Keyword Research Strategies for SEO Success

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The days of adding a few simple keyword phrases into your content can magically increase the traffic to your site. To secure the best way to the top of Google’s rankings in the present, you’ll have to discover keywords that are highly in demand but still need to be tapped by your competition. You must think up new ideas and discover fresh and creative methods to find unexplored keyword treasures that will be the primary subject of this article.

What Is Keyword Research?

Researching keywords is analyzing and identifying the keywords your ideal site visitors use to search for. This lets you target the most relevant keywords for your strategy for content.

Keywords are phrases or words people use to find products or information in search engines. For instance, if you were looking to purchase puppy food, You could type the phrase “food for puppies” into Google.

The proper conduct of keyword research will help you:

• Better understand your niche and target audience.
• Create a content strategy tailored to your target audience’s requirements.
• Increase the amount of relevant organic traffic for your site.

In contrast, if you don’t do keyword research, you could target keywords nobody else uses. You could not target any keyword even. (Both are typical issues that are found on a variety of websites.)

This guide will discuss the three steps to conducting keyword research:

Keyword research: how to identify relevant keywords using Keyword research tools

Keyword analysis: how do you prioritize keywords based on key metrics and criteria

Keywords that are targeted: 

How do you find the primary keywords and determine their purpose of search

Let’s get started.

Step 1: Finding Keywords

The most effective method to locate keywords is to utilize an instrument for keyword research.

Not only can a great keyword tool assist you in identifying many keyword concepts, but it also offers important metrics that can be essential in your analysis of keywords.

Let’s discuss some more efficient ways to use Keyword research tools.

Use a Seed Keyword to Get More Keyword Ideas

The term “seed keyword” refers to a word in your industry that serves as a way to develop more keyword concepts.

In our case, for example, keyword research for a company that sells dog food could use the term “dog food.”

Note: To demonstrate the process of keyword research in this guide, we’ll use an example of a search for keywords on the blog of a dog food company throughout this guide.

To begin, type in your seed keywords into the tool for keyword research.

Next, choose your desired area and click “Search.”

The tool will show the suggested keywords according to the keyword you have entered. (More than 377,000, in this instance.)

You’ll have a clearer view of the most talked-about subjects in your field due to the list of topics and subgroups on that left-hand column on the interface.

In our instance, we can see the most searched-for keyword groups include words such as:

Best (e.g., “best dog food for puppies”)

Dry (e.g., “dry dog food”)

Grains (e.g., “dog food with grain”)

These groups can be used to filter out keywords not relevant to your needs. Click on the eye icon beside the name of the group.

For instance, we could eliminate all the keywords that include “review” or “best” as none of our products are reviewed, or mentioning competitors’ products is a good idea on a blog for a company.

In the end, you can explore each of these groups for more specific subtopics and their keywords.

For instance, we could choose groups “can” + “eat” + “puppy” to see all the query-based keywords that relate to the food that puppies are allowed and can’t consume.

You’ll now have an outline of some well-known keyword categories. You can begin gathering keyword ideas.

In the next step, Analyzing Keywords, we’ll examine how to rank keywords based on three crucial factors: the volume of searches, the difficulty of keywords, and the intent of the search.

Let’s first discuss how you can tap into the gold mine of fresh keywords: your competition.

Look at Your Competitors’ Keywords

Knowing the keywords your competition ranks for will allow you to identify your competitors and help you find excellent opportunities for keywords.

To find these terms, use a tool for competitive analysis, such as Semrush’s Organic Research tool.

To begin, type in the domain of your competitor, then select the location you want to target, then press “Search.”

The tool will offer the complete list of keywords your competition uses. This includes the position they are ranked for each keyword within search results and the amount of traffic each keyword can bring them.

To remove the brand’s keywords, go to the right-hand side of your screen and select “Advanced filters” > “Exclude” > “Keyword type” > “Branded.”

You’ll get an overview of your keyword phrases that your competitor could focus on.

Check out the list. Find some inspiration. Next, repeat the same process for another rival.

Tip: It’s optional to be able to compete with all your competitors. Examining the three or two biggest players will provide many keyword suggestions.

Discover Keywords You’re Missing Out On

If you have an established website covering certain keywords in your field, You can enhance your analysis of competitors even more efficiently.

Use a tool like Keyword Gap and compare your keywords with your competition’s. This will allow you to identify keywords that you do not currently have a high ranking for.

The first step is to add your domain and up to four competitors’ domains. (You can enter your competitors manually or select organic competitors that the tool suggests.)

After you’ve selected your target location, hit “Compare.”

Scroll down to the search results and pay attention to these two tabs:

Not utilizing the keywords your competitors rank for, but you don’t

Poor: the keywords that your competition is ranking for more than you.

There’s a good chance that you’ll discover some fantastic phrases here. (All the competitors will consider them worthy of pursuing.)

Step 2: Analyzing Keywords

Once we’ve covered the fundamental methods to identify keywords and phrases, it’s time to dig into the details to select the keywords that will be most beneficial for you.

Consider Key Metrics

Two key keyword metrics can aid you in determining the best keywords:

The volume of search: How popular is the keyword?

Keyword difficulty (KD): How difficult can it be to get a high ranking of the word?

In any tool for keyword research, such as Semrush, you will see both indicators to assist you in analyzing and prioritizing your keywords.

This is where you can find them within the Keyword Overview tool:

Search Volume

Search volume is the number of times people type the keyword in Google each year (on average). The more search volume and the higher your search volume, the higher the chance you’ll receive if you are ranked well for the keyword.

Keyword Difficulty

Keyword difficulty (KD) is a Semrush measurement that allows you to assess the difficulty of ranking a particular keyword within one of the ten most popular organic results.

It’s based on the credibility of sites appearing on the page of results for search engines (SERP). It’s calculated as a number ranging from zero to 100. The greater the number, the more difficult it will be to rank for the term.

Keywords that rank high in the volume of searches usually have difficult scores.

Estimate the Business Value

Estimating a keyword’s value for business is determining how likely it is that the search engine’s ranking for a specific keyword will result in a profitable action for your company.

Step 3: Targeting Keywords

The final step in keyword research is to figure out ways to target the terms you wish to rank for.

Identify the Primary Keyword

A topic typically contains several keywords. This means you can be ranked for many keywords using the same article that covers the subject thoroughly.

However, you’ll still require a keyword that can assist you in finding the right topic.

A keyword can refer to one of two things:

A primary keyword is A keyword that represents the most accurate description of the subject, is the one with the highest volume of searches, and is utilized in the most important elements of the page (such as the URL title tag, heading, and so on.). For instance, the main keyword in the information in this document can be “keyword research.”

A secondary keyword is A keyword in the same topic but with less search volume that you’d like to rank for but is different from your primary goal. There could be multiple secondary keywords within the same subject (e.g., “what is keyword research,” “how to do keyword research,” “how to find keywords”).

Sometimes, it isn’t easy to discern whether it is an essential or a secondary keyword. It’s good to know that Google has already made that choice for us. It’s just a matter of analyzing the results. 

Author Bio

Shahzad Ahmad Mirza specializes in blogging and digital marketing, with an education in programming. His writings touch on SEO, social media optimization, optimization, and marketing technology. A further area of expertise, entrepreneurs in business are available. In addition, he is the director and founder of operations for designvalley.com and gbober.com, which manage individual public relations.

He is enthusiastic about sharing knowledge through websites as he enjoys studying. He offers top-quality educational content to internet users. Through his varied experiences, he hopes to make a change. The purpose of his career is the sharing of experience with other people.