A keyword is any word that a user enters in the search box. For instance, if a user has opened Google with the mindset to search for furniture stores nearby, the main keyword here is ‘furniture.’ Such a keyword is also termed a ‘focus keyword’ or ‘key phrase.’
Any website targeting ‘furniture’ as a keyword will show up at the top of the search results. If a user narrows down the search and types ‘wooden furniture for home,’ your website is more likely to be targeted, provided you have done the proper keyword research.
What are the best keywords for your business? You will find the answer to this question after doing proper keyword research, which we will discuss next
What is keyword research?
Keyword research is the process of finding target keywords for your business. It also helps you find answers to other related questions like:
- What keywords do users primarily use to search?
- How many people are searching for the keyword (you are targeting)?
- What is the location of the searchers?
And much more.
Why is keyword research important?
Keyword research is very important from the point of view of SEO. SEO or Search Engine Optimization is the process through which your business website is made to rank higher in the search engine results. The technique is used to optimize the content on your website. This, in turn, increases the visibility of your website online.
Linking all of this together, the keyword is the main ingredient in optimizing the content. Apart from the fact that the content should be original and organic, the right placement of keywords in the right place works wonders.
From a broader perspective, here is why keyword research is important:
- Provides insight into marketing trend
Google’s algorithm is continuously updated to make content online more reliable and authentic. For this reason, marketing trends keep on changing. Keyword research takes you closer to these marketing trends and provides the road map for the keywords to be targeted. It also helps you analyze the content users are currently engaging with.
For instance, the snippet form has been a successful content marketing strategy by Google that shows the brief answer to your query in the search result itself.
- Receive needed traffic
Keyword research helps one find the most targeted/most searched keywords. Incorporating them into your content can drive traffic to your website. This results in traffic growth for your business website and a higher ranking in search engine results.
- High sales conversion
Everything is linked in the case of keyword research. Better keyword research leads to engaging content, leading to high website traffic and, ultimately, a high sales conversion. When engaging with content, a user may feel convinced about your product. Thus, casually inserting a CTA at the end of the topic can lead to sales.
How to get started with keyword research?
The first step towards getting started with keyword research is knowing about some of the key terms, like
- Long tail keyword
Long tail keywords are phrase keywords that include one or two words before and after the focus/main keyword. For instance:
Focus keyword | Long tail keyword |
furniture | Best wooden furniture for home |
footwear | Most trending women footwear |
shoes | Best football shoes brands |
Mobile cover | Buy mobile case online |
Content writing | Learn content writing with free course |
Long tail keywords are more precise and allow the searcher to narrow their choices.
- Keyword intent
Keyword intent is the reason for which the searcher is performing a search. There are four types of searches mainly:
- Informational: where a searcher is looking for some information. For instance, searches like ‘the benefits of multivitamin tablets,’ ‘how to invest in mutual funds, ’ etc.
- Navigational: where a searcher is locating a certain business or website. For instance, searches like ‘pizza hut stores near me, ‘supermarkets near me.’
- Transactional: where the search is done to make a comparison before making a purchase. For instance, searches like ‘compare Mobile A with mobile B.’
- Commercial: where the searcher is here to make a purchase. For instance, ‘home décor stores near me.’
- Monthly Search Volume (MSV)
Monthly Search volume is the number of times a given keyword is searched worldwide in a month. You can also narrow down your research to your country or state with the help of a keyword research tool. Though more traffic to a certain keyword means greater chances of being crawled, it also comes with higher competition.
Thus, targeting a keyword with medium MSV works well. This could be a close synonym of your focus keyword. For instance, using the word ‘phone case’ instead of mobile cover, or using the word ‘wardrobe’ instead of ‘cupboard’ and vice-versa.
A step-by-step guide to conducting keyword research
New to keyword research? No worries! There is no rocket science required to understand this.
Now that you have a general overview of what and how keyword research is, here is how you can perform it on your own by taking the help of keyword tools:
Step 1: Come up with relevant keywords for your business
Start with the basics and list topics that are simply related to your business. For instance, if you are a baker, your potential keywords would be baking tools, over, cake, bento cake, ganache, and other related words.
Now, come up with topics revolving around these words. Keep yourself in the shoes of your audience and think about what they want from you. Some of the related topics in this field can be:
- How to bake an eggless cake?
- How to prepare ganache?
- What baking tools should a beginner use?
- How to make cookies in 3 steps?
- How to make whole wheat flour cake?
You can see how targeted keywords are a part of these topics. Note down the monthly search volume of keywords you have included in your list and target them accordingly.
Step 2: Understand your audience’s intent
What do you think your audience’s intent is like? Do you think the users will visit your website to learn baking, follow your recipes or make purchases?
But how do you find the user’s search intent? The best trick is to type the keyword in the search engine and look at the drop-down suggestions. For instance, in the below image, you can see ‘baking ideas for kids’ is the most searched key phrase and kept even above ‘baking ideas for beginners.’
So, instead of focusing on making a blog on ‘baking ideas for beginners,’ you know most of your audience wants to find ‘baking ideas for kids.’
There are various other ways to know the user’s intent. If you have a well-established social media profile of your businesses, you can directly interact with them and ask what they prefer using stories. You also get to know your audience’s intent by reading the comments on your social media posts.
Step 3: Find more search terms using ‘related searches’
You may have already done this when creating your keyword list, but if you haven’t, look at ‘related searches.’ This will help you to come up with more keywords you can target.
You can find ‘related searches’ in the footer of the search result page.
This will be quite helpful if you are struggling to find more keywords to target. You can also develop keyphrases of your own with these related search terms.
This will be quite helpful if you are struggling to find more keywords to target. You can also develop key phrases of your own with these related search terms.
Step 4: Make use of Google keyword Planner and keyword research tools
Ever heard of keyword match types? Any keyword is divided into three types: exact, phrase, and broad modified keyword type.
Google keyword planner and other keyword research tools like Ahrefs, Ubersuggest, and SEMrush help you come up with keywords according to these match types.
Taking about them in brief, the exact keyword type is the most specific keyword type and targets only a specific audience, whereas the broad modified keyword type has the most target field. Here is an example of each to understand them better:
Exact keyword type: baking
Phrase keyword type: eggless baking tips
Broad keyword type: baking tools
Source: support.google.com
You can also get the search volume of a given keyword through these tools. Google keyword planner is a free tool to help you better research keywords for your business. You can also make use of Google Trends to learn about the latest keyword trends you should base your keyword research on.
Step 5: Take a look at the keywords your competitors are using
But first, you need to know your competitors. If you are unaware of your competitors, just search for your focus keyword. Now, see the websites ranked on top with your focus keyword. Focus on websites that match your business type.
Now, use any keyword research tools like Ahrefs to find the keywords your competitors are targeting.
In short…
As the CMO of Ahrefs mentions, “Keyword research is not the process of finding “easy to rank for” keywords. It’s the process of finding the keywords that make the most sense to your business.”
Once you have reached that place, you can start incorporating them into content in numerous ways. Do not forget to take the help of all of the free keyword research tools in the market like Google Search Console, Keyword Generator etc. for your help.
