The Art of Keyword Research in 2019- Everything You Need to Know
Keyword research is a principal SEO practice to determine a host of words and phrases that people use to find relevant information from a search engine.
For example, you own an e-Commerce store selling a broad selection of sports shoes in London. Now, the website relevant keywords include sports shoes, sports shoes in London, best London sports shoes, etc.
When To Do Keyword Research?
While keyword research is a crucial step when formulating search engine optimization strategy, but one can amend the keywords under the following scenarios:
Planning New Content Ideas
Optimizing Existing Content
Looking For New Niche
The Evolution of Keyword Research
The way marketers search for relevant keywords has evolved over the years.
During the early 2000s, it was narrowed to find probable search queries and terms on Google’s Keyword Planner and picking the apt ones based on competition level, search volume, and various other factors.
A few years later, three algorithms of Google transformed the way we do keyword research:-
Google Panda
This Google update penalized sites with duplicate and low-quality content. So, now, SEO professionals cannot overlook the quality of the website content.
Google Penguin
Google directed this update at penalizing sites with unnatural usage of keywords. So, Google Penguin ends the ubiquitous tradition of keyword stuffing.
Google Hummingbird
This Google update is a revolution in the world of internet browsers, as the SERP results become more relevant and user-centric.
3 Stages of Website Keyword Research
Finding Keywords
Analyzing the keywords
Implementing the Keywords
How To Find The Right Set of Keywords?
Before commencing the keyword research, “Know Your Niche.” Have a deep understanding of sub & trending topics in your industry.
Let’s say you run a blog about weight loss. You don’t need to be an SEO pro to recognize the relevant keywords to target - weight loss, diet, etc.
However, there is one substantial issue with these keywords that they (short-tail keywords) are naturally competitive, so hard to rank. But, if you dig a little deeper into the website niche, you’ll recognize what the prospective audience is interested in, and discover keywords like:
Best Weight Loss Recipes
Healthy Ways to Loss Weight
Does Calorie Works?
Intermediate Fasting for Weight Loss
All the above search queries are long-tail keywords. A long-tail keyword exhibit the following properties.
Comprise three or More Words
Has Search Volume, Therefore Less Competition
Has High Engagement and Better Conversation Rate
In a nutshell, the website content strategy must revolve around resolving the questions and doubts regarding your company/industry. And, long-tail keywords are powerful to accomplish that.
You can seek the professional expertise of a trustworthy SEO agency in Santa Monica to pick relevant keywords aligning with your website.
The two fundamental approaches to do keyword research are:
Search-Based On Seed Keywords
From the name, one can easily tell that this approach is about knowing the seed keywords and creating the rest of the keywords.
Let’s take an example: you are a corporate coffee machine supplier, the seed keywords include corporate coffee machines.
Use the seed keyword to determine both short and long-tail keywords by entering it into the search box of a keyword planner to generate instant results.
The suggestions you’ll receive are based on topical relevance and completion of the seed keyword such as the best “Corporate Machines.”
The recommendations usually come with an in-sight SEO metric to help you select the best keywords.
Competitor-Based Keyword Research
With numerous advanced keyword research tools out there, it’s no longer a herculean task to find relevant keywords targeted for different pages of your business website.
Nowadays, we don’t need to browse one page after the other to pinpoint the focus keywords of our strongest market rival. Hire a digital agency such as Imprint to perform a comprehensive competitor analysis.
How to Analyze The Keywords?
The three key attributes influencing the potential of SEO keywords are relevancy, popularity, and difficulty.
Relevance
The Keyword Must Comply with the Search Intent of the User
Popularity
The Keyword Must Have Good Enough Search Volume
Difficulty
The Keyword Must Not Be Too Complicated to Rank in Google
Where To Use SEO Keywords?
The Title (Both h1 and Title Tag)
Meta Description
Within FIRST 100-150 words of the Content
At Least One Subheading (H2, H3, etc.)
A Couple of Times in the Text (Naturally)
Don’t
1 Long-Tail Keyword = 1 Article Don’t Follow This Pattern
Don’t Think Too Much About Number of Keywords and Their Placement
Don’t Strictly Follow the Keyword Density Figure
Never Stuff Keywords