Would you believe it if we told you that 93% of all online experience starts with a search engine? Amazing, right? That figure just goes to show how important search engine optimization or SEO is for any online marketing campaign. And what’s the foundation of all SEO strategies? The answer is keywords! Without the right keywords, nobody will be able to find your website. If no one is interested in or searching for what you are writing about, then you won’t get any traffic from search engines like Google. That is why keyword research is the first and most important part of your SEO strategy.
What is Keyword Research?
Keyword research is a process that involves identifying suitable high-volume search terms that people enter into Google and other search engines and strategically include them in your content to gain higher rankings in search engine results pages. However, finding high-volume search terms is not the end. You also need to do some keyword analysis to make sure that the potential keywords that will be used in your content would match with your brand and your product or service and are relevant to your customers. Only after thorough keyword research and keyword analysis will you be able to start moving forward in creating an SEO strategy.
How to Do Keyword Research for SEO?
Now that you know how important keyword research is for any SEO strategy, it’s time to know how to do keyword research for SEO. To help you, we have compiled 5 easy steps you can start with in doing your keyword research.
Start Listing Down Possible Keywords
Of all people, you probably know the ins and outs of your business the most as well as what your business offers to your customers. As such, you probably have an idea what terms they might enter when they’re searching for you. Because of the change in how Google handles search queries, which is now more intent-oriented, it is important, aside from having broad keywords, for you to think about and incorporate keywords that are more specifically connected to your individual product and informative content. This makes your website and pages not only broad enough to reach a lot of people but also more targeted to reach those looking for specific products and services.
Try Looking for Keywords in Auto-Suggest
Another good step to do in keyword research is to try searching in Google yourself. Input the keywords that you have initially thought of and see what would come up in auto-suggest. These auto-suggest keywords are usually the new trends in the market and what people are currently interested in. You can also click these auto-suggestions to find out what type of content is associated with these keywords. And, if you don’t have any content yet regarding these keywords, you should consider writing about them immediately.
Look Out for Your Competitors
Any good marketing strategy, whether traditional or online, is not just about yourself. One good way to know if your SEO strategy is working is by checking out the competition. Are your search engine results ranking better than your competitors? What keywords do they use and do they bring in traffic to their websites? These are just some of the questions that you need answered. Luckily, there are a lot of online tools that you can use to help you see the keywords of your known competitors as well as their ranking compared to yours.
Don’t Forget to Consult Your Customers
For you to succeed in keyword research, you need to know the perspective of your customers. And there is no better way to do this than to ask for their feedback regarding stuff like what they searched for online when looking for your business. This step does not need to be so formal. In fact, you could start meaningful conversations with your customers that will not only help in keyword research but also in building brand loyalty.
Check Out Google’s Keyword Planner
After you are done with identifying possible keywords from the steps above, it’s now time to refine your search terms through free keyword research tools. One example of this would be Google’s Keyword Planner. It gives you the approximated search volume of the keywords that you have chosen, including its monthly search frequency and cost-per-click pricing among others. Aside from Google’s Keyword Planner, there are also other free keyword research tools that will even give you more details and additional ideas on possible related keywords.
Once you’ve done all of these steps, you should have narrowed down the list of keywords to the most important ones and you can now proceed to crafting an effective SEO strategy.
If you need help in choosing the right keywords to kickstart your SEO campaign, Advanced Digital Media Services can offer you professional help from some of the best marketers in the industry! All you need to do is get in touch with us by filling out the form below!
