Keyword research identifies and analyzes words and phrases that people search for in search engines and analyzes them. Then, you use them to create content on your website. It is essential to understand the intent of the searcher so that you can create SEO-friendly content that provides the information the searcher wants and helps you rank.
The first step of any search engine optimization should be keyword research. It is an essential component of your SEO strategy. Keywords can help you understand your target audience and their desires. This information will help you implement the other steps in your SEO strategies, such as on-site SEO and content topics.
Brainstorm Topics
It is a good idea to start by brainstorming a list of relevant topics to your business’s products and services. You can then narrow down the types of keywords to search for and get a good idea of where to start.
If you are a travel agent, for example, these topics may be on your mind:
These topics may not be keywords, but they are a great place to start when you want to dig deeper into keyword research.
Focus on a specific funnel stage & searcher intent
When conducting keyword research or creating optimized content for Google, it is important to understand the sales funnel. Focus on the three stages of a sales funnel: awareness, consideration, and decision. You can optimize your content by identifying the keywords users search for at each stage.
During this stage, the prospect is unfamiliar with your company. The goal is to educate the visitor and help them build a rapport.
The prospect will want to know more about their options during consideration. You should introduce your product or explain why it may fit their requirements.
In the final decision-making stage, prospects want to buy the best product or service. You want to convince the potential that you are better than your competitors and should be their first choice.
Use Google’s “Customer Journey to Online Purchase Tool” to determine which channels are emphasized at different points in your buyer’s journey. Google’s “Customer Journey To Online Purchase Tool” can help you decide which channels are most important at various stages of your buyer’s path. You can also use our keyword categorization to organize your keywords based on intent.
Use keyword research tools
Many tools are available to assist you in the process of keyword research. We will only cover some but discuss a few popular and useful platforms.
First, you can use Google Keyword Planner. This is the best option because it’s the most accurate, as all the data is directly from Google. (You can read more about the complexities of keyword search volume here). This tool has two primary functions: it helps you find new keywords and provides search volume and forecast metrics.
Our free Scout Suggestion keyword generator, although we’re a bit biased, is another useful and convenient tool. This tool is unique because it lets you perform keyword research on various platforms and then helps you group the research into keywords you can target.
SEO Scout can be a good choice if you’re willing to spend money on a tool to research keywords and want to concentrate on your competitors. This tool lets you visit a competitor’s website to spy on the keywords they are ranking for. This information lets you easily identify the gaps in a competitor’s strategy or steal their keywords.
Research creatively
There are many sophisticated tools for keyword research, but there are also other ways to generate ideas.
You can also search for a keyword in the Wikipedia search box. You’ll then find a topic on Wikipedia and click on the table of contents to see a list of all the subtopics covered. If you search for “Hotels” on Wikipedia, you will find subtopics like resorts, luxury, boutiques, caves, cliffs, and igloos. These subtopics are great keywords you may not have seen anywhere else.
Use the search feature on Reddit as another idea. Search for topics that are relevant to your business on Reddit. You can scroll through the comments to see if there are any keywords you need to include in your current strategy.
It can be time-consuming to do this type of research manually. Instead, why not use our research tools that utilize natural language processing? They will help you learn more about your niche and generate various keywords. Grouping keywords to create new ideas for content and Questions your searchers ask.
Use Google and YouTube suggestions
Google’s and YouTube’s keyword suggestion features are a great way to generate some ideas. A list will appear as you type a keyword in the Google or YouTube search bar. Since Google and YouTube suggest these keywords, they will surely be popular.
You can also use Google to find “Searches Related to”. Scroll down to the bottom, and you’ll see the section. You will see related popular searches that may help you generate more ideas. You can speed up the process by using our keyword suggestion tool. Or, check out our long-tail keyword guide for more ideas.
Analyze multiple metrics
Analyzing different metrics and considering multiple factors is important when choosing keywords. Here are a few things you should be paying attention to.
The search volume is the range of searches for a keyword in a given month. It is clear that you should choose a high-volume keyword to increase traffic to your website, but each industry has its standards of what constitutes a high or low search volume. Do your research. In some cases, 100-1k monthly searches might be high; in others, it may be low.
The keyword difficulty metric tells you the difficulty level in ranking for a specific keyword. Choosing keywords with a lower score if your website is brand new or has low domain authority is best. This will give you a higher chance of ranking. Each vendor has their proprietary method of determining difficulty, and accuracy can differ. These figures are helpful but should not be taken as gospel.
Organic click-through rate (CTR). It shows how likely a user is to click on an organic search result. Google may display featured results on the first page of search results and list many paid advertisements before organic results. A keyword won’t generate much organic traffic in these situations. It is essential to know this so you can choose keywords with a high Organic CTR. This will increase your chances of success.
