Learn SEO Keyword Research in 10 Easy Steps

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is one of the pillars on which digital marketing stands. An intrinsic part of this channel is keyword research as these are the elements which make SEO successful.

What is Keyword Research?

This is a process by which professionals in the search engine optimization channel of digital marketing determine which keywords will help their cause the most.

Importance of Keyword Research for SEO

Keyword research helps you in gathering the words or phrases that are being input in the google search bar by your audience when they look for products or services such as yours. It helps in putting together vital information – where you rank when it comes to keywords, which keywords are ranking higher and what exactly is it that the audience is searching for.

Since they directly affect your Google rankings, you have to make sure to keep track of these keywords and incorporate them in your content so that it is listed higher on Google search pages.

10 Easy Steps to Master SEO Keyword Research

To help you in conducting effective keyword research, certain pointers have been listed below:

Step 1: Analyze Your Keywords Effectively

This is where your skills get tested because you need to make sure that the ones you choose have a high converting rate. You need to identify and then focus on these well-converting keywords. This is the base of keyword research.

Step 2: Know your niche

Before you begin analyzing, you need to understand what your niche is. Get as much information about it as possible since it will be based on what you find that you’ll make a list. You need to see how exactly the keywords in your niche are being used.

Input the frequently used keywords and see how the pages which are listed on top are using them. The frequency, how often they update their content and in what form they present their content (text, graphics, etc.), and other things.

Step 3: Find a List of Seed Keywords

Now that you have an idea of how to include keywords into your content, you now proceed to putting together your list of keywords in your keyword research. Seed keywords, as the name suggests, are the main keywords that form the base of your content. These are the words from which all the other keywords stem.

You can take the help of tools such as Keyword Explorer and Google Search Console, to analyze not only your content, but also determine what is working for other websites, etc.

Step 4: Understand Parent Topic

Every idea comes into being from some source. When it comes to keyword research, the parent topic is the keyword which sends in most traffic to any given website. This is done by analyzing any website and determining which keyword that is.

In this fashion, you need to find the parent topic of your website. Research and determine which is that word or words which will bring in most traffic.

Step 5: Determine Keyword Search Intent

This is basically about getting to know your target audience. You need to know what exactly they input when they are searching for products and services. It will be based on this intent, that you’ll come up with a list that best caters to them and by extension, you.

Step 6: Discover Your Competitor’s Keyword

In keyword research, this is a vital step. You can find your competitor’s keyword by using the tools mentioned before. This is done for the following reasons:

Gain a better understanding of how others in your field are using SEO.
Up your own game if you are missing out any essential keywords that could get you more organic traffic.
Using those keywords to perform better and beat them by getting more traffic.

Step 7: Choosing Right Keywords

The list that you come up with will help you in your Google rankings, the one stop shop for every buyer out there. You need to make sure that site is among the top ones on the results page.

Besides this, keyword research has to be done keeping in mind a lot of factors such as whether the keywords are in-sync with your marketing goals, the difficulty level, etc. Some things that should be kept in mind when making the keywords list:

Relevance: Make sure that the keywords in question are relevant as the trends these days are continuously changing.
Authority: Some well-known websites such as Wikipedia and others will always hog the top ten spots. So for smaller businesses, the only option is to find a way around that. This can be done by using variations of the keywords.
Volume: Make sure not to let keywords take over your entire content.

Step 8: Find Related Keywords for Your Blog Posts

By doing so, you are only working towards getting more traction for your website and maintaining a consistency in your content. This will help in getting more traffic as a related keyword is one which is related to the primary keyword.

These only help search engines to understand your content better and rank it accordingly.

Step 9: Make Use of Keyword Research Tools

Keyword research also has a lot of useful tools that you can take the help of. Besides Keyword Explorer and Google Search Console, you can use Google Trends, SEMrush and SECockpit.

Step 10: Expand Your Keyword List Efficiently

You can do this in a number of ways:

Keep a close eye on your client’s website
Take the help of free keyword tools
Observe the work of your competitors’ to learn new keywords
Always keep your target audience in mind
Make changes as you come up with new products/services

Conclusion

No step is too small or irrelevant when it comes to digital marketing. Keyword research is one process that is often not given the importance it deserves. It has the potential to make or break your business. Therefore, you need to make sure to go over the above steps and do your best to put together a great keywords list. If you have any queries, you can always reach out to us. We are only a message away.

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