While Google keeps us busy with all the algorithm updates they release, one thing has remained fairly constant for inbound marketing teams looking to optimize their websites for search: keyword research.
In this article, we will define what keyword research is, why it is important, and how to optimize your research for your needs. SEO-Implement a strategy and select the right keywords for your website.
Keyword research is the process of identifying popular search terms that people enter into search engines like Google and strategically incorporating them into your content to improve its ranking on search engine results pages (SERPs). Keyword research is a fundamental practice in search engine optimization (SEO).
The process of conducting keyword research for SEO involves choosing a topic for your content that is aligned with a set of targeted keywords for which you want your content to rank.
Keyword research for SEO is important for several reasons, including:
Search engines like Google use keywords to rank websites in search results. A blog post with a title tag containing the keyword "best running shoes" and a list of the best running shoes signals to search engines that it is a relevant page that should be displayed in search results for queries containing this keyword.
People use keywords to search for content online and to choose which content to click on from the search results. For example, if someone is looking for a compilation of the best running shoes, they are more likely to click on a comprehensive blog post about the best shoes than on a product page.
Companies that conduct keyword research typically achieve a better return on investment (ROI) from SEO because they target the highest-value keywords. For example, a company that performs keyword research for SEO will focus on long-tail keywords with low competition.
Knowing how to research keywords allows you to make data-driven decisions about your SEO strategy. Instead of guessing what your target audience is searching for, you know what they're searching for to find businesses like yours, and then you use those keywords on your website.
You now know why SEO keyword research is important, but how do you begin the keyword research process? Read on, because the eight steps listed below will guide you through keyword research for SEO:
The first step in keyword research is to create a list of potential keywords. These keywords can be as broad as you like and include anything related to your industry, products, or services.
For example, if you are a bicycle shop in Harrisburg, your keywords could be something like "bicycle shop in Sursee", "bicycle carriers", "bicycle seats" or other bicycle parts that you sell.
You can also use location-based keywords, which are words and phrases that describe your state, city, region, or other terms that searchers might use to describe your area.
Then you can also check your competitors' websites and see which keywords they use to describe similar products and services.
Analyzing your competition can be a great way to find ideas you wouldn't have even thought of, and can later influence the rest of your keyword research.
Once you have your basic list, the next step is to expand it into a longer list of long-tail keywords. The keywords you found in step one might be very short and generic keywords like "bike shops".
But if you think about it, thousands or even tens of thousands of businesses across the country could be trying to rank for that exact keyword, and as a local business, you probably won't be able to rank in the top 10.
Essentially, in this step of the keyword research process, you want to find longer and more specific keywords that indicate users are specifically searching for the parts you offer or a bicycle shop in your area.
While you can rely on Google's suggested search queries, this approach can be very time-consuming because it's done manually. That's why we often recommend using a keyword research tool.
A keyword research tool like KeywordsFX expands your keywords based on actual search trends and data.
When you enter a keyword into KeywordsFX, you will receive an alphabetically sorted list of all variations that users frequently search for in Google.
For example, if you enter "bike rack," one of the results is "bike rack for Audi Q5." This means that many users have searched for this exact phrase on Google in the past, and it also means that you should use this phrase as a keyword if you are selling a bike rack that is compatible with this specific car.
As you scroll down the page, you will see a variety of different results, and depending on which keyword you entered, it can be an overwhelming list of keywords.
Make a note of the ones that are relevant to your business, or simply export them to a spreadsheet. You can repeat this process for each keyword on your original list, and by this point, you may have several thousand potential keyword ideas for your website.
But in the next step, we will discuss what you can do with all these keywords and how you can narrow them down to get the keywords that will deliver the best results for your SEO strategy.
There are many different free tools you can use to narrow down your list, but at WebFX, many of us like to use a Chrome extension called Keywords Everywhere. This extension is free, and you can upload all the keywords you found in the second step at once.
So, once you have exported all your keywords into a table, you can simply copy and upload it to the tool.
Once you have uploaded your list, you will see some metrics for each keyword.
The most important of these are search volume and CPC, or cost per click. Search volume indicates how many users search for each keyword per month. The higher the search volume, the more users are interested in that particular keyword.
The cost per click (CPC), on the other hand, comes from Google Ads and shows how many advertisers are trying to place ads for that keyword. The higher the CPC, the more difficult it will be for your business to rank for that keyword.
When it comes to finding keywords, the ideal keyword would be one with a high monthly search volume but a low cost per click. This means that many users are searching for this information, but not many websites are trying to rank for it.
Once you have your list of keywords, you can decide where you want to include them on your website.
If you have found keywords for which pages already exist, you can add these keywords to your title tags, header tags, meta descriptions and other important HTML elements, as well as the body text of each of these pages.
Aside from that, you should absolutely avoid keyword stuffing, i.e., adding keywords where they are not relevant or necessary. All content on your website should be written with your users in mind and aim to inform potential customers and help them find the information they need.
During the keyword research process, you may have found a few keywords for which you don't yet have content on your website. Instead of adding these keywords to random pages and hoping they'll rank, you should see this as an opportunity to create more content for your website and additional pages that help your customers.
When optimizing your website, you can continuously conduct keyword research as often as you like. Over time, this will help you identify even more keywords that are helpful to your customers and keep your keywords relevant to changing search volumes and trends.
For example, the keyword "bike carrier for 2016 Subaru Forester" may be very valuable at the moment, but in five years there will probably be a newer model and other new keywords that users will be searching for.
The steps I've covered are really just the basics. If you'd like to learn more, I recommend downloading our free guide to keyword research.
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