How to Conduct Keyword Research – Untold Secrets
If you’ve spent any time researching SEO, you’ve probably come across the term keyword research.
However, what exactly is keyword research?
What’s the big deal about it?
You’re not alone if you’ve found yourself pondering these questions. It can be difficult to figure out how to conduct keyword research.
But there’s no getting around it.
Any SEO plan relies heavily on keywords, so if you miss the mark, your results will suffer.
Fortunately, choosing keywords isn’t a guessing game, and the right keyword research tools are required.
We’ll go through the keyword research method, how to do keyword research in 2018, and a few keyword research ideas on this page so you can make data-driven decisions about your website’s SEO strategy.
Keyword Research
What is the purpose of keyword research?
The process of identifying the terms and phrases you want to target in your on-page SEO approach is known as keyword research.
After all, SEO isn’t just about appearing in search results; it’s about appearing in search results for the keywords your target audience is looking for.
So, before you optimise your site, figure out what words and phrases potential buyers and clients use while looking for information about your sector, products, services, or company.
Keyword research is how you find those keywords, thus it’s an important initial step in any SEO approach. Keyword Research
Why Do You Need to Use the Best Keywords on Your Website?
Keyword research, like any other research method, can take a long time and effort.
So, why should you invest your time in this?
Why can’t you simply choose the keywords you want to rank for based on your knowledge of your company and customers?
Both of these inquiries are valid.
After all, if you’re already knowledgeable with your business and target audience, researching terms and phrases for hours may seem like a waste of time.
However, keyword research is necessary regardless of how well you know your clients.
You’ll be more effective in achieving a few key goals if you choose keywords based on facts.
Keyword Research
1. Attract high-quality traffic.
Your keywords determine not only the quantity but also the quality of traffic that your site can receive.
Low-quality traffic is defined as visitors who are not part of your target audience and are unlikely to become consumers or clients.
That’s because they won’t affect your company’s most crucial objectives, such as sales and revenue.
Visitors who are part of your target audience and have a good possibility of converting make up high-quality traffic.
And the keywords you select have a significant impact on the type of traffic your website receives.
You can adjust your strategy to suit to the words and phrases your audience uses if you spend time learning about their search patterns.
You won’t simply be optimising your site for keywords that will create the most traffic – you’ll be optimising it in a way that will reach users who are more likely to make a purchase or become a lead.
Keyword Research
2. Reach out to potential buyers at every stage of the purchasing process.
When you think about how people search for your items, you might think about transactional terms like “purchase” or “sign up.”
While they can bring in quality visitors, most users don’t use them until much later in the purchasing process.
The majority of customers go through the same three steps. Keyword Research
They start by looking for educational content that will help them understand more about a certain sector and what kinds of solutions are available to meet their demands.
Then they examine the companies that offer such solutions to see which ones are most suited to their needs.
Finally, they make contact with such businesses to obtain additional information or to make a purchase.
You won’t be a part of the first two phases if you merely develop content and optimise your site for the actions that take place in the last step.
This means that merely by not participating in the research process, you may be losing clients to your competitors.
With keyword research, on the other hand, you can discover more about the terms your audience uses at each stage so that you can develop content that addresses all of them — and make it clear from the outset that your organisation is a wonderful choice. Keyword Research
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3. Respond to the concerns and inquiries of your audience.
Many of the terms you come across during your research will be informational.
These keywords can assist you in determining what your target audience wants to know about your sector and what information they require before making a purchase choice.
The most obvious advantage is that these keywords will assist you in creating content for the top and middle of your sales funnel.
Beyond that, these keywords will assist you in better addressing the needs of your target audience.
Let’s imagine you want to increase the number of consumers who visit your vehicle repair company.
“Auto shop in [your city]” or “auto repair [your city]” are two obvious keyword alternatives.
However, you’ll need to find some more informational keywords to fill out the top and middle of your funnel.
So, let’s say you discover that “how often do I need an oil change” is a popular query.
The purpose of the search is evident in this situation. Users who search for this term are considering getting an oil change for their car but are unsure when they should do so.
You might answer this question by writing an essay or a blog post about the importance of oil changes and then publishing it on your website.
When a user types that keyword into Google and comes to your site, they’ll get a clear response to their question.
This is advantageous to both your company and your target audience.
Searchers get free, useful information, and your business gets a chance to interact with a possible consumer while they’re actively looking for it.
Then, if that searcher decides it’s time for an oil change after reading your post and you happen to be nearby, they can quickly call you to schedule an appointment.
Even if they aren’t ready to act right away, you’ve established your brand as a reliable source of information, so when they do require an oil change or other vehicle repair services, your company will be the first to come to mind.
Keyword Research
How to Create a Keyword Portfolio
Gathering as many keywords as possible – which might number in the thousands or more – is one of the first tasks in your study to ensure you don’t miss any optimization opportunities. We’ll go over how to keep your keyword portfolio helpful and manageable by filtering out terms that are irrelevant, duplicate, or have a poor search volume.
The first step is to make a spreadsheet with a “seed” keyword list. To create your basic seed keyword list, go through your website’s products and services pages by hand, looking for prospective keywords to start with. You’ll almost certainly have a discussion with your teammates about what this list should look like.
The second step is to conduct a Google search for your competitors using the keywords you’re after, and then browse their website pages to see what keywords they’re optimising for.
This manual evaluation of competitor sites based on best practises may help you identify keywords you hadn’t considered (what we call keyword “gaps”). In the Excel tab, add the keywords of your competitors to your seed list. Your original seed list may be growing at this stage.
Third, to get further ideas, look at the terms in the “similar searches” section at the bottom of the Google search results page. Those queries should also be copied and pasted into your spreadsheet.
The fourth step is to go to your Google Webmaster Tools (GWT) account and retrieve a list of keywords that are driving impressions for your site, then paste them into your initial seed list. Limit the terms you choose for inclusion in your keyword seed list to those with a higher amount of impressions as a side note.
Finally, if you have access to the BrightEdge Data Cube, type your website’s URL into the search box and select “search.” This will show you which keywords your site ranks for and on which pages:
Keyword Research
Copy and paste this list into your seed keyword spreadsheet. You’ll want to make a note in your spreadsheet of which terms you already rank for so they don’t get lost during the filter and sort stage.
Then, using the Data Cube, repeat the process for your competitors. This second examination of your competitors’ keywords and rankings can provide a more objective picture of the competitive landscape, allowing you to spot any gaps or chances for keyword optimization that you may have overlooked previously.