Insert the relevant keywords, and you will avail more search engine traffic…
Optimize your blog/ website keywords, and you will rank faster….
How many times have you gotten such pieces of advice when you are at your initial stage of SEO learning?
I guess this isn’t the first time you are hearing such things from people. The reason behind this is that Keywords play a significant role in your SEO. Utilizing the right keyword can either make or break your SEO strategy.
Although the term ‘Keyword’ is self-explanatory when it stands alone. But there is an utmost requirement of scrupulous understanding of this term and all of its potential. This term holds a significant place in the SEO world.
Table of Contents
What are Keywords?
Keywords are words or phrases of text that a user types into the search engine to discover new content or get answers to the questions. In SEO, Keywords are the words that ‘businesses’ will specifically target and help the users to find your website via search engines. Keywords are also known as search terms. It could be one or more than one word. These keywords act as a gateway that leads people to organic search results and to the website where they find relevant results matching their search. People make use of different dialect keywords while searching for their content.
What is Keyword Research?
Keyword research is a core SEO task. This is the process of identifying and analyzing actual search terms that people enter into their search engines for conducting their searches. These keywords act as a guide in informing content strategy, as well as your broader marketing strategy. The keywords must be the words/phrases that summarises the content on your website or page. They should be common, industry-specific, having high search volume and search intent that drives search traffic to the search engine result page. The main motive of this research is to optimize content around those keywords and stay high-up in Google ranking for these keywords.
Why is Keyword Research crucial for SEO?
Keyword research impacts every other SEO task you perform, including searching content topics, outreach and promotion. The keywords act as a compass to your SEO campaign. It will direct you in choosing the direction and ensure you whether or not you’re making progress. As a perk, researching keywords help you to figure out the desires and thoughts of your target market. Understanding your searcher intent beforehand is the pivotal factor that leads to successful google keyword research as well as contributes in ranking well on search engines.
Essential Concepts of Keyword Research
Before you begin with keyword research, here are some crucial concepts that you must go through. These concepts will provide a broader understanding of every step you will perform.
Search Volume
Search Volume represents the number of searches conducted for a particular keyword on google during a chosen time frame. The popular metric used for denoting the number of searches is the average monthly search volume. The higher the search volume for a given keyword or phrase, the higher the ranking of the content.
Long-tail Keywords
Long-tail Keywords are specific terms containing four or more words which state about consumer’s interest and intent. The more specific keyword you will insert in your content, the more you become qualified for customers visiting your site. Massive long-tail keywords in a single content can be a good source for additional traffic.
Keyword Strategy
Keyword Strategy contains every decision you make based on your keyword research. These decisions will consist of What content are you going to create? How will you publish it? Will you draft a piece of writing, video, infographics or product page? All these decisions define your keyword strategy.
Search Intent
Search Intent is the key to successful keyword research. Once you discover what a searcher is looking for, your content is ready to achieve high ranking. By comprehending the intent, your focus is not only on keywords but also on the underlying goals of the searcher. If your content provides a solution to the searcher’s problem, you are halfway down.
Also, here is the Youtube video that you can stream for a better understanding of these concepts with relevant instances:
How to perform the Keyword Research?
Now, you have understood the concept of keyword research and are aware of the titbits, here is the guide that will educate you with a step-by-step process to perform Keyword research.
And I guarantee that the tactics and methods provided below will definitely improve your ranking from Google.
Determine your mission
Analyzing your mission is the first step for performing the research. Your purpose should have answers to various questions like What is the primary goal of your business? What makes it exceptional than others? Who is your target audience? And, final one what promises do you intend to make through your website? If your mission is answerable to these questions, you have successfully moved one step ahead in your keyword strategy.
Your business and market will define whether your mission is compatible enough to rank high. The service or product you offer should make you stand out from the competition. For instance, you plan to sell cruises in Hawaii. These cruises provide all facilities for children, making them suitable, especially for young parents. This attracts the customer and makes your product sell quickly in the market.
This way, you can invest in your mission when launching into a competitive market. Determine your mission beforehand to attract the audience.
Make a list of relevant keywords
The next step is to fill your bucket with keywords. Keep your mission in mind and try to analyze the mind of your target audience. What will these people be looking for? What search terms they might be using in their searching process? Which of their problems will be resolved with your product?
For instance, your company is using marketing automation technology and you want to be highlighted on its basis. You would brainstorm some keywords that people would type related to the term. These can be marketing automation tools lists, lead nurturing, email marketing automation, and so on.
Put down as many answers as possible. If the mission is clear, you will have a clear image of the niche. Now, these are the terms you want to be searched for.
Conduct keyword research
Now, you’ve a set of keywords, it is the time to dive deeper into your keywords. Luckily, there are many keyword research tools which makes your task a bit easier.
The very first is Google itself. Everyone is aware of how to search for keywords in google. Type down your keywords in the google search box and evaluate the searches Google suggests while you’re typing. Unfortunately, google suggests limited terms. You can use many other options available. Google Keyword Planner is another free keyword research tool that assists you in narrowing down on the right direction for your search terms. In the end of this blog, there are complete guiding points available on how to sign up and use this SEO keyword research tool.
Identify long-tail keywords
When people begin with keyword research, they focus on head terms. Large businesses usually take these head terms. So, the emphasis should be on Long-tail keywords. Although the search traffic will be less but less competition too. Therefore, it becomes easy for you to achieve high ranking on those keywords.
For instance, if your website published content about cricket equipment reviews, employing long-tail keywords like “ which is the best cricket bat brand?” will attract more audience than seed keywords like “ cricket bat brand”.
Although long-tail keywords receive fewer clicks, since they provide information about a single product, they have a high conversion rate.
Study the search intent
Whenever someone enters a search query into a search engine, they are on a quest of something. Every question of an audience needs a specific answer. The SEO strategies should always revolve around finding a solution to a problem. Try to find out the intent of an audience. Put yourself into your audience shoes and answer every question from their perspective.
Once you have a crystal clear idea of your searcher’s intent, you will be able to calibrate your keyword research. Getting high-volume keywords is great, but discovering keywords that directly match to your audience search intent is even better.
Analyze the competition
The most important factor that provides a lead to your keyword research is competition. Doing keyword research for your product is not enough. Analysing what your competitors are up to will give you an edge over it. The better you comprehend your competitors’ activities, the better it will be for your SEO efforts.
Research upon the keywords you find through your search. Have a look over the search engine result page (SERP) to learn about the website you’re competing against. Once you’ve a clear insight about it, you can create better SEO strategies and good content.
Doing keyword research is a monotonous and daunting task, but it pays off well in the long run.
Now, you’ve clearly understood the concept of keywords research and even how to do the right research, it’s the time to know about the Google Keyword Planner Tool.
Luckily, it’s a free keyword research tool that allows you to search new keyword ideas relevant to your product, service or target audience. Also, it will show you a search volume for these keywords, so that you can decide which to employ into your content.
Here are some quick steps to follow to set up your account and get some serious SEO value from Google Keyword Planner Tool. Who knows? There may be even some interesting hacks to receive exact search volume and that too for free..
Let’s start with the basics.
How to set up a Google ad account?
- Visit the URL: https://ads.google.com/intl/en_IN/home/
- Click on Get Started.
- Enter your Gmail Credentials.
(Pro Tip: When you enter your credentials, it automatically creates an Express Account. The keyword planner is not available for express accounts. To access the free keyword tool, you have to follow the below-mentioned steps.) - Click on “Switch to Expert Mode”.
(Pro Tip: Now, you are asked to set up an AdWords Campaign. You can access this tool without running a campaign.) - Click on the “Create an account without a campaign”.
- Confirm your business information.
(Pro Tip: Google won’t ask you for credit card details) - Hit the “Explore your account” link.
- Finally, click on Tools and Settings option and choose Keyword Planner.
Pro Tip: Also, if you want to unlock an accurate number of average monthly search volume and don’t want to spend a single penny, you have to click on Tools and Settings ? Billing ? Billing Settings ? Enter Billing Information ? Create a new campaign and keep it in Pause Mode.
Doing this will enable you to access the exact search volume for your SEO Keywords.
You now have access to the Google Keyword Planner Tool.
Now let’s learn how to use this free google keyword research tool.
How to use Google Keyword Planner?
Google Keyword Planner Tool provides you with two options to get started:
- Discover new keywords: Get keywords ideas relevant to your niche, business, product or service that can help interested people to reach. You can start with a keyword or website URL. For instance, if your institute provides a digital marketing course, you can type keywords like, “Digital Marketing Course”.
- Get search volume and forecasts: Have a look at search volume and other statistics for your keyword as well as forecasts about their future positioning.
Here is the quick guide on how to use the free keyword research tool.
- Now once you’ve entered keywords or inserted the URL, google will then kick back you some keyword suggestions.
(Pro Tip: You are allowed to enter more than one keyword or phrase. Ten seed keywords or phrases can be entered at a single time.)
- Choose the suitable keywords based on average monthly searches and competition.
Also, these keywords can be searched based on your location, language, and date and time.
Google Keyword Planner Tool is an effective tool which must be integrated into your keyword research workflow. This free keyword tool will provide valuable insights into the relevant keywords. Although, it has few limitations it has all the options to provide you with a clear image of the SEO world.
To master in SEO, you may join a digital marketing course and learn all the modulations related to it. Learn all the titbits of SEO and let your business achieve massive growth in future.
