How to Do Keyword Research (Things to Consider)

Today, SEO is inevitable in the digital world. If you want to make money on the internet, you must know how to do SEO or have enough budget to hire a professional SEO team. SEO includes many things in itself. There is much to do, from getting quality backlinks to creating unique content. Yet, one of the most crucial parts of SEO, and maybe the most important, is keyword research. Keywords are the key to success in SEO. Without them, all of your work would be useless. That is why many people wonder how to search for keywords.

Searching for keywords is quite easy, thanks to research tools. However, before you start your research, it is essential to know what you are looking for. It is possible to find many keywords for your topic, but you have to analyze these keywords to use them the way you want and get the maximum benefit. We will mention some of the best ways to do keyword research based on the choices of the professionals. 

Why Is Keyword Research Important?

Keywords are the cornerstone of SEO strategies. A part of organic traffic will come from the keywords that you use. The keywords help search engine bots decide where to display your website on the search engine results page. Therefore, when you use fewer words than your competitors, it is inevitable that your competitors will get ahead. In addition, the best way to get rich snippets or to answer different types of searches would be to give specific answers to questions using words related to your industry.

How to Find Keywords

Before researching, it is important to be productive because you will need to research a specific word or phrase to do research. When following a strategy, this process will be straightforward when you need to do keyword research.

• Brainstorming
• Competitor Analysing
• Search on Search Engines
• Create Keyword Research Checklist

Brainstorming

After determining a topic, you should put yourself in your customers’ shoes. You can imagine how you will search on Google if you need to search about your topic. You can research these words by taking note of the words and phrases that come to your mind.

Competitor Analysing

Of course, your content must be original. However, there is no harm in checking your competitor’s keywords and using some of them. The best way to analyze the competitor’s keywords is using keyword tools. You can create your sub-headings accordingly by examining which words the page related to your topic receives traffic from. In addition, it is possible to find new topics for your content.

Search on Search Engines

You hear not wrong; it is so simple, right? Just searching on search engines about your topic. Especially you can analyze the rich snippets, FAQs, and relevant searches. They can give many clues about which keywords are the best for your chosen topic.

Create Keyword Research Checklist

Following a certain strategy when searching or analyzing keywords saves you from starting over every time. That’s why you can create a keyword research checklist and use this checklist every time you need to research a keyword. There is no doubt that you should change or develop your strategy sometimes; however, it will guide you in any way.

Things to Consider When Doing Keyword Research

Keyword research is an extremely important thing to do when it comes to search engine optimization. But why keyword choice in search engine optimization is that important to the point it affects your website in a good way or a bad way, depending on your choices? One of the most important things about  SEO keyword research for your website is knowing what type of audience you will target. When you decide which keyword will represent your target audience, doing keyword research will determine the correct keywords and the type of audience you have decided is using that keyword. 

In the process of keyword research, this is not the only thing to consider when you implement it into your website. There are two important things when it comes to keyword research: 

Determine Your Target

Before you search for keywords, you have to ask yourself your objectives. Determining your objectives is not only for keyword research. When starting a marketing campaign, digital or not, every marketer should research their objectives to develop a strategy. 

You have your product or service ready, but who will buy it? The target audience is the most important factor before creating a marketing strategy. When it comes to keywords, it is not very different. Focusing on the keywords that your target audience is searching for can save you time, and you can achieve success more quickly. 

So consider your target audience’s approach to your products and services and decide your keywords this way. You can also develop a SWOT analysis for your product to make a better decision as a team. 

Another important point is whether your object is a local plan or not. If you have more of a local plan, you must narrow your research and focus on your niche. 

Keyword Types

Each keyword has a search volume. If you use a research tool, you will see that there are keywords that have a massive volume number. You may think using these keywords will be great for your website to rank higher, but is it? 

Competition Keywords

Keyword types vary according to your business field. Yet, the keywords with the highest volume are not always the best option. The ranking gets harder when using a keyword with a high volume because so many other websites use the same keyword. These are competition keywords. In these cases, ranking higher with lower-volume keywords would be easier. It is basically narrowing down to your niche. That is why you have to be careful when choosing a keyword.

Long-Tail Keywords 

When narrowing it down to your niche, you must use a long-tail keyword. Long-tail keywords are usually longer than one word, as you can guess from the name. They have less volume than popular keywords. They help get higher rankings with them easier if you select wisely. Long-tail keywords answer the specific question, and it helps get rich snippets. In addition, they are the best for voice searches.

Seasonal Keywords

Some keywords get higher volume according to the season. Using these keywords will be very handy if your business offers seasonal products or services. For example, the word ‘airbed’ can get a higher volume when summer comes and the swimming season starts. It can be said for specific days and holidays as well. 

Regional Keywords

With SEO tools, you can do keyword research specific to a location. For example, Google Keyword Planner is a good choice for this. If you have a local business, for example, a cafe or carwash, it is better for you to do research for regional keywords. 

You can use regional keywords for your Google My Business account if you have one. In fact, the importance of regional keywords should not be underestimated. If your local business can show up in the local queries, it means that you are getting somewhere. Yet, when your business ranks first in these queries, you are the most successful. This way, you can even get the chance to promote your business outside of your area and expand your borders. 

Monthly Search Volume  

If you want to maintain your keyword research successfully for your website’s sake, you have to determine the correct keywords you chose for the audience you have targeted before. You need to know if these ‘’correct’’ keywords have above-average search traffic to make them provide you with new visitors for your website. However, there are some important things to know related to Monthly Search Volume: 

Competitive 

In the world of competition, there are popular keywords considered competitive keywords, and there are also opposite keywords that are unhelpful for your website. Your job here is to determine which keyword for the website you are aiming for will be more important to you. But do not forget the fact that choosing the most popular keywords will not always help you grow your website, so you need to choose the average keyword for your website. 

Trend 

If you want to observe if the popularity of the keyword you chose for your website is increasing or decreasing, you might want to use Google Trends. Google Trends will help you to find another keyword if your previous keyword is not popular anymore. 

Variations 

Adding more keywords with synonyms for your website will be helpful for your website. Not every user will search the same keyword, so adding new combinations will be useful for your website’s future. 

Relevancy 

In the process of keyword research, adjusting your website’s content and products related to the keyword you chose is a must. This is the main reason for you to attract more relevant audiences to your website to increase the rankings of your website. If you want to work on your website’s relevancy, you might want to see other important things about keyword relevancy: 

Optimization 

Your keyword relevancy requires attention. You have to optimize your website for your website’s SEO keyword research and make sure to optimize your website to catch up to trends. 

Quality 

What makes your content more valuable is how informative and engaging it can get. You need to create your website’s content based on how it engages the users while it corresponds to your keyword relevancy. 

Long-Tail Keywords 

Long-Tail Keyword refers to a more popular keyword, and as the name suggests, it has three or more words. These types of keywords are the source of attraction for your website because they are often used by users.  

Search Intent

When people search for something on the internet, they have different intentions. It is better that we know those intentions to get the right keywords for our web pages.

Informational Queries

One of the most common and popular queries is informational searches. These are searches made for learning the answers to questions. For example, searches starting with ‘how to’ are very popular, and keywords that include those questions can be very successful. 

Direct or Navigational Queries

In this type of query, people usually want to visit a page on the internet they know. It can be websites, social media platforms, etc. 

Transactional Queries

In this case, people only search for plane, train, or bus tickets by typing their directions. For example, New York to Barcelona. When searchers do this, they let the search engine suggest alternative ways to get where they want. If your business is about travel, finding the right keywords can help you when people make these types of queries. 

Commercial Queries

These types of queries can be for shopping or B2B actions. For example, ‘vacuum cleaner prices’ can be a commercial query. Again, if your business sells products with fixed prices, your choice of keywords can put you in the right place for these queries in Google searches. 

Analyze the Keyword

When you find a keyword, you must analyze it. You can use a tool for analyzing and tracking the keyword. Therefore, learning many data such as keyword difficulty, volume, traffic potential, and global volume is possible. In addition, while analyzing a keyword, you can explore other relevant search terms that are ranked. Analyzing keywords allows one to understand whether wasting time on a keyword makes sense.

Keyword Research for SEM

Until now, we have mentioned the things to consider when doing keyword research for SEO. Well, search engine marketing (SEM) is not very different. However, there is something extra: the cost per click (CPC). Some SEO tools, such as Ahrefs, help you see the related keywords’ CPC. If you are going to start an ad campaign on Google Ads, then this type of research is what you need. These tools will save you time during keyword research because they suggest keywords along with their CPC. So, two birds, one stone. 

Tools for Keyword Research

There are alternative SEO tools that you can search for keywords for your content. Let’s look at some of the best tools to help you. 

Ahrefs

Ahrefs is a great tool for finding keywords. It is especially useful for finding out the keywords of your competitors. You can use the Site Explorer feature of Ahrefs to see the organic keywords of your competitors.

You can also use the Keywords Explorer feature to search and discover new keywords and their volume and CPC values. 

SEMRush

SEMRush is a tool that is heavily focused on keywords. Just like Ahrefs, it shows certain keywords’ volume and CPC value. You can use its Keyword Magic Tool feature to discover keywords related to your search. Or you can use the SEO Content Template feature to find the competitors’ keywords.

This feature also includes the average text length of your competitor’s web pages. It is pretty helpful when it comes to creating organic content. 

Google Keyword Planner

Since we are looking for keywords to rank higher on Google, the search engine helps us find what we need. If you are in the business of SEM, you can search for keywords when creating campaigns in Google Ads. Of course, it would be time-saving. 

Google Keyword Planner is completely free. Yet you can only use it when you are setting up an ad campaign on Google Ads. It offers services such as finding keywords to help you reach people regarding your products and services. Or get search volume and forecasts for the keywords you are already using. Overall, it is a good tool to use for SEM.

Dopinger Rank Tracker Tool

If you’re new to SEO and don’t know where to start, the Dopinger Rank Tracker Tool will be your biggest supporter. The tool’s simple interface provides a smooth entrance into the SEO world. Dopinger Rank Tracker helps you monitor your keywords on the SERP to manage your website properly. Analyzing the keywords on your website with this tool will help you create your strategy accordingly. It is free and reliable. The only thing you need to do is paste the URL into the search bar.

Conclusion

We have covered how to do keyword research. Many people who try to earn money from the internet use SEO, and one of the most significant parts is finding the right keywords. That is why we have mentioned the things to consider when doing keyword research, query types, and some of the best tools for keyword research.