Keyword Research

How to conduct a thorough Keyword Research  

There are various ways to conduct effective keyword research, using a plethora of tools available some free and some paid but we will discuss the fundamentals of keyword research regardless of whether it’s an established website or a new one.

1.       ESTABLISH SEED KEYWORDS: Also known as head or primary keywords normally 1-2 words, refer to your products, services, or articles your content is based on, for example if you have an eCommerce golf store your seed keywords might be: – clubs, golf balls, putters, golf shoes etc.

2.       EXPAND ON SEED KEYWORD: Not everyone looking for your products & services will use the exact search terms; you want to find as many variations to your seed words as possible to give you more visibility in search results.

• Input your target query into Google search & explore related queries for example that e-commerce golf store when they type in ‘golf shoes’ in the search bar a lot of variations from that seed keyword will be suggested terms such as “golf shoes for women”, “spike-less golf shoes”, “golf shoes for kids” plus many more. If these suggestions are relevant to your website add them to your keyword list as it shows what search terms users are using to search for your products or services. At the bottom of this page, you will find some more Google keyword suggestions under the heading “People also searched for” which can be very useful.

• For existing websites, the use of the Google Search Console (not for new websites) allows you to find out how users discover your website. Click on Performance and scroll down to Top Queries and you’ll find all the search terms users have typed into Google search to find your website. Add these keywords if they aren’t already on your list, so you can optimise them in your website’s content.

• Google Keyword Planner is another useful tool and it’s free to a certain extent. It can give you variations of your seed keywords and related search terms but limits the real juicy data for those running Google Ads. As a starting point you can gather a lot of similar search terms you might not have thought about initially, so it’s worth it even if you’re not running Google Ads

3.       USE SEO TOOLS: There are many tools available to leverage data on the keywords you have gathered. Platforms such as Ahrefs, SEMrush, Moz are great tools when it comes to keyword research. Our favourite is SE Ranking because it is not as costly and delivers just the same, including an easy-to-use interface and hundreds of helpful reports to help with your efforts. These SEO tools are great for:

i)                    Competitor Analysis: Gathering reports showing which keywords your competitors are ranking for and which ones they are not doing well on. This allows you to optimise them on your site which benefits your website because you want to embrace every potential helpful keyword. However, you need to be prepared to put effort into optimising that keyword if you want to rank it higher than the competition.

ii)                   Keyword Analysis: Having a keyword on your list is not enough; understanding how you can use that keyword is paramount to keyword research SEO tools can give you more insight into such parameters like Search Volume, Keyword Difficulty & Cost for those running paid ads (explained further below).

4.       KEYWORD SEGMENTATION: Now that you have your keyword list, the next step you want to do is cluster your keywords by search intent. As mentioned earlier search intent is split into 3 main categories, Informational, Navigational & Transactional. Once that’s done you can further segment the keywords in these 3 groups by Search Volume:

High Search Volume: Difficult for a new website to rank for these as these are usually seed keywords or head words with only one or two words. Search engines tend to favour big established brands in SERP when it comes to the search terms.

Medium Search Volume: These tend be variations of seed keywords but if optimised on your website, these can be helpful, in not only impressions, but also bringing traffic in as well.

Low Search Volume: These could be helpful for a niche market with very few searches. Depending on your website this could be very helpful. They tend to be long-tail keywords 4 or more-word phrases, that might have a low search volume but tend to have specific search intent (Transactional).

Cost: For those running paid ads, SEO tools will also tell you average Cost Per Click (CPC) so choosing which keywords you use in your campaign can be heavily influenced by this metric, as it can easily affect your campaign budget.