If you’re relatively new to SEO, putting together a successful campaign can seem completely overwhelming and unnecessarily complicated. Where do you start? And do you even stand a chance of ranking amongst so much competition?
The answer to the latter question is yes — if you make smart decisions. And that really comes down to keyword research. Your keyword research methodology will determine how much you can expect to spend on SEO and which phrases you should be targeting to increase rankings, traffic, and conversions. As a bonus, the information you gather during the keyword research process can help you zero in on topics for content creation and figure out what your competitors are already doing well.
In other words, keyword research isn’t something you can skip. But how do you go about doing it? While there’s not one single method used by marketers and that’s guaranteed to produce exemplary results for every campaign, there are a few basic steps you’ll want to include in this process.
Step 1: Brainstorm Possibilities
If you’re having trouble figuring out where to start with your keyword research, it might be helpful to look at where you’ve already been. Think about the keywords you’ve focused on in the past; even if you weren’t executing any kind of real SEO strategy, you probably knew of at least a few phrases that your customers were likely to use when searching for the solutions provided by your business.
Keep in mind that the keywords you were casually using in content creation before might not be realistic targets for your new SEO campaign — particularly if you chose broad terms and are in a competitive sector. But this can act as a good starting point. Then, you’ll want to expand your list to include different variations of keywords and search terms that you might not have originally considered. You can even make use of Google’s autocomplete or suggested search data for ideas.
Step 2: Gather Information
Next, it’s time to take a closer look at the list of potential search terms you’ve compiled and assess whether they’re solid choices for your campaign. You can use a keyword tool to determine how much search volume a given keyword has (e.g., how popular it is) and is competitiveness (e.g., how difficult it would be to rank on that term).
Keep in mind that you shouldn’t necessarily target the keywords that receive the most search queries. While this means more people are searching for that term, that will also mean those terms are harder to rank on. In addition, search volume doesn’t necessarily capture user intent. It might be that those searches don’t actually translate into conversions, which means you could be targeting a keyword that doesn’t help your business grow. You’ll want to make sure the keywords you end up choosing are those that result in sales; this may mean picking keywords with lower search volumes, in some cases. The more information you can gather about a given keyword, the better off you’ll be.
During this time, you should also try to assess the keywords your competitors are targeting. In some cases, you may not yet be in a position to knock them off of the rankings perch. If a big competitor in your industry is currently in the number one position in SERPs for a broad term, you’re not going to oust them right away. What you can do is improve your website, obtain backlinks, and target long-tail keywords in the interim to boost your ranking signals and domain authority.
Step 3: Select and Optimize
Once you’ve narrowed down the list, it’s time to finalize your choices and start optimizing your website for those terms.
Ideally, you’ll want to create a list of high-volume keywords with low competition. More than likely, this list will include some long-tail keywords, which are more specific. While they may not have as many monthly searches, they may more accurately capture the intent of a user and have a better rate of conversions.
You’ll want to categorize your list of keywords according to your business goals and figure out how you’ll map those keywords to landing pages (which may already exist or may need to be created). You’ll then use these keywords in various ways on your site copy and blog post content to provide a sense of context and ensure search engines understand your site’s relevance.
Keep in mind that you don’t have to stick to this list forever, nor should you. Target keywords should be changed over time to reflect new goals or areas of focus. At a certain point, you may be able to adjust your keywords to see whether you can outrank your competitor — but remember to be realistic, especially when you’re first starting out.
While there are many possible ways to conduct keyword research, you’ll want to establish a process for yourself. Trying to “wing” your SEO without any real industry insights will only result in frustration and unnecessary waste. Keyword research can actually become a much more complex process, but these steps can act as an introductory foundation when you’re not sure of how to begin.
We hope this has helped to get you started optimizing your site and improve your rankings in search engines. If you would rather our team handles your SEO for you, feel free to click the “Free Phone Consultation” above!