Let’s cut to the chase. It would be best if you learned how to do keyword research, but you’re lost with the jargon and the methods and don’t know where to start. The thing is, keyword research has so much information out there it will make your head spin. And you get so confused that you don’t even know what keyword research is about. If that’s you – relax, we’ve got you covered.
In this post, I’ll introduce you to 8 actionable keyword research tips for beginners that work. I’ll give you simple definitions, elements, and outlines of these tips to understand them in a better way. By the end of this blog, you’ll have a solid understanding of how and why to use these keyword tips.
What Is Keyword Research For Beginners?
Keyword research determines which keywords are most relevant to the content you want to produce. The basic premise is that people search for keywords on Google when looking for solutions or information about something.
You use keywords to optimize your content to show up better in search engines. Improving your ranking in search engines will help increase engagement, leads, and traffic. Not to mention you’ll be able to understand what your target audience wants from you and ensure they get it! Researching the right keywords is a vital part of SEO – it’s where a lot of work happens behind the scenes of your website.
Why Is Keyword Research Essential For SEO?
The purpose of keyword research is to determine which keywords are the most relevant to your market and content. If you’re creating a blog post on “5 Healthy Lunch Ideas”, it would be wise to include keywords people are searching for and would be interested in reading. These can consist of “healthy lunch ideas,” “lunch ideas,” “lunch recipes,” and so on.
Keyword research plays a huge role in SEO because it’s the basis of your content. When it comes to content marketing, you’re going to create topics based on what people are searching for.
Three Elements Of Keyword Research
There are three critical elements in keyword research you should know:
1. Authority
Authority is the absolute best source of ranking power in SEO. If a keyword has high authority, it means that Google gives it a lot of credibility. If your content ranks for a keyword with low authority, you will have an uphill battle in the SERPs.
2. Volume
Keyword search volume measures how many times the keyword is searched per month across all audiences. The higher the monthly search volume, the more competition there is. So it’s best to target keywords with high search volume but low competition.
3. Relevance
Relevance, although it sounds complicated, is simple. It provides information on how close or related the content is to the keyword. So if you search for different keywords, you’ll get different results depending on the relevance of your content.
These elements are all you need to determine what relevant keywords to target for your content. The further you can get from these elements, the more targeted and exact your keyword research becomes.
8 Actionable Keyword Research Tips That Work
Research Relevant Topics Based On Your Business
Start first with learning about your business. If you want to know what people are searching for, you need to be able to define what your market is based on. Start by looking at the search engine results (SERPs) and learn more about them.
Find out what topics are being talked about in your industry. If you’re into tailoring, chances are you compete with many other needlework businesses. Identify what content is working for them and why it’s successful. If it isn’t relevant, drop it and move on to the next.
Keyword research process starts with your business. You need to know who you’re marketing to and how they search for what they want. Targeting the wrong keywords can cause your content to get lost in the shuffle you wish to avoid.
Determine Keyword Intent And Analyze
Next, you need to know why people are searching for these terms. Intent tells you what people are looking for when they type in a keyword. It’s what your audience’s goals and desires are.
To determine the search intent of your target customers and what to target for your content, you need to analyze their organic search queries. Use Google keyword planner to find out what keywords people search with and what subjects they use.
You can then dig deeper into the keywords to understand how they parse and how much competition they have. It will help you create great content that helps your audience solve their problems, increasing engagement and clicks.
Understand Your Topic Before You Research
The golden rule with keyword research is to do your homework first. Before you even begin to research, you need to understand the topic. If you don’t, you could waste valuable time with keywords that don’t match your relevant content.
If you’re writing about a particular topic, you need to know the ins and outs of it. Research topics like your life depend on it – because it does. Don’t just gloss over the topic. It would help if you were an expert in the field.
To get started, do your research based on the top 10 keywords ranked for your industry. Find out what’s working well for other businesses in your field and why. It would be best to build a “personal database” of knowledge about what’s out there before you start keyword researching anything else.
Utilize Keyword Research Tools To Your Advantage
There are a lot of keyword research tools you can use to come up with your keyword ideas. These tools will be able to assist you with finding high-volume, low-competition keywords that are relevant to your content.
Here are a few great tools to research with:
Semrush: Semrush is an excellent keyword tool for researching keywords. You can use the built-in keyword analysis tool to find your competitors’ SEO keywords. Semrush is a paid tool that you can use to your advantage.
Ubersuggest: Ubersuggest is primarily a free tool you can start with, but if you want to expand your keyword research, you can upgrade to a paid account. The free version is excellent for researching exact keywords and looking at the competition.
Moz: Moz Keyword Explorer is another excellent paid and free keyword research tool. It gives you a lot of detail about your SEO keywords, which is crucial for researching. You can also use Moz to find long-tail keywords that might be a bit more difficult.
Utilizing these keyword research tools will help you increase the relevancy of your content. It gives you a lot of data to work with, which will ultimately help your SEO campaign.
Make A List Of Localized Keywords
Your content should be written for a specific market. You can target local keywords to help drive organic traffic in your particular area. Localized keywords are great for targeting because they give you a better keyword idea of what your audience is interested in.
It’s best to know the areas you’re competing with and to do your research on Google’s map. If people are searching for businesses in your area, you can use that to determine what key phrases people search with. You can use this to create content targeted at your audience instead of topics that aren’t relevant to them.
Draw Advantage From Google Suggest
Google has a great feature called “suggest,” which is a clever way to predict what people might search for in the future. You can use this to your advantage by creating content based on potential keywords you know people will search for in the future.
With Google’s innovative technology, you can create content that your audience is most likely to search for and hopefully click on. It will give you a competitive advantage over your competition, which will help boost engagement significantly.
Utilize “People Also Ask” On Google
You can use the “People Also Ask” column if you’re looking for complementary long-tail keywords. It is a great way to discover what others have been searching for. You can also determine what words are frequently used in your content.
When you’re trying to corner the market, it’s essential to keep up with the changes that are being made on search engines. It will help your content stay relevant and keep your SEO strategies successful.
Search Branded Keywords
You can use this and other strategies to find top-ranking content for your ideal keywords if you have a brand. Most people already know about their brand, making it easier to gain visibility for your niche.
It will help you stand out from your competitors and show everyone that you are the best choice for your potential customers. It helps bring the relevancy of your topic to the forefront because if it’s not relevant, why waste time on it?
Conclusion
Keyword research is the primary step to building a successful content strategy. You can’t just throw some popular keywords into your strategy and expect it to work for you. It requires a lot of research and analysis to make it work for your business and audience.
It would be best if you did your due diligence before you started writing anything. If you don’t, you will suffer from low engagement, which means no SEO campaign is successful. Keyword research helps with SEO and content writing, so taking the time to do it will boost the success of your overall business goals in the long run.