Do you want to rank on the first page of Google? If you have a new website or are new to blogging, then you need to do keyword research. By doing this research, you will be able to choose the right keywords for your audience. This will help you rank on the first page of Google and help you rank on the right keywords.
In this article, we’ll discuss 14 tips to help you do comprehensive keyword research.
1. Understand your business model
The first step in any keyword research exercise is to understand your business model.
Are you a local business? Do you sell products online? Are you a publisher that makes money from advertising? Do you offer a subscription-based product or service?
All of these questions and more will help you understand the strategy behind your website and business goals. And, in turn, will help you understand what types of keywords you should be targeting.
2. Create a list of relevant topics
Now that you have some keywords to work with, it’s time to start thinking about the topics you want to create content around.
These should be the topics that are most important to your business, and which you’ll want to rank for on Google.
For example, if you run a restaurant, you might want to create content around topics like “best restaurants in [your city]” or “how to cook [your signature dish].”
These topics will form the basis of your content strategy, and will help you to create a list of possible blog post titles.
3. Fill in topics with keywords
Once you have a few topics in mind, you can start to fill in the blanks with keywords.
This is where you can start to get creative. Let’s say you’re planning to write a blog post on the best ways to cook eggs. You might start by searching “egg recipes” to see what comes up.
You can use the keywords that you find in the search results to help you brainstorm new topics, or you can use them to fill in the blanks for your existing topics.
For example, if you see that “scrambled eggs” is a popular keyword in the search results, you could add a section on scrambled eggs to your blog post.
4. Understand how difficult it is to rank
The more popular a keyword is, the harder it will be to rank for, especially if your website is new.
To figure out how difficult a keyword will be to rank for, look at the websites that are already ranking in the top 10 spots for that keyword.
If you see a lot of high-authority websites like Wikipedia or Amazon, it’s going to be tough to outrank them.
Instead, look for keywords where the top 10 ranking websites are similar to yours in terms of size and authority.
You can do this by looking at the domain authority (DA) and page authority (PA) of the top ranking websites in the SERP. Domain authority and page authority are scores that predict how well a website or specific page will rank in the SERP. You can use a tool like Moz’s Link Explorer to check the DA and PA of a website.
If you see a lot of top ranking websites with low DA and PA scores, that’s a good sign that you can compete for that keyword.
5. Understand whether you can rank for a keyword
There are some keywords that are so competitive, ranking for them is next to impossible.
For example, it would be incredibly difficult for a new company to rank for a keyword like “email marketing.” That’s because there are already so many established companies that are already ranking for this keyword.
So, how do you know whether a keyword is too competitive to rank for? The best way to find out is by looking at the top-ranking pages for that keyword.
Ask yourself: does my website have a realistic chance of outranking these pages?
If the answer is no, then you may want to consider targeting a different keyword.
You can also use keyword research tools to see how difficult it would be to rank for a particular keyword. For example, SEMrush gives each keyword a difficulty score from 1-100, with 100 being the most difficult.
6. Understand search intent
Search intent is the motivation behind a search query. It’s what the person using the search engine wants to accomplish.
There are four main types of search intent:
1. Informational: The searcher wants to find information. This could be anything from a simple fact to a comprehensive guide.
2. Navigational: The searcher wants to find a specific website or web page.
3. Commercial: The searcher wants to buy something but hasn’t decided what yet. They’re looking for a product review or the best products in a specific category.
4. Transactional: The searcher is ready to buy and wants to visit a website where they can make a purchase.
To find the search intent behind a keyword, type it into Google and take a look at the search engine results page (SERP).
The type of results you see will give you a good idea of the search intent behind the keyword you’re researching.
7. Group keywords
Once you have a list of keywords, it’s a good idea to group them based on their relevancy to your business and website structure.
Grouping keywords will help you to better understand what content you need to create for your website, and it will help you to better understand what pages you need to create.
It will also help you to better understand what keywords you should be targeting with your content.
8. Check how your competitors are doing
After you’ve brainstormed a list of potential keywords, it’s time to see what your competitors are doing.
Competitor keyword research is a great way to find new keywords and to see what’s working for your competition.
Start by identifying who your main competitors are. You can do this by searching for your target keywords and seeing which websites show up in the search results.
Once you’ve identified your competitors, you can use a keyword research tool to see which keywords they are ranking for.
This will give you a good idea of which keywords are worth targeting and which ones you should avoid.
You can also use this information to see which keywords your competitors are not targeting and to find new keyword opportunities.
9. Use keyword research tools
If you’re not already using a keyword research tool, you’re missing out on a lot of opportunities to find great keywords.
There are many keyword research tools out there, but the best ones are those that provide you with lots of keyword suggestions and help you filter and organize them in a way that makes sense for your business.
Some of the most popular keyword research tools include:
• Ahrefs
• Semrush
• Moz Keyword Explorer
• Google Keyword Planner
• Ubersuggest
• KeywordTool.io
• SpyFu
• SERPstat
• Keyword Sheeter
• WordStream
These tools will help you find new keyword ideas, get keyword suggestions, and see how many people are searching for specific keywords. They’ll also help you see how competitive a keyword is and how much traffic you can expect to get from it.
10. Study search trends
Search trend analysis is an important part of keyword research. For one, it can help you identify new keywords and topics to target.
For example, if you’re using a keyword research tool like SEMrush, you can look at the “keyword magic” tool to identify new keywords and topics to target based on current trends.
You can also use Google Trends to see what’s currently popular in your industry and what people are searching for.
11. Study your niche
You can also use keyword research to study your niche. This can help you to better understand the industry you’re working in and the main topics and subtopics you should be covering in your content.
To do this, simply enter a broad keyword related to your niche. Then, look at the related keywords that come up in the results. What other topics are people searching for that are related to your keyword? What other problems are they trying to solve?
You can then use these related keywords to find even more related keywords and topics.
12. Study your audience
Finally, remember that keywords are not just words. They are ideas and concepts that help you understand what your audience is looking for online.
So, as you do your keyword research, take the time to study your audience. Understand who they are and what they want. This will help you create a more comprehensive list of keywords and topics.
One of the best ways to do this is to create buyer personas. Buyer personas are fictional representations of your ideal customers. They help you understand who your audience is, what they want, and how you can best reach them.
13. Study your competitors
If you have a good idea of who your competitors are, you can use them to your advantage in keyword research.
You can find out what keywords your competitors are ranking for and use that data to help you identify keywords that you should be targeting.
There are a few different ways to find out what keywords your competitors are ranking for. One of the easiest ways is to use a keyword research tool like Ahrefs or SEMrush.
These tools allow you to enter your competitor’s website URL and see a list of the keywords that they are ranking for. You can then use that data to help you identify keywords that you should be targeting.
By studying your competitors, you can get a better idea of what keywords are important in your industry and use that data to help you create a list of keywords to target.
14. Study your keywords
The work doesn’t stop once you’ve decided on your target keywords. You’ll need to continually study your keyword performance to make sure your content is still relevant.
If you’re not ranking for your target keywords, you may need to make some changes to your content. Make sure you’re using your keywords in your title tags, headers, and meta descriptions. You can also add more content to your page to make it more comprehensive. An AI writing assistant can get this done quickly.
If you’re ranking well for your target keywords, you may want to consider creating more content around those keywords. This can help you increase your visibility on the search engine results page (SERP) and drive more traffic to your site.
By studying your keywords, you’ll be able to make sure your content is always up to date and relevant.
Conclusion
Keyword research is a fundamental part of online marketing, and it can help you find your customers and increase your website’s traffic. To learn more, you can read about our keyword research tools.
