Best Practices to do Keyword Research for SEO
Imagine going to a fancy restaurant with amazing ambiance, soft music, and ordering the fanciest item on their menu.
Your mouth is drooling to try out the new dish and eagerly waiting for the food to be served.
Finally, when you see the food you are highly disappointed as it is a regular food you eat with a fancy name. And you say to yourself that you will never visit this restaurant again.
The restaurant loses an opportunity to build a relationship with you as a loyal customer.
The same works in the online space too. Your audience visits your website/page with a specific intent in their mind. When they dont find any relevant answers they feel disappointed. That’s where KEYWORD RESEARCH will come into action. Keyword Research for SEO will help you understand what your audience is looking for.
Optimizing your content is crucial for every business as SEO is a long-term marketing strategy and one should not miss on it. Creating content without Keyword Research will not help you rank higher in SERP or even drive traffic to your website.
What Is Keyword Research?
Keyword Research is a process of finding the words and phrases people use when searching for information and content online that is relevant to your website/business.
A keyword can be a single word or two words and it can also be a phrase or a question.
Keyword Research is an important part of SEO(Search Engine Optimization). It will help you shape your content decisions that are backed by research and analysis.
When you get the Keyword Research for Search Engine Optimization right, You will win the web traffic.
The most important thing to understand before doing Keyword Research for SEO purposes is that there is a big difference between the Keyword you would like to rank and Keywords that can actually rank on Search Engines.
Why Is Keyword Research for SEO Important?
Finding the right Keywords will make or break your content. Keyword Research will not only give you the right keywords, but it will also give you insights into what your audience is actively looking for.
Keyword Research will help you understand your niche market and identify your true competitors( Big brands are not your competitors, always compete with brands that are of similar size as your business)
You get to know the size of your Potential Audiences. You can enhance your content creation with the right keywords.
Having the right keywords will make your content rank higher in SERP, solve user queries, drive traffic to your website, bring in quality leads, and ultimately generate revenue for your business.
Choosing the wrong keywords will lead to a higher bounce rate that will impact your website ranking and gives out a bad user experience.
Benefits of Keyword Research for SEO
- Gives you insights into the current marketing trend in your niche.
- You can attract more traffic by creating content using the keywords your audience is already looking for.
- You can stay ahead of your competition by analyzing and tackling the keyword your competitor is not targeting but your audience is searching for it.
How to do Keyword Research for SEO?
Keyword Research doesn’t have to be hard if you follow these steps.
Brainstorm Your Primary Keyword
Think about the goals for your business. Put yourself in the shoes of your potential customer and jot down all the search terms your potential customer may likely have.
Create a new google sheet or excel file and note down all the relevant keywords that are relevant to your business and solve your potential customer’s pain points.
Focus on the unique selling proposition(USP) of your product/business that will make your business stand out amongst other competitors.
If the niche you have chosen is competitive then the best bet is to start small. Dont go on to compete with big giants like AMAZON, FLIPKART, etc as it will be very difficult to defeat them.
Be realistic about what kind of ranking you can achieve depending on the size of the business.
When you make a list of topics within your business you’ve got a lot of Knowledge about, products and services you offer, FAQ, there are high chances of finding the most profitable keyword.
Research the keywords you have come up with
Keyword Research tools will come to your rescue when you are trying to research for keywords.
Google search offer suggested keywords when you type in your primary keyword, people also ask section in Google will give some more ideas related to your primary keyword.
There are several free and paid tools that will give your more metrics about keywords(Metrics such as Keyword density, Search volume, date of updated content).
Choosing long-tail keywords will help you rank better as you are answering the more specific query of your audience.
Based on the metrics mean you can jot down the keywords to target. Categorize your keywords in the columns
- Primary Keyword- Focus/ Seed Keyword
- Secondary Keyword — 4–5 Keywords related to primary Keyword
- LSI keyword- 4–5 Keywords that compliments your primary Keyword.
Gone are the days when adding a keyword several times in your content would help you rank your content. Google’s algorithm is much more advanced now and practicing such false techniques will hamper your website’s credibility.
The most important ranking factors are Relevancy, Authority, and User Signals.
Relevancy- How relevant is your content to the search query?
Authority– Among all the relevant content how authoritative or relevant is your content?
User Signals– How are users engaging with your content?
Make sure your keywords/content include these Ranking Factors..
The search intent of your users can be classified as
- Informatational Intent( Looking for information on the specific topic)
- Navigational Intent( Want to access a specific website)
- Commercial intent(Researching before buying)
- Transactional intent( Looking to buy something immediately)
Dont just focus on one intended as a customer journey starts right from creating awareness, discovering your website/business, and then making a purchase. Creating content considering your user’s journey will also help you with your Content Marketing Strategy.
Following these tips will help you level up your SEO for your business.
This content was originally published on https://girijaguruprasad.com/keyword-research-for-seo/