Keyword Research for SEO: The Optimal Guide

Keyword Research 

Keyword planning research is a long-term Search Engine Optimization task of identifying, analyzing, and optimizing the words and phrases users type into search engines. You'll identify queries to focus on in your content campaigns and see how your pages rank for those queries over time. Then, use this data to build better landing pages that will leave a lasting impression on your visitors. 

How to Find Keyword Ideas? 

• Studying your niche 

Having relevant keyword planning befitting the Industry/Niche is crucial. Use free resources for the best keyword research for your business niche.  

Discover what people are searching for by using a web-based keyword explorer tool. After you have identified your niche and niche-specific keywords, it's time to do some research to see how competitive these words and phrases are. 

• Competitor Analysis 

Competitor keyword research helps you better understand your competitors, products, and marketing tactics. Conducting a competitive analysis can help you determine your major competitors, outshine them, and capture more market share. 

To stay ahead of your competitors in organic search, the best way to start your keyword research is to understand your competitors' targeting terms and audience's interests. The easiest way of keyword planning is to understand your audience is through social media, Google Alerts, SEMrush, etc. 

Some of the many benefits of Competitor analysis include — 

1. Identifying Market Gaps  

2. Identifying your product's unique value proposition  

3. Marketing Trends — Don't let your brand settle for the bare minimum. 

4. Marketing Benchmark – A benchmark against which you can measure your growth. 

The Best Keyword Research Tools        

• Google Keyword Planner

Google Keyword Planner is a FREE keyword tool that gives users an idea of the relative search volumes for specific seed keywords for the website and information about a variety of related keywords and concepts. It can help in keyword planning by identifying optimal PPC Value (the cost per click) and Quality Score (the quality of the ad).  

From there, you have a few different ways to use this information: You can test out the effectiveness of new keyword planning using Google AdWords or AdSense. Using AdWords, you can then adjust your campaign based on these insights. 

• Google Trends

Google Trends is a keyword research tool that assists you in identifying trends in the field and interest in these topics has evolved in the past. Google Trends is a free tool that analyzes the most popular search terms on Google Search across various regions and languages.  

Google Trends helps with keyword planning by identifying the popularity of KW over time, regional, and in terms of its relative popularity. Moreover, it aids in analyzing seasonality or changes in the popularity of keywords. These can easily be detected using google trends and filtering the KW's popularity. 

• SEMrush

SEMrush is a comprehensive toolbox that you may personalize to help better comprehend marketing insights by combining various data and increasing your web exposure. SEM rush is useful for optimizing existing efforts, but it is also useful for developing new SEO or PPC initiatives. 

Simply type in a term or phrase to see the search volume, difficulty, average cost per click, keyword variations and related keywords. You may determine whether the keyword is the one you want to battle for or whether a different variation of the keyword would be a better fit by looking at this data. 

1. Find out the volume of searches and the level of competition for any keyword planning.  

2. Utilize the SERP Features report to get a broad picture of SERPs for the keywords you’re focusing on. 

3. Use this Advertising Research report to get information on the ad campaigns of competitors' copies, CPC, and positions.  

4. Enhance your keyword planning by exploring competitors' strategies using Keyword Gap. 

• Ahrefs Webmaster Tools

Conduct a competitor analysis to find content gaps. You can enter competing sites into the Ahrefs webmaster content keyword planning tool. Find a list of keywords that rivals rank. But then what? 

Ahrefs webmaster can help you find thousands of keywords to rank for, but your competitors don't have a stake. 

1. The tool provides suggestions for keyword planning and traffic estimations closely linked with the initial "keywords" that you input.  

2. To make use of Ahrefs, plug some competing domains in the top portion, then copy and paste your website into the bottom area and press "Show the keywords."  

3. You'll be presented with an extensive list of key phrases with low competition and a high volume of search results on Google.   

How to Analyze and Choose the Best Keywords 

Selecting the appropriate targeted keywords is among the most critical steps in a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy. A well-chosen keyword planning can bring targeted traffic to your website, boosting your business's growth. Although you may think of the ideal terms for your business, however, the results may be a surprise to you. 

• Gain insights on which keywords your competitors rank for 

1. Audit the competitor's website using the Screaming Frog tool.  

2. Run a Google search including your main keywords to see who is ranking on the first page of Google.  

3. Use Excel to create a list of your competitor's keywords.  

4. Sort through, find keywords and add any that are relevant to you.  

5. Use your competitors' landing pages for each of those keywords as inspiration for new pages on your site. 

Remember, the most effective SEO competitor analysis begins by understanding your site's content more than anyone else. Before you begin to look into the keyword research of your competitors, examine your current content, product pages, and the site's infrastructure with tools that are based on data, such as Google Analytics. 

• Uncovering search volume 

If you're looking to rank organically using keyword search volume, create content that people are eager to learn about and educate them on what they're looking for online.  

Examine your monthly search volumes (MSV) for the keywords you've selected and ensure they're more than zero. Next, select the most popular keyword planning so you can naturally incorporate it into your article. 

Monthly search volume (MSV), also known as the number of times a keyword or query is used by search engines every month, will give you information about what people are searching for. 

• Keyword Difficulty 

Keyword Difficulty (KD) is a number between 0 and 100. A higher value represents more difficulty in keyword ranking for these keyword suggestions, and lower values are easier. For example, anything over 50 can be considered tough, whereas anything under 30 should be relatively easy. 

Competitiveness in keyword planning is a really important aspect of keyword research. The most competitive keywords will require a lot of backlink efforts to get any SERP ranking. These are usually short tail, low search volume keywords that have existed for a long time as google keywords (for example: "how to make salsa"). It would help if you avoided these in your keyword planning.  

On the other hand, the least competitive keywords usually won't get much traffic (for example: "how to make salsa with cilantro and mango). These too can be avoided. But some keywords are just right! Keyword difficulty values in the range of 30-70% showed higher search volumes but low competition - and there's a good chance your page will rank for these! Choose wisely! 

• Seasonal Keywords 

Seasonal keywords are those that are searched for during specific seasons. For instance, at the beginning of the year, many users will be looking for information regarding the NFL playoffs, Valentines' Day gifts, and, especially, the Super Bowl. Or in December Christmas and New Year gifts. There can be a temporary online craze during the Olympics or the world cup.   

SEO keyword research needs to modify to include relevant, interesting keyword planning. The reach and relevance are short-term in the case of seasonal keywords, but they give your site a significant performance boost! Though these words could hinder your efforts to meet your long-term SEO objectives. This keyword research is pretty rewarding for you to give a shot! 

• Regional Keywords 

Regional keywords refer to search terms that are unique to a specific location.  

1. Utilize Google Trends, for example, to determine if "cab" as opposed to "taxi" will be the most popular word in a particular region.  

2. Focus on industry-related keywords.  

3. When conducting a locally-based google keyword search, you should focus on the keywords related to your industry. Include modifiers in the keyword planning.  

4. Optimize your website for your city or area as indicated in your address for business.  

5. Find nearby cities and neighborhoods. Include the phrase "near me" in situations where it is appropriate.  

6. Analyze competition in every keyword planning. 

Regional keyword planning is essential if you are a local business owner, it can boost your brand’s search visibility exponentially. 

How to target keywords 

• Identifying the Search Intent          

Have you ever Googled something only to find that it was not the information you were looking for?  

This is because your intent to search wasn't the same as the intent behind the page's content. Keyword planning is tricky! Search Intent Marketing can improve SEO and drive targeted traffic for your site. Optimized content on your page and easy navigation are crucial to success. 

Find keyword search that matters. The reason for a search is the motive for a user's search inquiry. It's how users frame their queries and what they want the outcomes to look like. Understanding the user's intentions will help them locate information more quickly, which will improve their user experience. Make this scansion a part of your keyword planning and ace ahead! 

The past was when marketers were focused on their audience's intent as they created primers on psychological and sociographic characteristics. Today, with Google RankBrain, marketers must improve their online marketing campaigns to include keywords aligned with the intent of the search to get to the right audience. 

• Content-Type 

​​A crucial step in finding keyword ideas is to align content with the tone of the keywords in the keyword planning. First, you'll want to ensure the keywords you use are relevant to your business and aligned with searcher intent. Then, you'll want to craft your content around the targeted theme of your keyword planning. Finally, focus on providing an answer as comprehensive as possible without rambling or deviating from the topic. 

Conclusion 

Content on your website that is pillared is a great option to accomplish both simultaneously, avoiding duplicate content should be a vital practice. This kind of content backed by google keyword research must be thorough and include every aspect of the subject in question. The objective is to give people enough value to share it with others which will allow you to develop links, traffic, and credibility over time.