Keyword research is one of the cornerstones of SEO. It helps you understand what people look for on Google and what topics, queries, and products they are interested in. Using the most appropriate keywords allows you to create user-relevant content that has a higher chance of being ranked in search engines.
This guide is meant to explain the entire process of keyword research to you, different types of keywords existing in the market, and various tools for performing keyword research.
What Is Keyword Research?
The process of keyword research involves searching for and assessing the search queries that people enter on different search engines. These queries enable you to comprehend what your audience wants to find.
For instance, if someone is interested in SEO, he may try to find some information on what is SEO, useful SEO tips for beginners, and the best SEO instruments.
Also Read: What Is SEO and How Does It Work?
Why Is Keyword Research Important for SEO?
When you conduct keyword research, it allows you to create content on topics that people want to search for. It can also help you understand the intent, competition, demand, and other opportunities that may arise.
It can help you:
- Find relevant content topics
- Understand your target audience
- Improve organic search visibility
- Discover long-tail keyword opportunities
- Match content with search intent
- Identify keywords your competitors target
- Build a more effective content strategy
However, high search volume should not only be the only metric you should look for when conducting keyword research. Sometimes, a low search volume keyword with the right search intent is better than a highly sought-after keyword with high competition.
Types of Keywords
1. Short-Tail Keywords
Short-tail keywords are general keywords consisting of one or two words like “digital marketing,” “SEO,” or “shoes.”. These keywords have high search volume but also have a higher competition level.
Because their intent is generally very broad, ranking for short-tail keywords may not always translate into qualified traffic. They are usually better used in combination with niche keywords.
2. Long-Tail Keywords
Long-tail keywords are long and precise keyword phrases like “how to do keyword research for SEO” or “best running shoes for beginners.” They usually address a specific question, problem, or need.
These keywords may be easier to target since they are more specific and have less competition.
3. Branded Keywords
Branded keywords refer to the company, brand, product, or service name. “Nike shoes,” “Semrush pricing,” or queries that include your company name are examples of branded keywords.
Branded searches allow marketers to know how customers find the brand or its products/services. Also, keeping track of branded searches helps to assess the brand’s current visibility in search results.
4. Commercial Keywords
Commercial keywords show that searchers are looking for products or services prior to making a purchase. Some examples of commercial keywords are “top SEO tools,” “Ahrefs vs Semrush,” or “top laptops for students.”
Such searches usually happen in the consideration phase of the purchase process. Comparison articles, reviews, buying guides, and product pages are good examples of content for commercial keywords.
5. Informational Keywords
Informational keywords refer to search terms where the user wants to gather information or answers to their question. Examples can be “what is keyword research,” “how does SEO work,” and “how to create a website.”
Blog posts, tutorials, guides, FAQs, and educational content can be great tactics to implement when targeting these search terms. It is important to understand what the user is looking for when targeting this content.
6. Transactional Keywords
Transactional keywords show the user is making an action soon, like purchasing a product, subscribing to services, etc. Examples can be “where to buy running shoes,” “the price of SEO software,” and “subscribe to my newsletter.”
This is important for businesses since the user may have a strong intent to purchase. Targeting these searches can be easily done through product pages, service pages, pricing pages, and landing pages.
Also Read: SEO vs SEM
How to Do Keyword Research Step by Step
➣ Define Your SEO Goals
When engaging in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), the first step to take is to establish your aims and objectives. The aim could be driving traffic, acquiring leads, marketing services and products, or creating influence around a certain theme.
These goals will determine the keywords that one will center on.
➣ Find Seed Keywords
Seed keywords are essential words associated with the business, products, services, or topics in general. In case of a digital marketing website, such words may include “SEO,” “content marketing,” “Google Ads,” and “social media marketing.”
These words serve as a foundation for finding many new search queries.
➣Generate Keyword Ideas
Next, utilize keyword research tools that will provide you with suggestions about your seed keywords. Google Keyword Planner is a tool that allows turning one’s seed keywords into related ones by means of suggesting new ones together with their estimated monthly search volume.
Additionally, you may discover more keywords through Google search suggestions, related search queries, competitor websites, and “People Also Ask” boxes.
➣ Analyze Search Intent
Search intent is the aim of the query. For example, when a person types in “what is SEO,” he or she seeks information, whereas when looking for “the best SEO agency,” the person may require help.
Check the current Google results to understand what type of content ranks for your keyword. This helps you create content that matches what users and search engines expect
➣ Check Search Volume
Search volume refers to how often a keyword is intended to be searched. It can help you understand demand for a topic.
Don’t pick keywords only based on volume, as relevance and search intent are also key when choosing keywords.
➣ Evaluate Keyword Difficulty and Competition
Keyword difficulty is a term used to explain how difficult it will be to rank for a given keyword. It means that very competitive keywords may be used only by websites that have been well established and have a lot of backlinks.
When analyzing competition, don’t forget to consider the quality of competing content, authority of the website, the number of backlinks, search intent, and how well the existing pages meet the requirements of the request based on search intent.
➣ Find Long-Tail Keywords
Don’t forget to use more detailed variants of the keywords related to your topic. For instance, instead of “SEO,” you may target phrases like “SEO tips for small businesses” or “how to find keywords for SEO.”
Long-tail keywords will help you tailor the content to users’ needs and requests.
➣ Analyze Competitor Keywords
Discover websites that are vying for your target market. Examine the topics that those websites tackle as well as the keywords that their pages are ranked for.
Tools like Ahrefs and Semrush will help in keyword competitor analysis. Use this to find the gaps or opportunities in content and not just copy competitors.
➣ Check the SERPs
Type your keywords into Google and check the Search Engine Results Page. See what kind of pages are ranking and if there are any featured snippets and videos.
This will help you to understand what the search intention is and the content structure you should use.
➣ Select Primary and Secondary Keywords
Choose one Primary keyword per page or article and follow it up with related secondary keywords. For instance:
- Primary keyword: How to do keyword research
- Secondary keywords: Keyword research tools, SEO keyword research, how to find keywords.
Make sure to use keywords properly and focus on producing relevant content instead of just repeating the word that you are targeting.
Also Read: Local SEO for Small Businesses
Best Keyword Research Tools
1, Google Keyword Planner
Google Keyword Planner helps you find keyword ideas and find out search metrics. It is a good starting tool for beginners and businesses that are up for some SEO or advertising techniques.
2. Google Search
Google is a very good keyword research media. Autocomplete, People Also Ask, related searches and all of the search results will give real searches and relevant topics.
3. Google Trends
Google Trends helps in comparison of search terms and also seeing the dynamics of searches. It is helpful in seasonal searches and trends emergence tracking.
4. Ahrefs
Ahrefs is a tool for keyword research, competitor analysis, backlinks analysis and many other things. It helps to find the keyword possibilities and assess the competitors’ websites.
5. Semrush
Semrush is a tool for SEO which does keyword research and competitors’ analysis as well. It is useful in finding new keywords, learning about searches intention and finding content opportunities.
5. Google Search Console
Google Search Console tells the queries that lead the users to your website and the number of clicks your website gets.
How Often Should You Do Keyword Research?
- Before creating a new website: Build an initial keyword strategy.
- Before writing important content: Research keywords and search intent.
- When targeting a new topic: Find new keyword opportunities.
- When traffic drops: Review rankings, competitors, and search trends.
- For seasonal content: Check changing search interest.
- When launching products or services: Research what potential customers search for.
- Every few months: Review existing keyword performance and discover new opportunities.
- When search behavior changes: Update your keyword and content strategy.
Final Thoughts
Keyword research is a crucial part of an effective SEO strategy. It enables you to know your target audience, find important topics, and create content that answers users’ search queries.
In addition to focusing on the number of searches, take into account such factors as relevance, intent, competition, and business importance of keywords. You need to use various keyword research tools, work with Google’s search results, look at your competitors’ pages, and regularly revise your keyword strategy for the find opportunities that will increase your SEO performance.