If a company wants to be found online they have to base their content outputs on thorough keyword research. It’s the starting point and step that should precede the creation of every piece of content that will be published.
Keyword research ensures the company’s content is targeting the right audience by writing about topics the customers are actually searching for online. After all, a company can write the most brilliant piece of content about a topic they are passionate about, but if nobody on the web is looking for that topic this piece of content won’t attract any new customers or leads.
Keyword research is all about finding out what demand there is and then tailoring content to fulfill that demand. Below, we’ll explain exactly how to do just that. With these top tips and tricks, anyone can perform keyword research like a pro. They can also be used for keyword monitoring to ensure existing content performs as it should.
To keep costs to a minimum, we’ll also highlight free keyword research tools that don’t require hefty fees but can still provide powerful keyword insights.
Importance of Keyword Research
Search engines like Google aim to provide users with solutions to their problems as quickly as possible. The user types a query (keyword) into the search engine and the search engine tries to deliver the page that best answers the query.
Keyword research is the practice of looking at what exact queries (keywords) users are typing into the search engine. By analyzing what keywords are popular among the target audience, a company can create relevant content to target those keywords.
The better the keyword research, the better the chance a company’s content targets and reaches the right audience. This, in turn, means the company will attract more potential customers, thus generating more profit.
As such, keyword research is at the very basis of any search engine optimization (SEO) strategy and when done right it can be a significant contributing factor to the company’s bottom line.
Keyword Research Tips and Tricks
Keyword research can be done in multiple ways using either free or paid tools. Below, we’ll run through some of the most common ways to perform keyword research. But first, a few tips on what to look for when performing keyword research.
What’s important to note is that most keyword research tools will mention a metric called search volume or average monthly searches. This number indicates how often users (on average) search for this specific keyword every month.
The higher the search volume, the more people searching, the higher the potential reach. However, higher doesn’t always mean better when it comes to keyword research.
For example, a word like “running shoes” will have a high search volume, but the competition will be incredibly fierce. A local one-person shoe shop will never be able to rank for a keyword like that because they would be competing with industry giants such as Nike or Adidas.
Instead, it can often pay off, especially for smaller businesses, to look for more targeted, longer tail keywords that might have less search volume but therefore also less competition. This increases the chances of ranking well. Many keyword tools indicate the difficulty to rank for a keyword.
Another tip when performing keyword research is to not just focus on one keyword for one piece of content. Try to find related keywords that match the topic and user intent to target multiple keywords within one piece of content rather than having to create many separate pieces. This allows for much more traffic potential. Most tools provide a list of related keywords.
Using Best Keyword Research Tools
Keeping those tips in mind it’s time to find the right keyword research tool. There are hundreds of great tools out there, ranging from free and basic to incredibly expensive yet equally powerful.
Free Keyword Research Tools:
Small businesses might not always have the resources to invest in expensive marketing tools. Luckily, there are many ways in which a company can perform decent keyword research using completely free tools.
In fact, many of the industry-leading SEO tools provide free keyword research tools to help small businesses get started without having to commit to monthly fees. Examples include Ahrefs free keyword generator and Neil Patel’s Ubersuggest.
Some tools even have handy Google Chrome extensions that show keyword data for anything one types into Google. A popular example is Keyword Surfer.
Lastly, for people specifically looking for related keywords, we highly recommend Answer the Public. It’s both useful and fun to use!
Scraping Google Data:
Looking for something a bit more automated to perform keyword research and monitor keywords at scale?
Then scraping Google data can provide a great, free solution. One can use a web scraper to scrape all the search engine results for a specific keyword. This allows the user to analyze, monitor, and track keyword performance at scale without having to spend a lot of money on an expensive tool. For example, SERPMaster is a great tool for keyword research – it scrapes Google search result data on a large scale based on one’s preferred location, device, or browser. Here you can learn more about how it works for keyword research.
Paid Keyword Research Tools:
Lastly, there is the option to pay for the more premium tools. There is a wide range of paid tools out there, ranging from relatively simple keyword research tools or keyword monitoring tools to elaborate tools that incorporate every part of the search engine optimization process.
Such tools are incredibly useful but, especially for small businesses, very expensive. Common examples include Ahrefs, SEMrush, and Searchmetrics.
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