Finding keywords made easy!
There is no doubt: Keyword research is the most important part of SEO.
In fact, keywords are so important that they can influence or break your entire SEO campaign.
Mit anderen Worten: To SEO To be successful, you need to find the right keywords and include them in your SEO strategy.
What exactly are the "right" keywords?
Which are the best keyword tools?
We explain in a few short steps how to conduct successful keyword research.
Step #1: Create a keyword list
Your first step is to create a huge list of search terms.
At the moment, you don't need to worry about competition, CPC, or anything like that.
The goal is simply to include a number of keywords in a list.
(In steps #2-#6 we will show you how to select the best keywords from your list.)
Here you will learn exactly how to generate keywords for your keyword list.
Google Keyword Planner
The Keyword Planner is technically designed for Google ad campaigns.
To add to that: It's also a great tool for SEO keyword research.
(Plus, it's free to use)
To do this, create a Google Ads account.
Then click the "Google Keyword Planner" button at the top of the page:
Then, in the "Search for new keywords" field, enter a keyword that is relevant to your business:
And Google will spit out a number of related terms:
You also receive a wealth of data for each keyword (such as "bid up").
You can ignore all of this for now.
For now, simply access keywords that are remotely related to your business.
And add them to your keyword list.
(As you can see, we like to use Google Sheets for our keyword list. However, you can use Microsoft Excel, Word, or anything else that suits you.)
SEMRush
SEMRush is our favorite tool for various keyword research.
Why?
Because it shows you keywords for which Your competitors already have a rank.
Here's how it works:
First, enter a competing page into the tool.
(Pro tipChoose a competitor that is similar in size to you. If you equip SEMrush with a huge website for government agencies, you will see keywords that are far too competitive.
Then click on Organic Research → Positions to view the keywords for which you rank in Google.
Google Suggest
Google Suggest is FANTASTIC for finding long-tail keywords.
Simply enter a keyword related to your business…
…And Google will give you a list of suggestions.
(And these suggestions are based on what people are currently searching for. This way you know they are popular.)
Ahrefs Keywords Explorer Tool
The keyword explorer is part of the Ahrefs suite of SEO tools.
Like most keyword tools, suggestions are generated based on your seed keyword.
Ahrefs It is characterized by the fact that you receive a crazy amount of data for each keyword.
This makes choosing the right keywords MUCH easier.
Which brings us to our second step…
Step #2: Find the conditions for low competition
Now it's time to measure the competition.
In particular, you want to identify the keywords on your list, who are not particularly competitive.
Here's how:
MozBar for Chrome
This free tool shows you the keyword competition in the search results.
It shows you, in particular, the page permissions of a page (quality and the quality of the links that point to that specific page):
The MozBar also shows you the domain authority of a website (an estimate of the overall authority of the website in the eyes of Google).
There is no minimum PA or DA you need to look for. It varies greatly depending on the niche.
Fortunately, after a few searches you will get an idea of the "low competition" in your industry.
But in general, the lower the DA and PA, the better.
Keyword difficulty levels
Most keyword research tools have a "keyword difficulty rating".
For example, SEMrush has “KD”:
Ahrefs has "keyword difficulty levels":
And KWFinder uses something called keyword SEO difficulty.
The only downside to using a keyword difficulty rating is that it increases competition. 100% on backlinks based.
Yes, backlinks are an extremely important factor for search engine ranking. But they are only one piece of the puzzle.
Google also checks how well a page is optimized for that term, whether the content matches what the searcher wants… and hundreds of other factors.
Summarized: Keyword difficulty ratings give a general impression of the competition level of a keyword. However, they are not 100% accurate.
Step #3: Identify search volume
Next, you'll want to see how many people are searching for the keywords in your list, also known as "monthly search volume".
You can retrieve this data in the GKP.
You can even filter the results so that only keywords above or below a certain competition or CPC are displayed.
With all this: Although this data comes directly from Google, the number is an estimated range… not an exact amount.
Moz and Ahrefs clickstream data
Moz Pro Ahrefs and [other companies] both use clickstream data to determine search volume.
They do NOT extract search volume from the Keyword Planner.
Instead, they estimate search volume based on actual user behavior.
One question remains: For how many searches does a keyword need to be optimized?
There is no minimum search volume required.
Every industry is completely different.
For example, in our niche (B2B), a keyword with a search volume of 25,000 per month is really high.
But in a B2C sector like fitness, 25,000 is nothing.
Therefore, we recommend choosing a keyword with relatively high search volume for your industry.
Then proceed to step 4.
Step #4: Assess earning potential
It's one thing for a keyword to have many search queries and low competition.
But the more important question is: Will this keyword generate revenue?
Here are two ways to find out:
"Top-of-page bid"
This is an estimate from Google of how much an advertiser typically spends on a single click.
It is referred to as the "first page bid" because the cost is to place your ad (and a click) at the top of Google's first page.
The higher the “Top-of-Page bid"The more valuable a keyword is, the greater its value."
(Also referred to as "commercial intent")
For example, an informative keyword like "writing tips" has an estimated bid of CHF 2.-.
On the other hand, a keyword with strong buyer intent, such as "Wordpress-Hosting" has an estimated bid of CHF 37,41.-.
(That's 18 times more than "writing tips")
We are not saying that you have to target search terms with a price of at least CHF 20 per click.
Instead, use commercial intent (along with search volume, competition, etc.) to find the best search terms for you.
Product Keyword Fit
The second element of earning potential is called "product-keyword fit".
Does this keyword have anything to do with what you sell?
The closer the keyword is to your product or service, the better the searcher can convert.
You don't always have to target search terms related to your sales.
For example:
Our website, MIK Group, is an SEO & SEA agency.
However, we ONLY target search terms like "SEO agency"Or"SEO Agency Zurich".
Instead, we primarily target search terms that our customers use when they are NOT looking for what we sell.
We create SEO-optimized content under these conditions.
For example, we rank in 1st position for the keyword "SEO agency Zurich".
Do we sell software that helps with SEO audits? No.
Do we offer SEO training? No.
But we know that people searching for "SEO agency" are in our target group.
And our content is a way to reach this valuable group.
Step #5: Estimate the organic CTR
This step is about finding out how many searchers actually click on the search results.
They estimate how many clicks result #1 will receive, result #2, etc.
But what most charts DON'T say is that search results are more crowded than ever before.
For example, Google now uses millions of featured snippets to give you an answer to your question… without you having to click on anything.
They also have more pictures, YouTubeVideos and other features that distract people from the organic results.
Search volume is helpful.
However, if Nobody clicks on the results.It doesn't matter how many people search for this term.
Therefore, you would like to obtain a rough estimate of the organic click-through rate.
Here's how:
Take a look at the SERPs
You only need to check the results on the first page of Google for your keyword.
If there's a lot of stuff on the first page, you know that a good portion of people will never SEE the organic results… no matter, click on them anyway.
For example, look at the term "life insurance".
There are 4 ads related to this subject area:
A large feature snippet:
And a field labelled "People are also asking":
All this before you even get to the first organic result!
That doesn't mean you should avoid this keyword.
At least it has a "top-of-page bid" of CHF 46,95.-:
However, there is something else to consider when selecting the best search terms from your list.
Ahrefs "clicks"
Ahrefs uses clickstream data to determine how many searchers actually click on something.
We still recommend looking at the search results.
However, with "clicks" you can filter out search terms that have an extremely low click-through rate.
Step #6: Select current keywords
Finally, it's time to see if the search terms on your list are trending upwards or downwards.
Obviously, you want to select search terms that are increasing in popularity.
This way, you can generate MORE traffic from these conditions over time.
Google Trends Your friend is here.
Set the date range to the last 5 years:
And look at that line.
If the popularity of a search term increases (or at least remains stable), this is a good sign.
If not, you might want to use a different search term.
