Keyword Research: The Pathway to SEO Success
The value of keyword research is constantly growing in both SEO and digital marketing. It’s vital to SEO success and opens the doors to prominence in search engines. And without in-depth keyword research, one can’t establish a higher status and maximum visibility in the digital world.
Considering all these things, I’ve compiled this comprehensive guide explaining keyword research, its importance, its types and processes. So, let’s get started.
What is a keyword?
We can define keyword as:
“Any phrase, term, or word that your targeted audience inserts into search engines to get insights about that particular thing.”
What is keyword research?
Keyword research is an approach to identifying and exploring the specific words and phrases that your intended audience uses to discover something on Google or Bing.
Types of Keywords
There are two types of keywords:
- Short-Tail keywords
- Long-Tail keywords
Short-Tail Keywords:
Here are some of the unique features of short-tail keywords:
- Contain one to two words
- High search traffic
- High competition
- Less conversion rate
- “Email Marketing” is an example of a short-tail keyword.
Long-Tail keywords:
Below are the essential characteristics of long-tail keywords:
- Contain two to five words
- High conversion rate as compared to short tail keywords
- Less search traffic
- “Email Marketing Tips for Startups” is an example of a long-tail keyword.
What is the importance of keyword research?
Let’s delve into the significance of exploring the targeted and actionable keywords.
Improves page ranking:
The very first and most favorable point of the keyword research process provides us is that you can optimize your page with best-fitting keywords. When you optimize the page with suitable and more appropriate key phrases, the chances of ranking that page will be maximized.
Provide insights about marketing trends:
We all know and agree that trend identification is worthwhile in marketing. It proves instrumental in marketing trend analysis.
But!
Do you know which thing is more supportive in providing these insights?
Obviously!
Keyword research!
Through keyword research, marketers discover notable phrases that the targeted audience is searching for. This allows them to collect pinpoints of emerging topics and current trends.
Identification of queries:
The process of researching the keywords is very productive in recognizing users’ queries that drive more traffic. These are the specific queries that your target audience is searching for to explore what they want. You’ll find out all those queries and make an article or blog providing the answer to those particular questions and clearing the doubts about them.
Knowledge about your competitors:
To come into the spotlight has become a tricky procedure in today’s crowded digital landscape. There is a huge competition in almost all the industries. So, to come to the forefront and emerge as a leader, you should have the proper knowledge about your competitors. You should know:
- Who are your competitors?
- What strategies are they applying to rank higher?
- Which highly beneficial keywords are they using?
- What are the high-value keywords that they’re missing that you can use?
- What are your competitors focusing on?
- What are their weakness and strengths?
So, keyword tracking grants you a roadmap to understand all these above-mentioned things.
Knowledge about the target audience:
Through keyword exploration, you’ll gain abundant knowledge about the target audience. Because this procedure discloses the following valuable data about the users you’re trying to reach:
- Their search intent
- Their interests
- Their preferences
- Their needs
- Their pain points
- Their problems and queries
New and fresh ideas for content:
Keyword analysis and research are the optimal solutions if you’re fumbling with getting new and exciting content ideas. Furthermore, it provides many long-tail keywords and loads of interesting, informative topics you can quickly write about. This way, you can effortlessly gain weekly or monthly content ideas.
Not only will this, but it will also let you know which idea is more fruitful and highly effective in driving more website traffic and potential buyers.
Helpful in organizing and structuring the content:
Along with contributing new content ideas, this procedure also helps organize and structure the content amazingly. For instance, it facilitates tailoring the topics, optimizing headings, subheadings, URLs, internal linking, and meta descriptions, and generating clear content flow.
More visibility and more traffic:
The execution of the research of keywords gives loads of phrases and words with high search volumes. You can add all those queries and phrases to your article. When users search for those specific things, the search engines will show your article in the top results. In this way, your site’s visibility will be enhanced, and the possibility of more traffic will automatically expand.
Keyword research is fundamental aspect of SEO:
We all know that SEO is incomplete without keyword research. It’s the cornerstone of SEO. Also, it would not be wrong to say that SEO and keyword research go side by side. In fact, you can optimize your web pages by finding the appropriate keywords. Likewise, you can apply the effective strategies of on-page SEO. Furthermore, it improves the content and the site’s structure.
Valuable in PPC Campaigns:
PPC stands for “Pay per Click.” The importance of keyword research in a PPC campaign cannot be denied. Because, it allows you to uncover high-intent keywords. And these keywords will attract the right audience.
Enhance conversion rates:
When you search the keywords correctly, you’ll have more possibilities to reach and captivate people who can easily be converted into potential customers. Doing this will make your marketing efforts more effective, and you’ll be able to raise conversion rates.
Things to Consider in Keyword Research
Search volume is helpful in keyword research:
Search volume is one of the essential factors to consider while conducting keyword research. Because, it indicates how often that keyword is searched in search engines within the given timeframe. Furthermore, the keywords with high search volumes are more appreciated as these will drive more traffic to your website.
But remember, you can’t choose a keyword based on only this single factor. Phrases and words with high search volume are usually more competitive.
Keyword difficulty:
Keyword difficulty also counts a lot. We can also identify it as SEO difficulty. Analyzing the keyword difficulty will let you know how strenuous and formidable it is to rank on that particular keyphrase. Additionally, the less keyword difficulty is praised as it will be easy to rank.
CTR also matters in keyword research:
CTR stands for “Click-Through Rates.” It is also one of the most integral metrics in keyword research. Because, it points out how many users click on a link when it appears in search results. Moreover, the higher CTR suggests that the keyword is relevant and appealing to users.
CPC:
CPC stands for “Cost per Click.” It highlights a keyword’s potential worth in paid advertisements. Getting insights about CPC helps marketers focus on relevant keywords that are also worth the investment.
Process of Keyword Research
Brainstorming matters in keyword research:
This is the first and foremost step in searching for keywords. At this step, you need to brainstorm seed keywords. Additionally, brainstorming is helpful for several reasons:
- Serves as a foundation for research
- Creating initial ideas
- Examining the related concepts
At this point, you need to explore various keywords related to your business, products, or service.
Keyword research tools:
Keyword research tools assist a lot in finding the most appropriate keywords. We can define them as any online application and software developed and formulated for identifying and analyzing the specific phrases and words the audience is exploring about. These tools give insights related to:
- Search volume
- Keyword difficulty
- Competitors analysis
- Related keywords
- Trends
Here are some of the practical tools that can genuinely be helpful:
- Google Keyword Planner
- SEMrush
- Ahrefs
- Ubersuggest
- Moz
- Answer the Public
Researching the competitors’ keyword:
Your little efforts in exploring the keywords of competitors can bring massive results. The things you’ll learn from executing competitors’ research are:
- Keywords your competitors are ranking for
- Identifying the keywords gaps
- Finding out the high-value keywords
Using Search Engines:
SERPs can assist you in generating keywords in multiple ways. You might have glimpsed a list of keywords that pop up when you start typing something in the Google search bar. That list can help you a lot. Below are the ways you can use search engines to find out the key phrases:
- “Search bar” when you’re typing something for research
- You can also check the “People also ask” section
- “Related searches” at the bottom of the page is also a good option.
Evaluating the keyword metrics:
Find out the most appropriate ones that:
- Features decent search volume
- Has low competitions
By choosing the keywords according to the above-mentioned rule, you’ll be able to get your article to rank high in search engines, which will result in enhanced website traffic.
Organize the keywords:
Now, you need to organize your keywords and prioritize them. Choose the most promising keywords. Eliminate the low-performance vital phrases from the list. Likewise, remove irrelevant keywords.
Conclusion:
Now, I hope there is no question or doubt about keyword research, its importance, necessity, and effectiveness in the digital landscape. Whether you want fresh SEO content writing ideas, enhanced website traffic, maximized visibility, or higher ranking, you must acknowledge its vitality and indispensability.
