Keyword Research: How to Do It,
Tips, Tools & Examples
Beginner website owners or bloggers who write content or offer services and products through their websites must make keyword research their best friend. If you are in this category of people, and you want to get the best out of your website, the very first step is to equip yourself with all that is about keyword research.
Keyword research is the process of discovering keywords that your potential customers are searching for on search engine pages. Take it this way, when you go on Google looking for the best gadget-selling store in Houston, that term which you type into the Google search bar is a keyword. A website owner who has a gadget store in Houston needs to find out that keyword to know what is in your (customer) mind.
Taking it in the reverse position, put yourself as the gadget-store owner; if you don't find out what your customers are looking for online, then you are likely not to drive more traffic from search engines to your website.
Perhaps you previously do not know why you need to do keyword research; this blog will show you why keyword research is essential and help you with the tools, tips, and examples to make it easier to understand.
Why is Keyword Research Crucial?
You can get more traffic to your website with two effective methods; SEO and PPC. Although there are other social media methods, SEO and PPC are the methods that will help you connect to customers across search engines.
Keyword research is needed for SEO and PPC to get the best out of your campaigns. No SEO or PPC strategy will succeed without proper keyword research. Finding out what is in your potential customers' minds will help you connect to them quickly whenever they are looking for you. If you have to thrive beyond your competitors, then implementing keywords within your content will help you.
Keyword research helps you discover new keyword ideas that you will use as part of your website content. The purpose is that when customers are searching for your service, your website comes out on top of search engine pages for both organic and paid searches.
Part of what you will get from keyword research is the detailed insights with analysis of each keyword containing its search volume and competitive level.
How to Do Keyword Research
The steps to do keyword research are relatively straightforward. All you need is to use keyword research tools. There are various tools for keyword research out there. While some are free, others are paid tools. The essential purpose is to get the right keywords that will work for you.
The first step in keyword research is to have a spreadsheet; this could be an excel file or Google spreadsheet. The advantage of this is for you to record the data of the keywords you want. It also helps you to remain organized as much as possible.
Once you are all set with the spreadsheet, it's time to brainstorm on the keywords related to your business. Start by having a header keyword. For instance, you sell gadgets, the first Keyword you might think of is "gadgets stores." While you may go-ahead to implement this keyword on your website, you might not get the result you desire because it's too broad. It's why you need new keyword ideas. However, this keyword will help you find new keyword ideas through keyword research tools.
Brainstorm as many broad keywords in your niche as possible and put them in your spreadsheet. The work begins now.
Keyword Research Tools
As earlier discussed, there are various keyword research tools, both paid and free. However, for this blog, we will focus on free tools.
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Google Keyword Planner:
This keyword research tool is the first on this list because Google controls it and directly generates its data. If you have a Google AdWords account for PPC, then it should be your best bet. It will not only help you discover new keyword ideas, but it will also help you find out the search volume and competitive levels to see if you can use them. Also, for PPC, it gives you a forecast of how your keyword will perform in the coming month, depending on your parameters.
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Ubersuggest:
This keyword research tool is also excellent for discovering new keywords, and it gives you insights into the search volume, SEO difficulty, paid difficulty, and cost-per-click. You will also find out what your domain score and backlinks could look like and how you can get to the top page of search engines. Ubersuggest has various ways to get new keyword ideas through its suggestions, prepositions, related, comparisons, and questions buttons.
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Google "Searches Related to":
This tool may not be a tool per se, but it works excellently for getting new keyword ideas. When you search for a term on Google, on the resulting page, scroll down and find some searches related to what you just searched for. Those are keyword ideas.
Also, you could discover new keyword ideas through Google suggest. As you type in the Google search bar, you will find some suggestions below your search bar. Another thing you may pay attention to is what we call "people also ask for." They are located within the search engine pages after you've searched for a particular keyword. Your assignment is to gather these keywords and then analyze them one after the other on Google Keyword Planner.
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Keyword Surfer:
The advantage of Keyword Surfer is that you have access to it through Google extension. As you type in the Google search bar, you will discover new keyword ideas related to your keyword.
Filter and Analyze your Keyword Ideas
The next step is to filter your new keyword ideas. Remove those keywords that are not directly related to your niche or those you don't want to rank for. After that, you have to begin to analyze each of the keywords. The advice here is always not to bombard yourself with too many at a time because it takes time to analyze each of them.
Find out the search volumes and competitive level to further filter your results. You should usually focus on long-tail keywords or those keywords with low competition and considerably high search volume. You must, however, know that low competition keywords typically have low search volumes. You don't need to worry because you will likely get more results than using keywords with high search volumes and high competition.
As a beginner blogger, it's a complete mess competing with websites that have already built authority within your niche by using the keyword they rank for. You will most likely not rank on the first page of search engines. Focus on long-tail keywords that are more specific so that you can generate more results.
Conclusion:
According to PPCexpo, every beginner website owner that wants to drive more traffic to their blog or make more sales must understand the need for keyword research. Keyword research is a skill that helps you find new keyword ideas. Take them as what your potential customers are searching for on the web.
We've discussed it at length in this blog, but the most important thing is understanding the reason for doing keyword research and the tools used in doing them. Furthermore, since you are just starting, you may need to focus on long-tail keywords to get more results. If you are yet to read this blog, scroll up to read it.