A lot of changes have been introduced to Google’s ranking algorithm in the past few years. Earlier, ranking in the search engines was a cakewalk. Today, securing the first position on the search results has become quite challenging. Even established companies that have been following SEO and SEM marketing for years find it difficult to thrive in the competitive market.
Technically, getting your website noticed in the search engine is as simple as targeting the right keywords. Well, it is easier said than done. You need to target the most suitable, less competitive, and long-tail keywords that have a high search volume. Besides, you need to create a content marketing strategy that satisfies your target audience and search bots.
There is a lot more to keyword research than finding a bunch of long-tail keywords that fit the services and products your company offers. If you want your content to rank on the top of the search engine, you are going to need to understand your target market and the keywords your customers tend to use when searching for the same products. Simply put, keyword research or keyword planning is an SEO practice that enables webmasters to find the best keywords for their content.
What Exactly is Keyword Research?
Keyword research isn’t a one-and-done practice. It rather needs hard work and proper planning. You need to perform keyword research regularly to stay ahead of your competitors. If you want to stay connected with your audience and attract new prospects to your website, then keyword research is the first step to build your brand in the digital world.
The Internet has become the leading and dominant marketing channel for brands that want to reach out to their audience. With more than 3.77 billion people using Google and other search engines for their regular search requirements, you have an opportunity to get your brand in front of 50% of the total population through Google.
A considerable amount of your organic traffic comes from the keywords you target. Your keyword strategy will help your audience determine what your brand is known for. Most importantly, it gives them a glimpse of how your company is better than other similar brands in the market. With that being said, it makes sense for brands to know the best and most relevant keywords that can drive organic traffic to their website. Remember that even search engine marketing will not work for your brand if you do not target the right keywords.
The Context Matters!
Let’s understand the concept with an example. Here we’ve taken the keyword “digital marketing”. Suppose you run a marketing blog that’s designed to educate beginners about the power of digital marketing tools and how your company can help startups grow their business online with the best digital marketing tools.
So, you target the keyword ‘digital marketing in your content to get your company ranked in the search engine. What are the chances your blog will show up on the first page of the search results? Even if it somehow ranks on the first page, know that “digital marketing” is not the keyword your audience will use when searching for a professional and experienced SEO company or a qualified social media marketing team.
The reason is simple – people can’t find the relevant information with general keywords. But, that doesn’t mean the keyword “digital marketing” has no value. Many websites are still ranking for this keyword. But, the point is the competition is getting fiercer every day. So, ranking for the basic and most popular keywords is nearly impossible.
Steps for Conducting Keyword Research
Keyword research helps you find the terms and phrases that your website is most likely to rank for. Here, we are presenting a few important steps for conducting keyword research. Before we start, remember that keyword research matters. Your website SEO is as good as dead without a strong keyword strategy.
1. Create a List of the Most Relevant and Interesting Topics
As mentioned before, keyword research is a consistent and a little complicated process. You will have to start with the topics first. Create topics around your products and services. Never use promotional content. Your topic needs to be generic i.e. something your audience is highly likely to search. You could take help from a professional blogger to come up with the most relevant topics. Alternatively, type your industry-specific keyword in the Google search bar and create a topic around the most-asked questions.
2. Fill these Topics with the Right Keywords
Once you have a couple of topics selected for your blog, the next step is to find keywords that blend naturally with the topic. These are the keywords your website is going to rank for in the search engine. In other words, the terms you place throughout your blogs will be the keywords that our audience will use to conduct searches.
For example, if you sell CRM software, then marketing automation is probably the first topic you will target. Now, you have to brainstorm some keywords that your customers will use when looking for a customer relationship management system on the internet. For “marketing automation”, the best keywords are – lead nurturing, marketing automation software, top automation software, and more. You will find better and most-searched keywords if you research the phrases on SEMRush.
If you are having trouble finding the best keywords, you could just stick to the keywords your website is already ranking for. Remember that the more keywords you add to your SEO campaign, the higher your SERP ranking will be. However, random keywords will not make a difference. We highly recommend you use keyword planner tools like SEMRush to get the best phrases. Talk to your customers to get an idea of what terms they use to search for your products.
3. Put Your Customers Before Everything
Google prioritizes its audience and so should you. If you want to rank well on Google, you will have put yourself in your customers’ shoes. Try to address their problems. Fortunately, you don’t have to brainstorm topics or keyword ideas. A simple Google search will give you plenty of information about the most asked questions, most popular topics, most ranked keywords, and the best posts. If that seems difficult, you can use SEMRush for in-depth keyword research.
4. Use High-quality and Reliable Keyword Research Tool
You can brainstorm a few ideas. But, you can’t match your competitors if you do not tap into some reliable keyword research tools. They are helpful in two ways. One, the automated tools save your time by coming up with a list of your industry-specific keywords. Second, these keyword ideas are quite effective.
One such tool that most webmasters and SEO specialists rely on is SEMRush. It helps narrow down your options to the least competitive yet most searched keywords. You only have to type the seed keyword or your topic in the search bar. That’s it! This tool will give you some interesting alternatives, which may work wonders for your brand.
5. Research Your Competitors’ Keyword Strategy
By now, you must have already found your top 10 competitors that are ranking high in the search engine. Since your competitors sell the same products and services as you, they must be using the most relevant and industry-specific keywords. If they have secured a top spot on the search result page, then there is a good chance they have adopted the best keyword strategy. You do not need to copy the keywords your rivals are using.
But, you need to take an idea from their keyword planning. It’s important to know the keywords your competitors are ranking for. Mostly, the keyword strategy that’s working for your rivals will work for your brand too (given that you offer the exact products and services).
Identifying your competitor’s keyword strategy will give you an insight into the most competitive and high-ranked keywords. It also gives you an opportunity to use the keywords your competitors have not used yet. Conducting research on your competitors’ keyword strategy is as simple as using the best research tool. Again, we will recommend SEMRush as it has one of the best competitors’ research functions. You only need to type the competitor’s URL. There you go! The tool will return with a list of keywords your rivals are ranking for.
How to Select the Best Keywords for Your Website?
If you use a keyword research tool, you will find plenty of keyword ideas. You can use 2-3 keywords and more (depending on your requirements). So, which keywords will be the best for your site? Which keyword will help improve your SERP ranking? Which keyword will bring people to your website? Let’s find out.
· Choose Relevant Keywords
Relevance is the first thing the search bots consider when ranking your website. They check the structure of your website, internal links, and the connection between different posts. Note that you can only get your keyword ranked if you manage to cater to your audiences’ requirements. Google will rank your keyword for relevance. So, it goes without saying that your keywords need to be relevant to your brand.
· Consider Volume
Many brand-new websites are ranking on the first page of the search results. But, what is the point in securing the first rank when your keyword has considerably low search volume? If no one searches for your keyword, then your high SERP rank on Google makes no sense. You research keywords to bring people to your website. So, you need to choose keywords that your audience will use to search their queries.
You can use SEMRush to measure the monthly search volume (MSV) of a keyword. This gives you a clear picture of the popularity of the specific keyword. If you want to make the best of your keyword strategy, then it’s important to know the keyword volume. A simple keyword volume search on SEMRush will help you know the total number of times a particular keyword is used for searches.
· Try to Add Long-Tail Keywords
Long-tail keywords, as the name suggests, are longer terms and phrases. As mentioned before, the majority of people use long-tail keywords on Google. They need the most relevant answers to their queries. That’s why they type the long phrases to find the most relevant website. Long-tail keywords help your audience find the best possible answers to their searched queries. Head terms, on the other hand, are shorter phrases. They are generic. Head terms have a high search volume. That makes them extremely competitive. Ranking for head terms can be hard.
If you were to search something about marketing, which term would you use?
- How to use digital marketing tools?
- Digital marketing
Most of you will type the second keyword. While the head terms have a high search volume, they do not bring organic traffic. You need to use long-tail keywords to get your brand in front of people who are actually interested in your services. After all, conversion is your main goal.
Long-tail keywords are quite specific. For example, if someone uses the term “digital marketing”, they might probably be looking for something generic, such as what is a digital marketing and how they can practice it. If you want to sell your digital marketing software, you will have to be more specific with your keywords. The keywords you pick must target the audience that is looking for digital marketing software.
The most important skill for a product leader is active listening. Be a good listener and you will naturally build trust across individuals, teams, and disciplines.
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The Best Keywords for SERP Ranking
There is no such thing as the “best keyword”. But, there are certain terms that have a higher search volume than others. With that being said, it is completely up to you to come up with an effective keyword strategy that can bring organic traffic to your website and convert your prospects into qualified leads.
Another important thing to note is that keyword is not the only factor that determines your SERP ranking. It is rather the combination of different SEO components, such as your content quality, off-page SEO, link building, and more.
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