SEO 101: Keyword Research


SEO 101: Keyword Research
 August 4, 2017

Keyword research is essential for improving the SEO of your website and getting the most out of your SEM campaign. Discovering search trends and popular industry updates is critical to staying up-to-date with competitors and practices. To help you harness the power of keywords and improve the ranking of your paid ads and website, there are several easy-to-use tools that can help you uncover valuable metrics you may not already know.

Do Your Homework

When building your first keyword list for your website or SEM campaign, you might be inclined to use words that are closely related to your product or service. In some cases this might not be a bad idea, but to get the most out of your keywords, you need to do a little research as well. The first step you should take in building your initial keyword list is gaining a firm understanding of both your business and the industry you compete in. Your research should address topics like your:

Target Market (Age of Customers/Buying Habits/Popular Fads & Trends)

Products/Services (What sells & What Doesn’t)

Competitor’s websites/ads (What keywords are your competitors ranking for?)

Keywords related to your industry (What’s Hot? What’s New in Your Industry)

Understanding these areas will give you a better idea of how your customers might conduct their online searches. It could give you valuable insight such as what keywords they may be searching for, what topics they relate your product or service with, and unknown search metrics you may not know.

Breaking down all this data and turning it into valuable information can be a challenge. Luckily there are plenty of tools that can help you quickly identify keyword trends and make the most of your SEO or SEM efforts.

Google Keyword Planner

Google AdWords is one of the most popular platforms to conduct Search Engine Marketing using paid ads. In conjunction with a user’s website, Google AdWords helps users publish paid ads and drive traffic to their landing pages. One of best tools offered by Google AdWords is Google Keyword Planner.

Google Keyword Planner links directly to your AdWords account and provides you with recommendations and insight into what internet users are searching for when they see your ad. Along with other valuable search metrics, Google Keyword Planner provides you with a list of top performing keywords used in your campaign as well as relevant keywords related to your product or service.

Keyword planner also gives you bid estimates and expected number of monthly searches for keywords you are considering. Google Keyword Planner is a powerful tool for discovering industry data and keyword trends. If you’re new to Google AdWords, Google offers step-by-step tutorial courses to help anyone harness the power of this incredible tool.

Moz Keyword Explorer

Moz Keyword Explorer is one of the latest additions to Moz SEO Tools. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Moz, they are the leading expert source of information and tools relating to everything SEO. For several years they’ve been the go-to source for SEO blogs, webinars, instructional materials, and updates. Moz Keyword Explorer is the latest tool experts use for keyword research.

What makes Moz Keyword Explorer (MKE) different from other research tools is the depth of data it provides to users. Like other keyword tools, MKE provides a list of relevant keywords related to your website or product/service. MKE goes one step further by providing you with valuable SEO metrics for your list of keywords.

Keyword volume, difficulty, and opportunity are just a few of the individual metrics Keyword Explorer calculates. It also gives you a prediction of search volume for each keyword along with a detailed analysis SERP (Search Engine Result Page) for Google search results.

Moz Keyword Explorer is one of the most comprehensive keywords tools available for SEO experts and businesses looking to improve their search results. Their tools and blogs are essential for anyone who wants to learn more about SEO and gain an advantage in the market.

Google Trends

Google Trends is another powerful keyword research tool offered by Google. Similar to Moz Keyword Explorer, Google Trends allows users to discover valuable data related to individual keywords and phrases. It breaks down usage data based on different segmenting options. You can segment usage patterns based on city, region or even popularity.

Through an easy-to-use search bar at the top of the page, Google Trends gives you all the necessary keyword metrics in a simple to understand layout. It produces a list of related keywords and topics related to your keyword, a graph displaying search volume across the Google Search Network, and other valuable data that will help you refine your keywords list.

Google Trends is another useful tool offered by Google to help users get the most out of their websites and PPC campaigns. Whether you’re a seasoned SEO expert, or just starting out, Google Trends can help you discover the latest trends and insight of internet users.

Keyword Research Best Practices

Building the perfect list of keywords for your website or SEO campaign takes time and dedication. From researching different trends to discovering what keywords work best for your business can be a challenge. To help you make the most out of your research efforts we’ve put together a few best practices you should always follow.

Relevant Keywords

Search Engines for SEO and Ad Rank calculators for PPC campaigns always prioritize keywords that are relevant to user’s searches as well as your content. You should only use keywords that are absolutely relevant to your website and products/services. If you step outside this guideline you may find yourself not ranking successfully or being penalized.

Quality vs. Quantity

Similar to relevant keywords, the quality of your keywords determines ad rank and SEO. Listing every keyword isn’t necessarily the best approach to getting results. Research relevant and popular keywords related to your business and the results will speak for themselves.

Blogs about keywords (Products/Services)

Updating content is a great way to help search engines crawl and index your website. Through embedding relevant keywords in simple language into your site, you can help improve your website ranking for search results. Post regular blogs about industry topics and practices is a great way to start out.

Keyword research is a popular topic among digital marketers and SEO experts. To help rank your website and achieve the highest ad rank, its essential to research popular tends and practices in the field. Feel like your website could be ranking higher? Looking to put together a PPC campaign? Think VIG!