SEO has become a standard in the digital marketing world. However, it is not enough that you simply do it because many other businesses are also doing it. What will set you apart from the crowd will be a solid strategy designed for your objectives and ongoing efforts to maintain consistent results. Once you get started with SEO, one of the first practices you will learn about is keyword research for SEO. Knowing how to do this is essential to choosing the right keywords, which can directly affect your organic traffic and the type of users who visit your site.
With Google constantly updating its algorithm, you must know how to do keyword research strategically and correctly. You must understand how important keyword research is to your SEO strategy. Simply put, this process serves as the foundation for your on-page SEO since you base your content on your chosen keywords. Similarly, you get to understand your target audience’s behavior more thoroughly to answer their queries accurately.
If you are still not sure how to do keyword research or get started, here are some tips that can help you out.
Finding Keyword Ideas
The first thing you can do is brainstorm ideas on relevant topics you can write about based on what your target audience is searching for. A good starting point would be to answer questions like: What exactly does your business do, and what do you offer to customers? From there, you can generate a tentative shortlist of topics to look into.
Search for each of your topics on Google and check out the top-ranking pages and the “searches related to” at the bottom of the results page. You can even find competitor keywords and then see the top pages related to them.
The latter tells you what people are searching for, so you know what type of content to create. Google search predictions can also be helpful since these predictions are made based on popularity, indicating that many users search for them. Additionally, Reddit is another valuable source of keywords. Start by searching for a broad topic like “electronics”, then look for subreddits to find words and phrases that people use.
Using Keyword Tools
Finding keywords can be done without tools or software, but having these can make the process significantly easier. If you are just getting started, Google designed a Keyword Planner tool to help PPC advertisers. You can access it for free with a Google Ads account, and after opening the tool, you will see two main options: Discover new keywords and Get search volume and forecasts. The former can help you find new keywords by typing products or services related to your business. The latter will only be useful if you already have keywords since it gives you data like search volume and predictions on clicks and impressions.
Other keyword tools you can look into include Ahrefs, UberSuggest, SEMRush, and Google Search Console. However, not all tools are free and will thus require an investment. That said, investing in keyword tools will only be profitable if you use them effectively. Otherwise, you will not be able to maximize your returns.
Working with an agency can be helpful in that regard since they can help you learn keyword research with their many tools. SEO agencies have access to many tools and know how to use them strategically, so keyword research is a popular service for businesses looking for SEO assistance.
Author Bio: Ester Adams is a farmer of words in the field of creativity. She is an experienced independent content writer with a demonstrated history of working in the writing and editing industry. She is a multi-niche content chef who loves cooking new things.
