How to Do SEO Keyword Research

Ranking your web pages on search results entails several on-page SEO techniques. Good quality content is paramount in SEO. Also, knowing which keywords attract maximum interest is very important. Search engine optimizers do keyword research before they create content. Text content, in general, will rank better with a keyword density of 2 – 5%. In order to correctly identify the keywords you need to target, learn how to do keyword research correctly.

Keyword research is done in order to identify which specific search queries you should target for your article. It will give you detailed information of related keywords that can boost the relevancy of your content. It will also let you predict what kind of traffic you can expect for your content depending on the search ranking you are able to achieve.

What topics and categories do you target?

As the first step of keyword research, you need to list out the topics of your site. This doesn’t necessarily require a keyword research tool. If your site is all about gadgets, reviews, etc., some topic keywords can be: “smartphone reviews,” “Android,” “iPhone,” “smart gadgets,” “latest apps,” etc.

An easy way for you to find these keywords is to look at the categories and menu items on your site and your competition. As the next step, you need to find some long-tail keywords that you can categorize under each of these topics. In order to find these long-tail keywords, you can use a tool such as Google AdWords Keyword Planner.

Long-tail keywords

These days, most sites strive to rank for long-tail keywords, which have three or more words in them. These keywords tend to be highly specific and targeted. This is the reason why such keywords generally give the opportunity to provide focused content to your visitors. Also, these keywords allow you to improve your site’s user experience, bounce rate, and time spent.

Keyword research is done primarily to identify long-tail keywords that will improve traffic. In one piece of content, you can target one or two long-tail keywords. The search engines, in general, will automatically display the page for other relevant long-tail keywords as well. Based on the volume of traffic the page receives and the time a user spends on the page, the search engines will narrow down to which long-tail keyword the page is most relevant for and will consistently rank it for that keyword.

Keyword research tools

There are a number of keyword research tools available in the market today to find good long-tail keywords. Some highly popular ones are below.

1. Google AdWords Keyword Planner: This is a part of Google AdWords. It lets you create keyword plans for your search ad campaigns. It gives details of the number of searches for each keyword, the competition, cost of advertising, etc.

2. KWFinder: KWFinder is a great keyword research tool that allows you to unearth long-tail keywords with low competition. It provides the trend, cost per click, search volume, and the difficulty to rank for the keyword.

3. Moz Keyword Explorer: Moz Keyword Explorer is a popular tool created by SEO and SEM firm Moz. It has an intuitive user interface. Moz Keyword Explorer allows you to identify a large number of keywords and sort them on the basis of search volume, difficulty, opportunity to rank, priority, etc.

Doing keyword research using Google Keyword Planner

Now, let’s take a look at how you can do keyword research using the most popular tool of all–Google Keyword Planner. Log into Google AdWords and navigate to Keyword Planner (Tools->Keyword Planner). Keyword Planner provides three ways to research keywords: using a phrase or your landing page URL, using a list of keywords, or by multiplying two lists of keywords.

In the first method, simply click on “Search for new keywords using a phrase, website or category” and enter a few descriptive keywords relevant to your business. Optionally select the website category. Click “Get ideas” and you’ll be presented with a list of keyword ideas based on Google’s search volume data. The list provides details of monthly searches for each keyword, competition, and estimated cost per click.

The second option to get keyword list is “Get search volume data and trends.” Here, you can enter a number of keywords one per line or comma-separated. You can also upload a comma-separated list to get suggestions. Upon submission, Google will provide a list of suggested keywords. The third option for keyword research is “Multiply keyword lists to get new keywords.” Here, you need to enter two lists of keywords and Google generates relevant keywords by incorporating words from both the lists. Since Keyword Planner provides such exhaustive information on each keyword, it is very useful for content optimization.

Once you get the keywords you want to optimize for, you need to ensure that the content is relevant to the selected keyword. For instance, a review of the Galaxy Note 8 smartphone shouldn’t target the keyword “buy the latest iOS device.” Ensure that the selected keyword is appearing on the content at key positions–the title of the article, first paragraph, heading tags, last paragraph, etc. Also, ensure an approximate keyword density of 2 – 5%. This will ensure that your content stays relevant and useful for your target audience.