSV (monthly search volume) measures how many times a keyword gets searched each month across all audiences.
Authority
The search engine will give preference to authoritative sources. Establishing yourself as an authority source will require you to publish educational and helpful content and promote it to get social signals. The likelihood of ranking a keyword in the SERP is low if you are not an authority in the field or if there are a lot of authoritative sites competing for the keyword.
How to Get Started with Keyword Research
In this section, we’ll explain how to conduct keyword research so you can get a list of terms to focus on. Thus, you can create and implement a keyword strategy that promotes your website for the search phrases that matter most to you.
Brainstorm Topics
A brainstorming session is an excellent way to start. You can begin by using a keyword planner to list search terms based on your idea and target pages.
You want to be as broad as possible at this stage. By the end of the process, you’ll be able to evaluate the value of those keywords and learn to prioritise accordingly.
Identify Search Intent of Users
Users’ search intent is crucial to understanding how they use keywords and what type of content they seek. To find out what types of pages rank for a keyword, you might do a Google search and see what the search intent for the keyword is.
Let’s look at four types of search intents,
Informational. An informational search aims to find the answer to the question, which is commonly precise and straightforward. Providing the correct information increases your chances of landing on the first page.
Navigational. Search intent of this type allows users to find a specific page on a website.
Transactional. Customers who are ready to buy something are considered to have transactional search intent.
Commercial Investigation. Consumers conduct a commercial investigation before purchasing. This type of content is sought by those seeking advice, reviews, or guidance.
Analysis of Your Current Keywords
If you already have a list of keywords for which you have been trying to rank, then this is the place to begin. If you’re taking over or have been working on an existing site, you probably have a list of keywords. Your first step should be to list those keywords and analyse how they’re doing.
Determine Your Goals
It might seem that now is the right time to conduct serious keyword research. If you don’t have some clear objectives that fit your business and brand, it’ll be pointless. What is the significance of this? Your research will have a sense of purpose if you establish those objectives.
You may find keyword ideas while conducting keyword research, but ranking for them isn’t worthwhile if they won’t bring in customers who can meet your goals.
Create a Keyword Wish List
Making a list of potential keywords is an important step in keyword research. The keywords you use should be relevant to your market, services or products. Moreover, you can use location-based keywords, which are expressions that describe your city, state, and region.
You can use them as a starting point when researching to determine what’s important for your business. If you come up with a lot of keywords, you shouldn’t assume that they are all good.
Competitor Keywords Analysis
Your keyword research should start with keywords that drive traffic to your competitors’ websites. However, you have to find your competitors first. In this case, your wish list of potential keywords will come in handy. See who comes up on the first page when you type one of your seed keywords into Google.
When none of the top-ranking websites is related to your seed keywords, look for ‘autosuggest’ questions.
Discover the keywords your competitors use to describe the same goods and services you’re offering by visiting their websites. The ideas you get from your competitors can help you think of ideas you never would have come up with on your own. Additionally, this will help you with your future keyword research.
Use Keyword Research Tools
You can find great keyword suggestions from your competitors. You’ll find plenty of terms that your competitors aren’t using by utilising keyword research tools.
Each keyword research tool works the same way. Their database generates keyword suggestions based on seed words. Google Keyword Planner is probably the most famous tool for keyword research. While it’s mostly for marketers, you can use it to search keywords for SEO.
Utilizing keyword research and SEO software, you can generate more keyword ideas based on exact match and phrase match keywords. Some of the most popular ones are:
Find Long-Tail Keywords
The search terms are more specific and draw fewer searches, but the keyword difficulty is lower. In addition, they target a highly specific audience.
Topic pillars and cluster pages are the building blocks of an SEO-friendly website. In each pillar, a broad topic is explained, with a link to a more detailed cluster page.
- Add fat-head keywords to pillar pages that introduce topics.
- Use long-tail keywords in cluster pages that answer specific questions or dig into a topic in-depth.
Measuring Keyword Performance
Your keyword research tool will give you some metrics once you upload your list. It is important to keep an eye on search volume and cost per click. Every month, the search volume shows how many people search for a particular keyword. Having more searches for a keyword makes it more interesting to users.
Cost-per-click calculations in Google AdWords and Google Advertisements are based on how many advertisers are competing for a particular keyword. Your ranking will become more difficult if the cost-per-click increases. It is a good idea to start with keywords that have a high search volume but a low cost-per-click.
Choosing keywords with a high monthly search volume but a low cost-per-click would be a smart start. Few websites are attempting to rank for this information despite much searching.
Continuously Research Keywords
While optimising your website, you are free to do as much keyword research as you need. It’ll help you keep up with changing search volumes and trends by finding even more keywords.
Be Specific with Local Search Term
Local searchers are targeted toward specific places, and it usually gives results for “near me” or region-specific answers. Location capabilities allow Google to provide relevant results based on the user’s location.
Using city names, towns or neighbourhoods in your content will ensure your business shows up in local searches if it has a local presence.
The Takeaway
So that’s all for today’s round-up about keyword research for SEO for beginners. Hopefully, the above information will provide insight into keyword research and content planning.
If you need to find the best keywords to grow your business, we can assist you with finding the relevant keywords that will fit into your content strategy.
