The Value and Process of Keyword Research
How to Do Keyword Research
If you’re looking to improve the rankings of your website, one of the best ways to do it is to do keyword research. The process involves searching for keywords that your target audience is using. It’s a great way to get a feel for what your potential customers are looking for, and it can help you brainstorm content ideas. You may have already decided on a topic, but doing keyword research can help you identify what people are searching for.
Getting the right keywords is the first step to an effective SEO strategy. By targeting the correct keywords, you’ll increase your chances of capturing the attention of potential customers before they know you’re there. Having the right keywords for your site will also make reaching your target audience easier, which can help you increase your sales.
You can find many free tools to help you do keyword research. For example, Google Trends is a good place to start. This tool is handy because it can show you not only which terms are being searched most, but how many people are searching for them.
Another helpful tool is Ahrefs’ Site Explorer. This tool can reveal which search phrases are most popular, and how long people stay on the page. When you do keyword research, it’s important to consider the different stages of a consumer’s buying cycle. A perfect match will compel a consumer to spend more time on your site, which could lead to more conversions.
To do keyword research, you’ll need a reliable tool. There are many free tools, but you can also find an excellent tool like Conductor’s Keyword Research Platform. In addition to helping you uncover industry-specific keywords, the platform offers analytics, content suggestions, and other features designed to maximize your digital presence.
Before you begin, you should decide on a clear set of goals. You can have a short-term goal, such as ranking for a particular keyword, or a long-term goal, such as creating a blog that gets a lot of traffic. While these are all good and important goals, achieving them will not happen overnight.
However, you’ll want to put in the time and effort to do the most effective and accurate keyword research. Ultimately, the best way to achieve these goals is to focus on plugging the aforementioned gaps in your market. Doing this will help you rank higher in the SERPs and bolster your business’s overall reputation and increase your chances of a pre-existing interest in your products and services.
A keyword research tool can help you get started, and a little testing and tweaking can help you get the results you want. The most important part of the process will help you discover what your target audience is looking for. And, in the end, that’s the best thing you can do for your business.
Keywords are just that – words are the key your online customers will use to reach your website. Choosing a descriptive spectrum of keywords for search engines is crucial to your website’s success. While online research tools for keyword choice are helpful, creative thinking is the greatest weapon in your arsenal.
Your first step is to brainstorm. What is your niche? When the general public hears of your business, what mental images come to mind? Simple phrases, general topics, tools, and implements used in your trade – can all trigger a response in the search engine arena. Create a list – a long list. You may wish to avoid or keep to a minimum of one-word keywords, as they may prove too generic and will have little effect on your rankability. The traffic that they generate may not convert, and conversions count.
If you already have a website, take its temperature. Use your preferred analytics tool to process site traffic over the past few months. What have been the keywords searched that led to inbound traffic from search engines? What pages on your site get the most attention?
By researching these two elements, you can add to your growing keyword list and continue to refine its categories. You can also assess your site visitors and where their primary interest(s) lies.
Don’t be afraid to lurk. Do your research on your research! Google your industry. Check out your competition. What are they ranking for? Just as valuable for what works well, check out what doesn’t. You want to find “pain points”. Remind yourself that whenever someone purchases something, it is usually because they want to solve a particular problem. What problem is your audience trying to solve? This is where you can get more specific.
Perhaps you own a bakery. What do you wish to emphasize in your advertising? Do you offer gluten-free options? Do you specialize in wedding cakes or German pastries? Do you deliver? All of these items would be outstanding search terms for your keyword keyring.
Start pooling keywords like these together into different categories. Categories help you organize your keywords, so you can create silos of content later on. Once you have categorized sets of keywords, you can start building pages and developing specific content for your website. Each category of keywords could potentially be a new page on your site. That means you are mastering keyword research, thinking of SEO, and starting a content plan all in one!
Be mindful to prioritize your keywords based on user intent. Think about what search terms come from the highest-value traffic. Look at your pool of prioritized keywords and try to decipher where on a buying journey the customer might be. Cross-check your newly chosen prioritized keywords with each category’s competition once more, to know what you will be up against.
Remember that your work with keyword research is never done. You will continually want to measure your site performance based on keyword use and adjust your strategy to pursue better outcomes. Consistently make an effort to evaluate your process and make adjustments that help you pursue goals and push growth. When you take the time to do phenomenal keyword research, you are much better prepared to deliver content to your audience consistently and effortlessly.