A Beginner’s Guide to How to do Keyword Research for SEO

In the last blog, we learned about what are keywords? Why one should pay attention to keywords in SEO? And, lastly, the different types of keywords should be in action!

That was all theoretical!

But, how to do the keyword research? And what is keyword research?

While Google is keeping us all up and on toes with all the algorithm updates! We all have to be vigilant and consistent while be to optimize our websites with the right keyword research. 

To be clear and sound here it is what one should remember - 

Keyword Research is where it all starts! It is super-important to start off on the right foot!

What is Keyword Research?

It is a process of finding the best and the most relevant keywords to be included in your content! To be precise, it is a process of finding and analyzing actual search terms that people enter to the search engines! Creating a list of right keywords and the right placement of them in the content is vital to improve the searchability of your content and moreover it should reach the right audience. 

“Keyword research is a building block that can help inform content strategy as well as the best digital marketing strategy!”

Why is keyword research important?

Keyword research tells you what topics people are searching for! And, this is what we actually require to put our business ahead and get amazing growth. 

So, here it is why we have to have a great grip on keyword research - 

• Using keywords that match a person’s search in your content helps Google understand the intent and what type of queries you want your content to rank for!
• It also allows you to target the right audience with your content. 
• Guides you about what topics people care about. 

In all, by researching keywords according to search volume and intent of the searcher, one can solve the questions that most searchers want!

Let’s begin how one can carry out keyword research for your SEO strategy!

Finding the Keyword Ideas

01. Start with making a list of important, relevant topics based on your business:

These will form the base for the keyword research and so work on it well! And, TBH it is the most easy-peasy work. Search for the words that define your niche and trust me, finding it is a no-brainer task!

For example, let’s assume we’re launching an online mobile store with different mobile accessories, the first words that would come into your mind will be - 

Mobile accessories, 

mobiles online, 

gadgets for mobile phones.

 Right?

Easy peasy right?

Sit down, think about all the topics that you want to rank for in terms of a generic bucket! You will come with about 5-10 topics that are important to your business. Put yourself in the place of a buyer persona. 

Note that - these topics aren’t the keywords! They are just topics that will lead to the right keywords. 

02. Wikipedia table of contents:

You can also find the topics from the real player - Wikipedia! It is a jackpot to find the topics! With loads of articles curated well and submitted on Wikipedia, one can easily find the ideas. All you have to do is head over the search page of Wikipedia and search for the topic that defines your niche. This will display the content, here you will find the Table of Content which has questions or subparts. These sub-topics are awesome keywords!

For further mining, you can even go to the related pages and hunt down more keywords. 

03. Search related to:

Write the one niche of your website on the search engine and hit search! You will find that at the bottom of the page you have some “Searches Related to” given. This will help you find some more keywords. 

04. YouTube or Google Search:

You might have noticed the search suggestions shown when you type just one or two words! Well, this is how you can get a good grip over the keyword research! These are great keywords to add to your list! 

Why? Because  Google suggests the keywords that people are searching for! Amazing right? You can do the same with the youtube search panel also. 

Keyword Research Tools 

Tools are required to make the entire process a lot easier! I’ve enlisted some of the tools that can be used to up your ‘Keyword Research’ manifold.

01. Google Keyword Planner -

It is a free Google Ads Tool for new or experienced advertisers! It can be used to search for keywords and see how a list of keywords might perform. It is the most trust-worthy platform to search for the keyword ideas, as the data is directly derived from Google.

So you see the RELIABILITY!

Plus, you can apply filters as per your requirements.

02. SEM Rush:

SEMrush is a great platform that is a huge time saver and also shows exact keywords that a site already ranks for! It’s research promises to enrich your web content and ad copy with the best keywords, and also promises to increase your web presence. In all, you get the above-mentioned benefits -

• Right keywords for SEO and PPC campaigns.
• Get phrase matches and related keywords.
• Get long-tail keywords.
• Explore multinational and multilingual environments.

If you want to invest in a paid keyword tool, then this is the best one!

Gives all the related and reliable keywords in seconds!

03. Ahrefs:

No, it is not just a link building tool, it also provides a vast keyword explorer! It provides a list of less variant but reliable keywords and also gives multiple filters by which you can easily operate and list down the best keywords encircling your business or website. 

How to Choose the Best Keywords?

Now that you have listed down all the keywords and are ready to use it but do you know, there are still some filters to be applied to get those rank-winning and organic-traffic preaching keywords. And, it is not an arduous job all you have to do is follow the above-mentioned points -

01. Search volume -

The more the people search for a particular keyword, the more search volume it has! And, ultimately by using them in your web content, you can drive organic traffic. But the question is what’s a good search volume? 

The answer is it varies and depends on the industry or niche of business. For this, you have to create a list of long-tail, mid-tail, and short keywords and depending upon their search volume categorize them. Decide the best that suits your industry. 

02. Organic Click-Through-Rate - 

Search volume only gives the best keywords that are being searched mostly, but it is just one part of the story. To have a full control of the keyword research you have to find the ones with good organic Click-through-rates. For this, you have to look at the SERPs for the target keyword, if there are more snippets then you are not getting enough clicks for this, as competitors are already out there making into the featured snippets. 

For this, the best thing to do is to use the tools! Ahrefs provide the full content for the keywords CTR. you can find the clicks that a keyword gets and accordingly use the ones with high CTR. 

03. Remove any difficulties:

If you are new in the business and in the digital world, then it is best to play low-key! Yes, try to rank on the keywords that are not used by the ones sitting on Rank1! For this, search the keyword that you think is the best, and if there are featured snippets or content by Google or any other sites given, make sure, that you don’t focus on them more. And, focus on rank above the other ones on the first page. 

PRO TIP - Focus on long-tail keywords as it is slow but it drives the most traffic!

This was all about the keyword research! 

Amazing right? A single word has so much importance in the digital world!

If interested, you can learn digital marketing at the Orionators School of Learning – Asia's fastest-growing digital marketing training institute and know about the different modules including Facebook marketing, closely.