Google receives more than 1.2 billion search queries annually. This justifies the significant investment in resources, money, and effort that content marketers put into reaching their target audience. However, it is essential to focus on an essential factor to achieve this goal: keyword research. The correct choice of keywords can mark the difference between success and failure of a campaign.
What is Keyword Research?
Keywords are the bridge that connects users to the content they search for in search engines. Therefore, they are essential for attract organic traffic and for the creation of effective advertising campaigns. Keyword Research is a Investigation process and keyword analysis. With this method you can search for information on a certain topic, product or service.
Its main objective is to identify the most relevant and valuable keywords for a business or website. Their purpose is to use them in the creation of search engine optimized content (SEO). As well as in online advertising campaigns, such as Google Ads. To do this, various tools and techniques are used, such as competitor analysis. Trend research and the use of specialized tools, such as Google Keyword Planner or SEMrush, are also analyzed.
The result is a list of terms and phrases that will be used to optimize the content of a website. You can improve search engine positioning and/or create more effective advertising campaigns. In summary, Keyword Research is a fundamental process to improve the performance of any digital marketing strategy.
Step by step guide to learn how to research keywords
It is very likely that you are asking yourself these questions:
- What are people interested in my niche searching for?
- What are your most frequently asked questions?
- What do you like?
- What do they usually read?
- What type of content are they looking for?
Keywords are a valuable source of information on these aspects. They will help you better understand your audience's common searches. The objective is identify what they want and offer it to them.
Here is a step-by-step guide you can follow to discover keywords:
1) Start with what you know
Take a moment to create a list of all the terms that are related to your website. Don't worry about being too detailed. At this stage, we are only concentrating on collect the fundamental terms. Those that are known to the general public and are related to your business.
If you are developing a SaaS tool To help small businesses manage their expenses, you might consider terms like:
- Accounting for small businesses
- Expense record
- Tax returns
- Business income
- Billing
It's important to note that you don't need to overwhelm yourself by trying to find hundreds of terms right now. As you progress, you'll have the opportunity to expand your list in the future.
2) Go directly to the source with Google Suggest
Trying to compete for the top spots in organic searches for a broad term like “SaaS” will be a difficult task. It will likely require a significant investment of time or resources before you see results. Instead, you can explore more affordable opportunities in sub-niches using the search feature. Related Google Searches.
Simply go to Google and type a general keyword or key phrase into the search bar, but don't press “Enter.” Google will provide you with a list of suggestions based on popular queries people ask:
If you have the extension installed Keyword Keg Chrome, you will have access to Search volume and competition metrics for each key phrase. Your goal is to simplify the suggestions and create a list of keywords that meet two important criteria:
- Don't have too high competition.
- Have a search volume that is moderate or low.
Keywords that satisfy these criteria are best suited for ranking new websites that do not yet have a strong established SEO presence.
3) Use Google Trends to discover more basic terms
Google Trends It is an incredible tool that provides you with information about the popularity of a keyword. You can take advantage of it to check if the phrases you are using are gaining or losing relevance, allowing you to create relevant content on current topics. However, what may surprise you is that it is also a valuable source for discovering related keywords.
Simply enter your main topic in the search bar and scroll down to the “Related queries“. This will show you searches that users performed in addition to the one you entered, which can help you identify additional keywords:
4) Look at what your competitors are targeting
You probably want to simplify your keyword research, and that's understandable. Why not take a more direct route and find out what keywords your competitors are using and ranking for?
This strategy is extremely beneficial for two reasons:
- You can discover long tail search phrases that may not be detected by other keyword research tools but generate high quality traffic.
- Your competitors are not only researching keywords, but they are also adapting their strategy around them. By observing the end results of your efforts, you can gain valuable insight into theor what attracts or does not attract your audience shared, without directly taking risks.
Imagine your competitor is Semrush. All you have to do is enter the URL of your site in SpyFu, and you'll get a list of keywords we're ranking for, along with our positions in search results, search volume, and an estimate of monthly clicks:
Important note: Avoid directly copying everything you find here. Your competitors should serve as a source of inspiration, not a model to copy and paste. Instead, strive to add your personal touch to everything you do; This is the best way to create content that ranks well, rather than simply repeating the same material. Both Google and your audience will value originality more than repetition.
5) Investigate question queries
Searches in the form of questions usually offer fairly direct content ideas. Because? Understanding the questions people ask in your niche gives you valuable insight into the challenges they face.
Then you can tailor your content based on these queries to ensure you attract the right type of traffic from searches and help people move down your marketing funnel.
Here are two tools you can use to discover question-based keywords:
- AnswerThePublic. It is a free keyword research tool that tracks Google search suggestions, detects questions in them, and presents the results visually.
- Serpstat Question. Like AnswerThePublic, it uses Google's suggestions database to identify asked questions. In addition to this, this keyword research tool also analyzes the results and generates a list of related questions that you could incorporate into your editorial plan.
6) Listen to your customers
Listening to real people in your industry represents the most valuable source of inspiration.
This same principle applies to keyword research; Nothing will strengthen your content marketing team more than productive conversations with people who really interact with your direct audience on an ongoing basis. Sales departments have conversations with customers day in and day out. They understand your areas of vulnerability, goals and challenges better than anyone else and answer a huge number of questions every day.
7) Internal Google Analytics data
The keyword research process to improve your SEO is constant. You may have built an initial list of high-quality keywords when launching your website, but chances are there are numerous related phrases that you would never have initially considered.
It is at this point that Google Search Console It becomes an essential tool.
You can use the information you collect about your website visitors to identify the keywords they are using to find you. This can reveal a sub-niche that you may not have previously considered, while also helping you determine which specific sets of keyphrases are most beneficial for your site.
To get detailed information about the keywords related to your website, follow these steps:
- Sign in to your Google Search Console account.
- Access the performance report.
- Use the “Average Position” filter.
- Scroll down to see a list of the keywords your site is ranking for, along with their average position.
Thoroughly analyze this data and highlight search phrases where you would like to improve your rankings.
Doing extensive keyword research for SEO may not be the most exciting task, but the time you invest in it will be worth it when you achieve strong positions in the search results (SERP) and attract a constant flow of highly relevant visitors to your site. your website.
Your customers find answers to their problems, and you gain credibility by providing those solutions. It's a win-win situation for everyone.
