With the emerging marketing trends, building an online presence has become a necessity for all kinds of businesses. In order for a business to stay competitive, visible and relevant, implementing Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a must.
As Google processes over 5.5 billion search queries in a single day, driving organic traffic has become a challenge for most businesses. To create content that grabs the attention of the target audience and get higher ranking on SERPs, using a keyword research tool is utmost important.
Keywords are words or phrases that a user enters on the SERPs to find answers to the queries. Using different types of search keywords in your webpage content enables search engines to provide best match of a search query. Keyword research is the first and the most important step of SEO. This blog post will serve as a keyword research guide for beginners. Continue reading to know about importance of keyword research, tools, process and much more.
Page Contents:
What is Keyword Research?
Keyword research google is the process of identifying what your target audience is searching online and using this information as a guide to select the focus keywords of your webpage content. As it helps in understanding the needs and requirements of your target audience, it is regarded as a key component of a successful On-Page SEO strategy.
Keywords are the building blocks of webpage content and have the potential to drive more traffic to the site. Selecting the right keyword is crucial to make your online marketing campaign successful. Poor quality keywords may negatively impact your site’s SEO performance and ranking.
Therefore, it is imperative to choose the right keywords as per your business niche and objective. Search engine crawler gives priority to keywords that best matches the user’s search query and website content. Hence, a marketer needs to invest a great deal of time and effort in SERP keyword research to make their SEO campaign successful.
Keyword Research Benefits
- Direct connection with the target audience: Keyword Research is the primary component of a successful SEO campaign. Using the right keywords enables customers to identify your brand thereby improves the site visibility in the SERPs. Identifying keywords increases your chances to rank on first page of the search results thereby driving more traffic to the site.
- Competitors’ analysis: Researching for keywords enables marketers in finding information regarding the search volume and competition in a particular niche. It is a crucial step as the wrong keyword selection might impact site’s SEO and ranking in the SERPs.
- Increase awareness about current market trends: A well-planned keyword research gives detail guidelines on what people are searching online and how can you match their expectations. As online marketing is rapidly changing, an effective keyword strategy is a must to serve the customers in the best possible manner.
- Help in improving customer service experience: The choice and placement of keywords play a major role in improving customer service experience. When you are performing keyword research, you will analyze customer’s behavior, preferences and requirements. This study provides valuable customer insights that helps in creating user-centric results focused on specific consumer needs.
How to do Keyword Research?
Follow the steps below to conduct Keyword research:
Brainstorm keywords related to your business niche: The first step of a keyword research process is to come up with keyword ideas related to your business. You can start by listing different categories and topics that are relevant to your business. For example, if you have a business of ecommerce store, you can classify keywords such as Winter Clothing, New Arrivals, Men’s Wear, Women’s Wear, etc.
Here, we have taken the example of the term ‘SEO’
(a)You can use Google to search for keyword ideas. Google suggests keywords while you type on the search field and it can also be checked on the ‘related searches’ at the end of the page. As shown in the image below, when ‘SEO’ is entered on the search field, related searches are being displayed at the bottom of the SERP.
(b) Keep a balance of long-tail and head terms in your content. Marketers often prefer short-tail keywords and avoid using long-tail keywords. Though long-tail keywords get less search traffic but it is easier to rank these keywords on the SERPs. It is important to use a combination of short-tail and long-tail keywords to optimize your web content.
Compare keywords on the basis of competition level and search volume: Another important step in keyword research is to analyze the competitor sites and search volume. Understanding what keywords your competitor sites are trying to rank for can help you generate new keyword ideas. To identify your competitor sites, simply search for a keyword in Google, the results that appear on the first page are your competitor sites.
Search volume provides the information about the average number of times a keyword gets searched per month. Higher the search volume, greater is the competition to obtain higher rank in search results. Thus, it will be hard to rank for these terms against established websites.
Identifying which keywords to target depends on your business objectives and goals. Example, if you are a startup business, you must start with targeting keywords with low search volume and low-competition. Alternatively, if you are a well-established site you might take the risk of targeting keywords with high search volume.
Determine their search intent: The key to an effective keyword research is to focus on the user intent behind a particular keyword. User’s search intent greatly affects the site ranking on the Google SERPs. As Google prioritizes webpage content that align with the user’s search query, it is crucial to include keywords that best match the search intent.
Example, if the search query is ‘how to make a coffee’ and you are trying to rank for keyword ‘best coffee maker’, your site has very less chance of ranking in the search results. Hence, try to analyze the intent of your target audience when they search for a particular keyphrase on Google.
Keyword Research Tools
The most popular way of finding keywords is by using a Keyword Research Tool. There are tons of free and paid tools that help you generate keyword ideas. Some of the popular ones are:
- Google Trends – It is a free tool from Google that helps in identifying what people search on internet and gain an in-depth understanding about consumer behavior. Google Trends not only shows what topics and queries are popular but also provides search analysis details conducted over a certain time period.
- Ahrefs – It is an SEO tool that performs the functions of link building, keyword research, competitor analysis, site audit, etc. It is a popular tool used for optimizing SEO campaigns and rank high on the search engine result pages.
- Semrush – It is an all-in-one online marketing tool that helps in SEO, social media, pay-per-click and content marketing campaigns. Semrush also provides keyword suggestions that suit your campaign requirements and business objectives.
- Moz – Using Moz tool, you can perform in-depth keyword analysis with a range of different features and functionalities. Moz’s Keyword Explorer provides best keyword results that have higher chances of ranking in the SERPs. Moreover, it also displays the number of clicks you can expect from a particular keyword by analyzing search volume and competition level.
- Serpok – It is a Google SERP checker with the most affordable plans and pricing structure. With its numerous features and robust interface, it is designed to improve the site’s SEO score and rank higher on the Google search results in the fastest possible time interval.
Keyword Research Example
As an example, we have conducted keyword research using Ubersuggest, a free keyword generator tool. After visiting the Ubersuggest site, enter your main keyword on the search field to get keyword ideas.
As you enter the main keyword, the search volume, SEO Difficulty, Paid difficulty and Cost per Click details will be displayed as shown in the image below.
You can also check the competitive website keyword details by entering the website URL on the search field. Here, we have entered ‘moz.com’ in the search field, the traffic overview details will be visible as shown below.
As you scroll down the page the keywords used by the site will also be displayed.
Similarly, you can use other keyword generator tools to get more keyword ideas. The image below is of the tool ‘ahrefs‘. You need to enter your primary keyword on the search bar and click on ‘Find keywords’ button.
Keyword ideas with keyword difficulty level, search volume will be displayed as shown in the image below.
As per the business niche, user’s search intent and competition level, you can make the right choice of the keywords that you want to target and optimize your content with. The keyword tools will help you evaluate different factors that influence a site’s ranking on the SERPs.
You can opt for Serpok tool to improve your site’s SEO score and ranking. Serpok, a free keyword research tool can help your site rank higher by providing customized solution relevant to your business goals.
How Serpok helps in Keyword Research?
Keyword research and SEO boosts your site’s visibility in the Google SERP resulting in more clicks. A keyword-rich content is user-centric which improves your customer communication and trust in the brand. Serpok can ease your work of finding keywords by providing a list of common keywords from the websites ranking at the top of the SERPs.
Serpok, a keyword research tool provides a customized keyword list as per your business niche and top search results. No hassle of researching keywords anymore. With the most affordable plans and pricing, Serpok can help you build your brand. Choose Serpok to level up your content marketing strategy and outrank your competitors.