What is Keyword Research and How to Find the Best Keywords

What is Keyword Research and How to Find the Best Keywords: A Beginner’s Guide

Keyword research is one such practice done in the digital marketing world that may drastically change the face of your online existence.

If you know how to find and use the appropriate keywords, without a doubt, you will hit your target with the blog, e-commerce store, or service-based business because you will provide the sites with very relevant traffic and better search engine ranking positions.

So, without further ado, let’s get you started with this guide on all the basics of keyword research and give you actionable steps to find the best keywords for your content.

What is Keyword Research?

Obviously, Getting the Basics Right

Keyword research is precisely the art of identifying and studying search queries that people enter in search engines such as Google.

Search queries are called keywords, and what they exactly are these are the vehicles connecting people’s questions to results.

Knowing which ones apply to your target audience will help you optimize your content so it ranks higher in search engine results, which, in return, will attract more visitors.

Why Keyword Research Matters

Gains better positioning in search engines: Targeting the right keywords on your website will help search engines associate your website with the content of your website, thereby increasing the chances of your business showing up in the right search queries.

Drives targeted traffic: Targeting a set of keywords for which your audience is really searching will better position you to get visitors who are more likely to do what you want them to.

Informs Content Strategy: Helps to develop the actual topics that will be created by guiding the appropriate demand, and relevance to the audience.

Finding the best keywords is not just about selecting what is popular at search engines.

It takes a deliberate strategy and includes the thought of your audience, competition, and the specific goals of your website. Below are the steps you can follow to identify the best keywords for your content.

Brainstorm Seed Keywords

Starting with the Basics

Seed keywords are the seeds of your keyword research.

These are generic terms related to your industry, products, or services. For example, if you run a fitness blog, your seed keywords may be “workout,” “exercise,” or “nutrition.”

How to Get Started with Seed Keywords

Brainstorm: Think about your audience; what are they looking for and which interests, pain points, or needs could be connected to them?

Analyze Your Products or Services:

If you deal in particular products or services, consider the general terms describing them.

Look at Competitors:

You can even look at your competitors’ websites to determine what keywords they may be targeting. There are tools like SEMrush and Ahrefs that help in the analysis of their strategies on keywords.

Keyword Research Tools

Why Tools are Essential

Keyword research tools provide you with crucial data regarding the search volume, competition, and related keywords that help to turn the seed keywords into more targeted and effective search terms.

Popular Keyword Research Tools

Google Keyword Planner:

A free tool that provides insight into keyword search volumes and trends. It is particularly useful for PPC campaigns but also is valuable for organic keyword research.

Ubersuggest:

A user-friendly tool that includes keyword suggestions, search volume data, and SEO difficulty scores. It’s really a great starting point for beginners.

Ahrefs:

An advanced tool with a lot of features including a keyword difficulty analysis, competitor research, and content ideas.
SEMrush:

One more tool to give deep keyword analysis, including difficulty, search trends, and competitors’ analysis.

How to Use These Tools

Place Your Seed Keywords: Insert your seed keywords in the tool to see a list of related keywords.

Search Volume Analysis: Give preference to a decent search volume while selecting keywords.

Check Keyword Difficulty: See how competitive each keyword is. Keywords that are highly competitive might be very difficult to rank for if your website is relatively new or has low authority.

Look at Long-Tail Keywords: Long-tail keywords are longer, more specific phrases. For example, “best workout for weight loss.” It generally has less competition and will help bring in very targeted traffic.

Search Intent

What is search intent?

Search intent refers to what a user will search for and why. Search intent can be used to develop content that works for the pipelining steps. In general, there are four kinds of search intent:

Informational: When the user is looking for information. Example: “how to lose weight”.

Navigational

The user is is looking to land on a certain website/page. Example: “Facebook login”.

Transactional:

The user is expecting a purchase, such as “buy running shoes online”.

Commercial Investigation:

The user is looking for available products or services but does not make a decision yet, such as “best running shoes for beginners”.

Relevance of Keywords to Search Intent

Try and consider intent when you choose your keywords. In other words, if it’s a blog post, then you’ll be looking for informational keywords. If you’re selling stuff, then you’d preferably use transactional keywords.

Example:

If your keyword is “best running shoes,” the search intent is likely to be commercial investigation. Then, you can write a comparative blog post of different running shoes and insert affiliate links on where to buy these shoes.

Competitor Analysis

Why You Need to Do Competitor Analysis

Analyzing your competition will give you an idea of what worked for them with respect to keywords and what can also work for you, in filling in the gaps in places where they rank.

How to Do Competitor Analysis

Identify the main competitors:

With the help of either Ahrefs or SEMrush, find websites that rank for these targeted keywords.
See what kind of content your competitor has developed around these keywords. What are the topics about? What is the nature of the content your competitor has developed?

Find the gaps:

Spot for prospects with respect to the keywords that your competitors may overlook, or spaces where you can devise superior and more comprehensive content.

Refine Your Keyword List

You Have Two Many Keywords by Now

This is the stage at which you will have an exhaustive list of keywords pulling data from keyword research tools, search intent, and competitor research.

Now is the time to go through this list and trim off the fat, focusing your attention on laser-specific options.

How to Refine Your Keywords

Focus on Relevance: Only use keywords in which the content and audience are relevant.

Balance Volume against Competition:

It is advisable to target keywords that have a fair balance between their search volume and competition. High-volume keywords that have low competition are definitely the best; however, they tend to be pretty rare.

Do not consider long-tail keywords junk; clichés apart, it is equally true that they usually come with less competition and better conversion rates.

Conclusion: So What Do You Do With Your Keyword Research?

One might say that keyword research is probably one of the most important parts of any SEO strategy. Not knowing what keyword research is and how to find the best keywords, you can’t really expect your content to be properly ranked on search engines and target the right audience.

Ready to Start Your Keyword Research?

Begin with brainstorming seed keywords; utilize research tools to avail you options; consider search intent in the content so that you address the need of your audience. Not to forget, you will need to analyze your competitors and refine the list so that only effective keywords are followed. With these steps, you will be well on your way to content optimization and improve online visibility.