Keyword research is the first step in search engine optimization (SEO) for any website. The purpose of keyword research is to find words that users are searching on Google. This article will address the process of keyword research, keyword marketing, and the importance of keyword research services.
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What Is Keyword Research?
According to Hubspot, keyword research is the process of finding and analyzing search terms that people enter into search engines with the goal of using that data for a specific purpose. Often, the keywords get used for search engine optimization (SEO) or general marketing. Keyword research can uncover queries to target, the popularity of these queries, their ranking difficulty, and more.
The Keyword Research Process
Now that we’ve defined keyword research, it’s important to know the steps you can take to use keyword research as part of your SEO strategy.
Make a List of Important, Relevant Topics
First, make a list of 5-10 topic buckets of words that are important to your business. You will use these topics later in the process to help come up with specific keywords. Ask yourself what types of topics would your target audience search that would lead to your business being found? Then, you will want to analyze each terms’ monthly search volume. This data can be used to gauge how important these topics are to your audience, and how many subtopics with content you need to create to be successful with that keyword.
Fill in Those Topic Buckets With Keywords
After creating topic buckets, the next step is to think of keywords that fall within those buckets. Since you are targeting a specific audience, identify keywords and phrases that they are searching. Choose keywords that rank high on the search engine results page (SERP).
The idea is not to come up with a final list of keywords. Rather, brainstorm phrases and keywords that potential customers may search related to a specific topic. Later you can narrow down your keyword list. You can use Google Analytics or another software to help you identify keywords.
Understand How Intent Affects Keyword Research
User intent is one of the most pivotal factors in ranking well on Google. It’s important that your web page addresses the problem that the searcher intended to solve and carries the keyword the searcher used.
Keywords have different meanings beneath the surface. Therefore, you need to be very careful how you interpret the keywords that you target. You can verify a user’s intent by entering the keyword into Google yourself and seeing what types of results come up. Be sure that the type of content Google finds is closely related to what you’d intended to create for the keyword.
Research Related Search Terms
If you’re struggling to come up with keywords, check out the related search terms that display when you plug a keyword into a Google search. When you type in a word and scroll to the bottom of the SERP, there will be some suggestions for searches related to your original input. These keywords can spark ideas for other keywords that you may want to consider. You can also type in those related search terms and look at their related search terms.
Use Keyword Research Tools to Your Advantage
Keyword research tools such as Ahrefs, SEMrush, and Ubersuggest can help you with keyword research. They can help you come up with more keyword ideas based on exact match keywords and phrase match keywords, based on ideas you’ve already generated. Using these tools may give you alternative keywords that you may not have thought of.
Free Keyword Research Services
If you’re just getting started, you may not have the budget for paid keyword search tools. Here are some great free keyword research tools you can use.
Google Trends
Google Trends shows how frequently a given search term is entered into Google’s search engine relative to the site’s total search volume over a given period of time. It also provides keyword data, including search volume index and geographical information about search engine users. You can use Google Trends for several different marketing purposes.
First, paid search data can inform your seasonal campaigns. It can help you with cost planning and inventory stocking. Google Trends can also be used to identify irrelevant trending terms you need to set as negative keywords, so a trending search doesn’t affect your costs.
Next, Google Trends can help with SEO and content marketing. You can learn what information people within your target market are searching. Writing about trending topics can help drive traffic to your website.
Finally, you can browse Google Trends to see what topics are currently capturing the public imagination. For instance, you can reference a trending topic in your marketing campaigns, an email blast, a Facebook ad, etc. This can increase your ads’ engagement.
Keyword Generator
Keyword Generator can help you discover keywords. You can also see key SEO metrics. Each keyword comes with local and global search volume estimates and other advanced SEO metrics. Using these metrics can help you choose the best keywords to target across 229 countries. Another benefit of Keyword Generator is finding easy keywords to rank. You can use filters to find keywords with high organic potential or low Keyword Difficulty scores. Keyword Generator offers many other features such as identifying long-tail keywords, analyzing competition, and saving keyword ideas.
Answer the Public
According to the Answer the Public website, there are 3 billion Google searches everyday, and 20% of them have never been seen before. Using this tool you can get raw, search insights, directly from the minds of your customers. Answer the Public listens into autocomplete data from search engines, then cranks out every useful phrase and question people are asking around your keyword.
Keyword Surfer
Keyword Surfer is a Chrome extension that shows estimated global and monthly search volumes for any query typed into Google. This tool is a fast way to reveal search data, keyword research, and get content guidelines directly in Google search. You can use this to go through the content creation process – research, write, and optimize your content without leaving Google search.
Google Search Console
Google Search Console tools and reports help you measure your site’s search traffic and performance, fixes issues, and makes your website stand out in Google Search results. This tool provides Search Analytics so that you can optimize your content. You can also receive notification emails when there is a problem on your site. Finally, you can use the URL Inspection tool to view detailed crawl, index, and serving information about your pages, directly from Google index.
What is Keyword Marketing?
Keyword marketing involves placing a marketing message in front of users based on specific keywords and phrases they are using to search. This marketing method gives marketers the ability to reach the right people with the right message at the right time. There are a variety of marketing keywords used by companies and keyword research services to drive traffic to their website.
You can use keywords in various places as website content, meta descriptions, social media posts and hashtags, and website tags.
Types of Marketing Keywords
- Market segment keywords: Identify the industry or type of item a user is searching for. These terms could be a broad category or more specific item or service search.
- Customer-defining keywords: Include a descriptive word or phrase that narrows down the search term to a specific customer demographic.
- Product keywords: Mention the type of product and specific brand a user is looking for.
- Branded keywords: Contain a brand name, but they are more general than a product keyword.
- Competitor keywords: Contain the brand names of your competitors.
- Geo-targeted keywords: Include a specific location that narrows down the search results.
- Long-tail keywords: These are the most specific keywords and less competitive in the search rankings. Long-tail keywords can deliver users more interested in your products and more likely to make a purchase.
- Primary keywords: Describe the main subject of a webpage. They identify the page content to better funnel users to your site. Consider using these keywords on your webpage in headings and naturally within the copy.
Keywords are unique to each industry and even every business. Building a list of keywords should be your top digital marketing priority. If you need the help of a keyword research service, reach out to SEO Design Chicago. We offer a range of SEO services which include keyword research, SEO-driven content, local SEO, on-page SEO, and link building.
FAQ:
- What is keyword research?
- What are some keyword research tools?
- How can you use keyword research as part of your SEO strategy?
- What is keyword marketing?
- What are different types of marketing keywords?
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