As an SEO specialist, there’s nothing more satisfying than seeing your target keywords rank on the first page of Google. Achieving this, however, requires substantial effort and strategic planning, much like laying the foundation for a skyscraper. Effective keyword research is the cornerstone of a successful SEO campaign.
What is Keyword Research?
Keyword research involves identifying the best possible queries that your customers use when searching for your business online. It’s crucial for prioritizing your website pages and mapping relevant keywords to those pages.
Why is Keyword Research Important?
Keyword research reveals which search terms are popular among your customers and actively searched on the internet. Without proper keyword research, you might optimize your website for the wrong keywords, potentially undermining the goals of your SEO campaign. According to Ahrefs, 90.63% of web pages receive no organic traffic, highlighting the importance of proper keyword targeting.
Step 1: Make a List of Keyword Categories or Themes
Start by listing your main business category. For example, if you run a digital marketing agency, your main category might be digital marketing services. Then, list the service or product categories your business offers, such as SEO Services, PPC Services, and Social Media Marketing Services. If applicable, subdivide these categories further. For instance, social media marketing might include Instagram marketing, Facebook marketing, and LinkedIn marketing. This exercise helps you identify keyword themes for the next steps.
Step 2: Research Related Terms Using Keyword Research Tools and Methods
Once you have your main business, service, and sub-category keyword themes, it’s time to find related searches, also known as LSI (Latent Semantic Index) keywords. For example, if your business offers creative branding services, you might use keywords like “branding agency services” or “creative agency in Delhi.”
To research related keywords, you can use several tools and methods:
- Google Keyword Planner: This tool, part of Google Ads, allows you to input a category keyword and receive related search terms with their search volumes.
- Google Search: Type your parent category keyword into Google to see search term suggestions based on recent user searches. Additionally, look at the related searches at the bottom of the search results page.
- Competitor Analysis: Examine your competitors’ websites to see which keywords they’re targeting. This can be done by viewing the page source and looking for keywords in the title and description tags.
Step 3: Use Google Search to Find Relevant Keywords
Google search itself is a powerful tool for finding relevant keywords. Type your main keyword into the search bar to see suggestions based on user searches. Additionally, check the related searches at the bottom of the search results page for more ideas.
Not just that, there is another really good way to figure out more related searches. Whenever you search for a term on Google, at the bottom of every page you will see Google suggest 6-8 related search terms. For example, if I search for the term Digital Marketing Agency in Mumbai, Google shows at least 8 related searches at the bottom of each page which can be seen in the image below.
Step 4: Spy on Competitors’ Keywords
Analyzing your competitors’ keywords is a smart strategy. By examining the keywords used by top-ranking competitors, you can leverage their SEO efforts for your benefit.
One more & detailed way of figuring competitor keywords is to open their website & right click on the page. Click on view page source & when the page source opens type Ctrl+F and type title in the find bar. This will show you the title & below the title you will find description of the particular page. This will give you a fair idea on the keywords being used in the title & description of your competitors website.
Step 5: Use Your Google Ad Keywords
If you run Google Ads, you already have a wealth of keyword data. Navigate to the keywords section in your Google Ads account and review the search terms that have triggered clicks. This data can provide valuable insights into effective keywords for your SEO campaign.
Following these steps will help you conduct thorough keyword research, essential for a successful SEO campaign. If you need further assistance, our SEO experts are here to help. Contact us for a free SEO audit of your website, and we’ll provide a detailed report to guide you on your SEO journey.
You can also look at which search term has the maximum conversion rate on your website & you can primarily choose those keywords to optimize for SEO since they will give you a good conversion rate once you start ranking for them.
Following these 5 steps should be enough to pull a good keyword research for your SEO campaign. If you need any further help then you can get in touch with our SEO experts & we will be happy to guide you. You can also request us for a Free SEO audit of your website & our team will deliver a detailed audit of your website to help you in your SEO journey.
