Although Google keeps changing its algorithm now and then, one thing that has remained consistent for inbound marketers looking to optimise their websites is keyword research.
Keywords are the foundation of SEO, and without them, your marketing efforts will be futile. So, how do you find the right keywords for your content? In this blog post, we will be sharing with you our comprehensive guide on how to do keyword research for SEO.
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What is keyword research?
Keyword research is the process of finding, analyzing, and comparing search terms that customers enter into search engines.
The data collected from this exercise helps marketers understand the language that their customers use when searching for products, services, or content. It also helps uncover queries to target their popularity and their ranking.
How to research keywords for your SEO strategy
To establish and execute a strong keyword strategy, here is a three-step process that you can use.
1. Think about your prospects and customers
Put yourself in the shoes of your buyer personas and think about the type of topics that they would search for to find your business. For example, if your company sells marketing software, then your prospective clients most probably search for topics like SEO, email marketing, social media marketing, blogging, lead generation, etc. These topics are the foundation of your keyword research process, and they are important in defining your niche.
Next, write down a list of problems and challenges that your target customer is trying to solve and how your products and services can be of use to them. This will help you come up with keyword phrases that people are most likely to use when searching for your products.
2. Run a keyword search
Once you’ve established your seed keywords, you’ll need to run a keyword search to further refine your search terms. This will help you get a wider perspective for your content without getting too bogged down with keywords. The best way to do this is by using keyword research tools such as Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, and SEM Rush.
Google Keyword Planner is the most popular research tool in the market. It is free to use, and it is also smart enough to show you keyword ideas that don’t necessarily contain your seed keywords. All you have to do is type in a seed keyword into the search box and it will generate a list of alternative keywords, including those containing questions and prepositions.
3. Sort through the results and choose your keywords
Keyword research tools generate hundreds of keywords at a time, so you must sort through the results to find the most suitable ones for your SEO strategy. To do this, you need to understand how user intent affects keyword research and analyze it accordingly.
Keywords have different meanings, so you need to be very careful how you interpret the keywords you target. For example, the keyword ‘blog’ can refer to a blog post or the website itself. Therefore, when writing an article about how to start a blog, understanding the searcher’s intent will influence the direction of your content. If you are unsure what a user’s intent is in a keyword, enter the keyword into a search engine to see what type of results come up.
One of the other things you have to consider when picking your keywords is the metrics. Look for keywords with decent volume and low to medium competition, especially if your business is new and you are just getting started with SEO. If you plan on using other marketing methods such as CPC, it is worth considering the CPC bid price of a keyword before settling on it.
Speak to an SEO consultant
Challis Marketing provides B2B companies with SEO marketing services that help companies achieve traffic growth and their lead generation objectives. For more information about our services, please get in touch with us today.