how to do keyword research for sites

How to Do Keyword Research for SEO: A Beginner's Guide

Published: April 04, 2024

While Google keeps us on our toes with all the algorithm updates they keep rollin' out, one thing has stayed pretty consistent for inbound marketers looking to optimize their websites for search: keyword research.

In this post, we’ll define what keyword research is, why it’s important, how to conduct your research for your SEO strategy, and choose the right keywords for your website.

Table of Contents

What is keyword research?

Why is keyword research important, elements of keyword research, how to research keywords for your seo strategy, how to find and choose keywords for your website.

Keyword research is the process of finding and analyzing search terms that people enter into search engines with the goal of using that data for a specific purpose, often for search engine optimization (SEO) or general marketing. Keyword research can uncover queries to target, the popularity of these queries, their ranking difficulty, and more.

Keyword research helps you find which keywords are best to target and provides valuable insight into the queries that your target audience is actually searching on Google.

Insights from these actual search terms can help inform your content strategy as well as your larger marketing strategy.

People use keywords to find solutions when conducting research online.

So if your content is successful in getting in front of your audience as they conduct searches, you stand to gain more traffic. Therefore, you should be targeting those searches with content that features those keywords in a meaningful way.

Additionally, inbound methodology focuses less on creating content around what we want to tell people. Instead, we should be creating content around what people want to discover.

In other words, our audience is coming to us for helpful content that provides the answers they’re looking for.

In a nutshell, all of this starts with keyword research.

Conducting keyword research has many benefits, the most popular being:

Marketing Trend Insight

Conducting effective keyword research can provide you with insights into current marketing trends and help you center your content on relevant topics and keywords your audience is in search of.

Traffic Growth

When you identify the best-fitting keywords for the content you publish, the higher you’ll rank in search engine results — the more traffic you’ll attract to your website.

Customer Acquisition

If your business has content that other business professionals are looking for, you can meet their needs and provide them with a call-to-action that will lead them into the buyer journey from the awareness stage to the point of purchase.

By researching keywords for their popularity, search volume, and general intent, you can tackle the questions that most people in your audience want answers to.

Keywords vs. Topics

More and more, we hear how much SEO has evolved over just the last 10 years and how seemingly unimportant keywords have transformed our ability to rank well for the searches people make every day.

And to some extent, this is true, but in the eyes of an SEO professional, it’s a different approach. Rather, it’s the intent behind that keyword and whether or not a piece of content solves for that intent (we’ll talk more about intent in just a minute).

But that doesn’t mean keyword research is an outdated process. Let me explain:

Keyword research tells you what topics people care about and, assuming you use the right SEO tool, how popular those topics actually are among your audience.

The operative term here is topics, plural. By researching keywords that are getting a high volume of searches per month, you can identify and sort your content into topics or buckets that you want to create content on.

Then, you can use these topics to dictate which keywords you look for and target.

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There are three main elements I have discovered that you should pay attention to when conducting keyword research.

1. Relevance

Google ranks content for relevance.

This is where the concept of search intent comes in. Your content will only rank for a keyword if it meets the searchers’ needs.

In addition, your content must be the best resource out there for the query. After all, why would Google rank your content higher if it provides less value than other content that exists on the web?

2. Authority

Google will provide more weight to sources it deems authoritative.

That means you must do all you can to become an authoritative source by enriching your site with helpful, informative content and promoting that content to earn social signals and backlinks.

If you’re not seen as authoritative in the space, or if a keyword’s SERPs are loaded with heavy sources you can’t compete with (like Forbes or The Mayo Clinic), you have a lower chance of ranking unless your content is exceptional.

You may end up ranking on the first page for a specific keyword, but if no one ever searches for it, it will not result in traffic to your site. It's like setting up a shop in a ghost town.

Volume is measured by MSV (monthly search volume), which means the number of times the keyword is searched per month across all audiences.

• Make a list of important, relevant topics based on what you know about your business.
• Fill in those topic buckets with keywords.
• Understand how intent affects keyword research and analyze accordingly.
• Research related search terms.
• Use keyword research tools to your advantage.

I’m going to lay out a keyword research process you can follow to help you come up with a list of terms you should be targeting.

That way, you’ll be able to establish and execute a strong keyword strategy that helps you get found for the search terms you actually care about.

Step 1. Make a list of important, relevant topics based on what you know about your business.

To kick off this process, think about the topics you want to rank for in terms of generic buckets.

You’ll come up with about five to 10 topic buckets you think are important to your business, and then you’ll use those topic buckets to help come up with some specific keywords later in the process.

If you’re a regular blogger, these are probably the topics you blog about most frequently. Or perhaps they’re the topics that come up the most in sales conversations.

Put yourself in the shoes of your buyer personas . What types of topics would your target audience search that you’d want your business to get found for?

Drill down into your website’s traffic sources, and sift through your organic search traffic bucket to identify the keywords people are using to arrive at your site.

Repeat this exercise for as many topic buckets as you have.

Remember, if you’re having trouble coming up with relevant search terms, you can always head on over to your customer-facing colleagues — those who are in sales or service. Ask them what types of terms their prospects or customers have questions about.

Those are often great starting points for keyword research.

Here at HubSpot, we use the Search Insights Report in this part of the process. This template is designed to help you do the same and bucket your keywords into topic clusters, analyze MSV, and inform your editorial calendar and strategy.

Featured Resource: Search Insights Report Template

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Step 3. Understand how intent affects keyword research and analyze accordingly.

Like I said in the previous section, user intent is now one of the most pivotal factors in your ability to rank well on search engines like Google.

Today, it’s more important that your web page addresses the problem a searcher intended to solve than simply carries the keyword the searcher used. So, how does this affect the keyword research you do?

It’s easy to take keywords at face value, but unfortunately, keywords can have many different meanings beneath the surface.

Because the intent behind a search is so important to your ranking potential, you need to be extra careful about how you interpret the keywords you target.

Let’s say, for example, you’re researching the keyword “how to start a blog” for an article you want to create. “Blog” can mean a blog post or the blog website itself, and what a searcher’s intent is behind that keyword will influence the direction of your article.

Does the searcher want to learn how to start an individual blog post? Or do they want to know how to actually launch a website domain for the purposes of blogging?

If your content strategy is only targeting people interested in the latter, you’ll need to make sure of the keyword’s intent before committing to it.

To verify what a user’s intent is in a keyword, it’s a good idea to simply enter this keyword into a search engine yourself and see what types of results come up.

Make sure the type of content Google is displaying relates to your intention for the keyword.

Step 4. Research related search terms.

This is a creative step you may have already thought of when doing keyword research. If not, it’s a great way to fill out those lists.

If you’re struggling to think of more keywords people might be searching about a specific topic, take a look at the related search terms that appear when you plug in a keyword into Google.

When you type in your phrase and scroll to the bottom of Google’s results, you’ll notice some suggestions for searches related to your original input.

These keywords can spark ideas for other keywords you may want to take into consideration.

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Related articles.

The 12 Best Keyword Research Tools to Find the Right Keywords for SEO

Finding the Best Search Terms for Your Business: 10 Tools and Tips

6 Ways That Nonprofits Can Improve Their Keyword Research

How to Figure Out What Keywords Your Potential Customers are Using

The Definition of a Long-Tail Keyword [In Under 100 Words]

Is 2013 the Year Marketers Lose Keyword Research?

7 Keyword Research Mistakes That Stifle Your SEO Strategy

The Ultimate Guide for Mastering Long Tail Search

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A Step-By-Step Guide to Keyword Research (Bonus: Best Keyword Research Tools Compared)

Imagine getting over a quarter million visitors to your site every month. We did it thanks to keyword research:

That screenshot is from one of my sites called The Wandering RV . My wife and I grew this site from a brand new site to a quarter million monthly visits in just three years with less than 30 articles.

Yes, you also have to create great content and build links to that content, but those actions come AFTER you know the best keywords to target. Every successful SEO campaign begins with keyword research ; skip this step at your peril.

Ready to get started?

How to Do Keyword Research (Quick Steps):

Good keywords make or brake a successful SEO marketing campaign. Here’s the key steps to get started with keyword research :

Step 1 : Find keyword ideas based on key terms, related search, long-tail keywords, and LSI. Step 2 : Check the TRUE keyword difficulty and search volume. Step 3 : Determine user intent.

In today’s guide, I share a step-by-step guide to keyword research that covers not just how to find hundreds of great keywords, but also how to tell which ones can move the needle for your business and which aren’t worth your time. Let’s dive in!

Keyword Research Fundamentals

Before I talk about the exact steps to find keywords for your SEO campaign, let’s briefly cover what keyword research is and why you should care.

What Is Keyword Research?

Keyword research is the act of finding and vetting keywords to target in an SEO campaign.

This is done using a number of free and/or paid tools that show you what people are searching for on Google and other search engines .

Suggested in-depth guides: Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools .

The Role of Keyword Research in Digital Marketing

As you’ll learn in the next section, the quality of your keywords is the difference between a successful marketing campaign and a waste of time. The keywords you pick will determine your SEO marketing strategy from beginning to end.

Let’s see how.

How Important is Keyword Research? (Don’t Skip This!)

SEO can be complex, but it boils down to three fundamentals:

• Keyword Research
• Link building

Of those three, keyword research is the most important.

Why? Because you can create the best content and build incredible links that score you #1 Google rankings and still get zero benefits in terms of business growth or revenue if you target the wrong keywords.

For example, let’s say you want to write some content on your site’s blog so you can show up on Google’s first page. You have an idea of a blog post and think you have a good keyword to target. You make amazing content, build links to it through guest posting and email outreach (here’s how to find anyone’s email address ), and end up on the first page of Google . You’re getting hundreds of visits every month…

But your income from that article remains a big fat $0.

That’s because you didn’t properly research your keyword ahead of time. You may have found a keyword, but finding a keyword and doing keyword research are very different things.

Properly researching a keyword means understanding it’s income potential, how competitive it is, and even the exact kind of content you need to create to be able to rank for it. You’ll see what I mean by the end of this guide.

In a nutshell: Proper keyword research can be the difference between a wildly successful SEO campaign that makes your business tons of money and an utter waste of time and money.

Search Volume and Long Tail Keywords

The first concept to understand about keywords is search volume .

This is what most people look at when they first start researching keywords, and also one of the worst metrics to look at.

A high search volume is very deceiving for two reasons:

• The raw number of people searching for something has very little to do with how much you can actually earn from that traffic. For example, if you rank for a keyword that gets 10,000 searches per month, but if people are just looking for information and aren’t ready to buy (hint: you’d need to define the search intent. More below.), that does nothing for your bottom line.
• Just because 10,000 people search for a keyword doesn’t mean all 10,000 people actually click on a result. Take a look at the keyword “How old is Biden”, for example—it gets 51,000 searches per month, but only 17% of those people actually click on anything. That’s because people get the answer right on Google and don’t need to click through to find it.

On the other hand, a low search volume doesn’t mean a keyword is bad or that the number you see is the number of visitors you’ll get. Virtually all pages that rank on Google for one keyword also rank for dozens, hundreds, and sometimes thousands of other keywords.

These other keywords are usually synonyms and long-tail variants. There are also Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) keywords, which I get to in a section below.

For example, take a look at this post that my wife, Kayla, wrote for The Wandering RV. She was targeting the keyword “best camping gear”, which gets around 2,700 searches per month according to Ahrefs. But as you can see in the screenshot below, it also ranks for 1,912 other keywords and even ranks on page one for “camping gear” at 32,000 searches per month!

The point of the story? While search volume is an important metric, you shouldn’t base your target keywords solely on how many people are searching for it every month (unless you’re only focused on brand awareness and/or advertising revenue on a per-impression basis).

Search Intent

Search intent is exactly what it sounds like—the intent of the person searching for a given keyword. It’s similar to the marketing concept “buyer intent”.

In other words: What is the user looking for?

Are they searching for an item they are ready to buy right now? Are they doing research before they make a purchase decision? Or are they just looking for information that has nothing to do with buying anything, but rather with a problem they may need a solution to?

Let’s look at an example of each.

High Buying Intent : A high buying intent keyword may be a product name, such as “RV rental las vegas”. If you type that into Google and look at the results, you see a bunch of ads for RV rentals and a map showing Las Vegas RV rental companies. Someone searching this is likely ready to buy, or very close.

Research Intent : These are keywords where people are still doing research on solutions, but will likely buy soon. “Best” and “Review” keywords often fall into this category, such as “best RV rental companies”.

Informational Intent : These keywords are for people strictly looking for information and aren’t ready or even thinking about buying anything. The “how old is Biden” example falls under this category. Another example that fits with RV rentals might be something like “how to travel the country with a pet”.

However, don’t think that you should only go after buying intent keywords. Informational keywords can help you build your email list and get people into your marketing funnel to eventually buy from you.

Search intent is also important to know because it affects what content ranks on Google. If you try to create a landing page to rank for an informational keyword when Google is ranking long-form blog content, you probably won’t rank even with perfect on-page SEO and plenty of backlinks because it’s simply not what the user is searching for.

For example, let’s say you want to rank for “small campers”. So you create a guide to owning small campers. However, when we look at Google, we can see that people aren’t looking for a guide, but rather, they’re looking for a list of small campers to buy.

That’s why even after you find good keyword ideas , you should always manually type them into Google and see what’s currently ranking to get an idea of what you need to create. Don’t write a massive guide when people just want a quick answer and don’t try to rank a blog post when people are looking to buy a product.

The Role of LSI and Synonyms

Earlier, I mentioned LSI keywords. This stands for Latent Semantic Indexing, and it’s a fancy way for Google to say “synonyms and related keywords”. They’re words that are commonly found together within a single topic and are semantically related to each other.

They’re important to tell the search engines what your content is about since there can be multiple meanings to the same keywords.

For example, let’s say you’re writing an article about cars. There are five different potential “cars” you could be talking about:

• Cars, the vehicles
• Cars, the animated Disney movie
• CARS, the Canadian Association for Rally Sports
• CARs, the Canadian Aviation Regulations
• (The) Cars, the American 1970s music band

How does Google know which version of “cars” you’re talking about? By LSI keywords! Take a look:

• Using the words “vehicle”, “used”, “new”, “buy”, “sell”, etc.
• Using the words “film”, “movie”, “Disney”, etc.
• Using the words “association”, “rally”, “sports”, etc.
• Using the words “aviation”, “regulation”, “administration”, etc.

While LSI keywords don’t necessarily matter during your keyword research, they are important when developing your actual content. You should include various LSI keywords naturally in your content without stuffing them, including in headings and image alt text.

You can find LSI keywords (and learn more about them) with a tool like LSI Graph .

How Do You Do Keyword Research? (Step-by-Step Guide)

Alright, now that you have a firm understanding of the important metrics behind keyword research, it’s time to actually find your very own keywords! There are three steps I follow when I’m doing keyword research for a new site, with an optional, more advanced fourth step:

• Find keyword ideas
• Check the TRUE keyword difficulty and search volume
• Determine their search intent
• (Optional) Find & utilize keyword silos

Let’s dive in!

Step 1: Find Keyword Ideas

Finding keyword ideas is the easy part. There are loads of tools that will spit out hundreds of ideas at the click of a button. It’s vetting them that takes effort, but we’ll get to that.

For now, go take a look at the “Best Keyword Research Tool” section below and pick your poison. I’ll be using Ahrefs in the examples because it’s my favorite tool and has all the bells and whistles, but the other tools can work as well.

My favorite way to find great keyword opportunities is spying on my competition. You can do this by plugging their site into any keyword tool and look at their keywords. Ahrefs has a nifty tool called the Content Gap Analysis.

Here’s how it works:

1. Plug your site into Ahrefs, then click the Content Gap link in the left-hand menu.

2. Plug in 1-10 competitors who are ranking on Google for keywords you want to rank for. You can find them by Googling those keywords and grabbing the URLs off of Google or by using Ahrefs’ Competing domains tool right above the Content gap link. Run the tool.

3. From here, you can export the list to an excel spreadsheet if you want. I like to comb through the list right in Ahrefs. If I see a keyword I might want to target, I open it in a new tab and add it to a keyword list using the + Add to button in the top right.

If you don’t have access to Ahrefs or another keyword tool that allows you to see competitor’s keywords, you can also use a tool like Keyword Shitter to give you a ton of ideas, then vet them using other free tools such as Uber Suggest.

Step 2: Check The TRUE Keyword Difficulty and Search Volume

Once you have a list of keyword ideas you’re comfortable working with (I aim for 50-100 at a time but you can do far more), it’s time to see which are even worth pursuing based on keyword difficulty (KD) and search volume.

There’s just one caveat… the search volume and KD you see in most keyword research tools are usually way off. KD in Ahrefs is solely based off the number of linking domains to the top results, which isn’t a 100% accurate depiction of the true difficulty to rank for a keyword.

This is because SEO is a complex beast, and things like domain rating (which I’ll cover shortly) and internal linking can have a massive impact on rankings. Backlinks are only part of the picture.

And the search volume? That’s not including LSI and long-tail keywords!

Remember that camping gear example I showed you at the beginning of this article that ranks for over 1,900 keywords? The main keyword only had 2,700 searches per month, yet the article gets over 5,000 visits per month. That’s because it’s ranking for other keywords besides the main keyword.

So if you see a keyword with 200 searches per month, chances are it’s really more like 500 or 1,000 if you include the related keywords that you’ll rank for.

To determine true search volume, grab the #1 result on Google for the keyword and plug it into Ahrefs or Uber Suggest to see how much traffic that page actually gets. That should give you a more accurate picture of the search volume for a given keyword.

Here’s the traffic for the #1 ranking page for “tiny campers”, a keyword that gets ~3,400 searches per month:

See how the page gets over 10k traffic, despite the main keyword getting a third of that? That’s true search volume potential.

The other metric, keyword difficulty, is also not 100% accurate. But figuring out true difficulty is usually as easy as looking at the top pages domain authority (DA), or domain rating (DR) if you’re using Ahrefs. Let me explain.

If a keyword has a difficulty score of 8, but the top ranking pages are all DR 80+, ranking your site for those keywords may be difficult if you have a low DR, despite the low difficulty score.

My advice is to aim for keywords with a 30 KD or lower if you’re under a 40 DR, then branch up as you build more links and gain a higher authority. As your DR climbs, your internal links are worth more “link juice” (or pass more “page authority” depending on what source you listen to).

But this isn’t an article on technical SEO, so I’ll leave it at that for now!

Step 3: Determine Search Intent

At this point, you should have a pretty decent list of keywords with a difficulty you’re comfortable tackling and a search volume potential you’d be happy to capture. Now it’s time to figure out what people actually want when they search for these terms and whether or not it fits in with your marketing and revenue goals.

This part is as simple as Googling each keyword on your list and looking at the top 3-5 results. Review their meta title and description, click on them to view the page, and check out the angle they took on the page.

• Are they mainly listicle posts? How-tos? Ultimate guides ? A landing page? Something else?
• How do they seem to be monetizing the page ? Are they using display ads ? Selling products as a solution to the problem? Affiliate marketing ? Just capturing emails and not actually selling anything?
• Take a look at the comments. Are people asking questions that weren’t answered in the article? Do they seem happy, angry, or neutral?

All of these questions will help you dial in on the type of post/page you need to create, how you can monetize it (or use it to capture emails/push notification subscribers/social followers), and what you can do to improve it.

As you’re going through each keyword, keep your answers to these questions in a spreadsheet or word document to keep track of which ones you’re interested in pursuing. Your final list is the list you can start pursuing!

To give you a better idea of how to determine search intent, here are a few examples courtesy of this Moz post :

Informational Intent:

• [product name]
• what is [product name]
• how does [product name] work
• how do I use [product name]

Commercial Intent (AKA Research Intent):

• best [product name]
• [product name] reviews
• compare [product name]
• what is the top [product name]
• [colour/style/size] [product name]

Transactional Intent (AKA Buying Intent):

• how much does [product name] cost
• [product name] in [location]
• order [product name] online
• [product name] near me
• affordable [brand name] [product name]

This graph from Ahrefs may also help:

Now take your list and go crank out some content! Or, you can follow one last step.

Step 4: (Advanced) Find & Utilize Keyword Silos

If you really want to do well, you can optionally take it one step further and look for keyword silos to create corresponding content silos on your site.

A keyword silo is a list of highly related keywords that you can create content around to interlink between on your site (also called the “hub and spoke” method). Here’s a visual I created to help you understand:

Essentially, you create a hub page targeting the primary head term you want to rank for, then create “spoke” pages based on related and long-tail keywords.

For example, while doing keyword research for my wife Kayla’s vegan food blog, I found a series of related keywords asking “Is ___ vegan”. People wanted to know if common foods, such as bagels, donuts, or Oreos are vegan.

To rank for these keywords, we created this hub page which links to all of her “Is ___ vegan” articles. These articles all link to one another, as well as back to the main hub page.

This inter-linking is called content siloing, and it works so well for two reasons:

• Because all the pages interlink to one another, if you build links to any of the pages, it improves page authority across all of the other pages.
• Google uses relevancy in its algorithm, and since these topics are all highly relevant to one another, it can improve your rankings further.

So how do you find keyword silos? There is no silver bullet solution — you have to be good at picking up on patterns and noticing relevancy. However, there is one trick you can use to try and find them: books.

Look for books on your topic on Amazon and browse the table of contents. Oftentimes, books are full of keyword silos: that’s what makes them a book! Think of the binding as the hub page and the chapters as the spoke pages.

Of course, as you can see in the example above, these keywords aren’t exactly what people are searching for on Google. People aren’t typing “vegan out in the world”, but rather “how to eat vegan at restaurants” or “how to eat vegan at family gatherings”. So you may have to do some sleuthing to figure out the keyword that corresponds with the chapter title in the books you find.

Once you find a potential silo, be sure to run the keywords through steps 2 and 3 before you commit to it! Just because you found a silo, doesn’t mean you should pursue it. Think logically about how all that content will fit into your business and how you can expand on it in the future.

What Is The Best Keyword Research Tool?

There are dozens, if not hundreds of keyword research tools on the market today. Some are extremely unique, but most are just slightly different takes on the same idea. So what’s the best one? Let’s break it down by free and paid tools.

Free Keyword Research Tools

There are two free keyword research tools I’ve used and recommend:

Ubersuggest

Keyword shitter.

Let’s put on hold all the conversions about Neil Patel for a second. This tool does its job and, if you’re on a budget, it can work to get you started with SEO.

Ubersuggest is basically a free, scaled-down version of Ahrefs or Moz. It lets you spy on competitor’s backlinks, see what keywords they’re ranking for, and do some decent keyword research. If you’re doing SEO on a budget, it can get the job done.

Keyword Shitter is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. You type in a keyword and get hundreds of keyword suggestions. It’s great if you just need tons of ideas, but it mostly only spits out related keywords to the one you typed in, not unique, separate ideas.

Paid Keyword Research Tools

Now we’re getting into the big-boy (or girl) tools! If you’re serious about SEO and you have the budget, these are the tools you want to use.

Keyword Insights

Keywords everywhere.

Ahrefs is hands-down my favorite SEO tool; not just for keyword research, but also for link-building, rank tracking, coming up with content ideas, and more. It has all the bells and whistles and is easily the best all-around SEO tool on the market. However, it comes at a steep price, with just the basic tool being $99 per month.

SEMrush is another great keyword research tool. It’s more affordable than Ahrefs, but it doesn’t have quite as many features. It’s more geared towards search engine marketing and PPC (thus the SEM in SEMrush). However, if you want a great paid tool but don’t want to pay the premium on Ahrefs, it’s a valid option. It even lets you try out the product for free!

Keyword Insights claims to be “the smartest way to group keywords and classify search intent at scale”… and with good reason. The tool utilizes geo-specific, live search engine result page data to cluster keywords into similar groups whilst also working out the search intent behind them.

A user simply uploads a list of keywords (as many as you’d like) and the tool will spit out a preformatted Google sheets document with the clustered keywords and the intent pulled through. Its most recent update also sorts the grouped keywords into “top-level themes” so you can see what their content hubs should be and what their spoke content might look like. The insights will also tell you which keywords you can target a single page with, or which need to be broken into multiple pages.

Keywords Everywhere is an awesome tool that used to be free and now is credit-based. The tool shows you search volume, competition, and average CPC right on Google whenever you type something in. It also shows you stats on related keywords and the “people also search” keywords. Regardless of which other tools you use, I highly recommend grabbing this one.

Want more SEO tools? Check out Kinsta’s list of must-have SEO plugins for WordPress .

Suggested Stack

So what keyword research tools should you get? My suggested stack is Ahrefs and Keywords Everywhere. Ahrefs is a complete SEO software that will help you rank your site, not just find keywords. And Keywords Everywhere lets you see search volume and keyword ideas any time you’re searching something on Google. Plus it’s free, so what’s not to like?

Here’s a quick recap of everything we’ve covered:

• Keyword research is extremely important to any SEO campaign and should not be skipped or taken lightly.
• Search volume and keyword difficulty can be deceiving. Do some deeper research by typing the keyword into Google and reviewing the results before you make a decision.
• Don’t be fooled by low search volume. Check the true search volume by reviewing the top pages search traffic using Ubersuggest or Ahrefs.
• Search intent is king. Make sure the content you’re creating matches the content people want to see (and what Google is already showing).
• Look for keyword silos. They’re can be a shortcut to ranking your pages faster.

And that’s all there is to it! If you have any questions, feel free to drop a comment below or shoot me an email. For more help with SEO, click here to read my step-by-step guide and this awesome in-depth guide on how to drive more traffic to your website.

Bill is a content marketing and SEO expert with over 6 years' experience. When he's not nerding out over Google, he loves traveling, playing video games, and spending time with his wife.

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Keyword Research is predominantly a statistical analysis of trending interests that are expressed by internet searches.

Although I realize the importance of said statistics, I am “right brained” and have struggled with being interested in numbers, all of my life. When I look at a keyword research result, the numbers tell me nothing in terms that I can understand. In fact, I’m totally bored by the concept.

I have read many posts, papers, and websites about the subject, and although not many agree with the same approach, they basically are saying the same things. b-o-r-i-n-g!

What is stopping a keyword research tool (once the stats have been gathered) from asking what it is that you sell, and then saying… well, to sell that, try concentrating on this…, and spare me the statistical analysis.

Really helpful article. Especially for the newcomers who want to be an SEO expert.

Thanks, Eva! Glad you enjoyed it. :)

What if I’m a business owner with a brand new site with no blog posts yet? How would I start this if I’m new to KW research? Are there services (real people services) that help with this or do it with me?

Hey, Johnny!

No problem! The steps with the content gap analysis are the same – you just have to manually find your competitors rather than using a tool. To do that, Google some keywords you think you want to rank for and grab the URLs of the top-ranking sites that monetize their sites similarly to you (whether that’s through ads, affiliate marketing, or selling similar products).

Paste those URLs into the content gap tool and follow along from there! Hope this helps! :)

Awesome! i am using this article to share with my students while i m teaching keyword research.

Lots of great information here ! Just wanting to introduce to a free alternative to Keywords everywhere, a chrome extension – WhatsmySERP.com/everywhere it gives you unlimited searches for volume and CPC.

Our team has launched this tool and it already has 5 star reviews and 20k+ users. I’d love for you to try it and see what your thoughts are.

I’d love to know your thoughts :)

This article is really really helpful for the newcomers. specially the one who recently started a blog or a website and Also, wants to Learn SEO.

The thing with the search intent is really important!

This was really what i was searching. perfect timing, thanks Bill such an valuable post.

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Keyword research for SEO: the ultimate guide

Keyword research is an essential part of your SEO strategy. It’s the first step in the SEO copywriting process. Before you create your site’s content, you should find out what search terms your audience uses. Their search terms are your keywords. Based on these keywords, you can start writing useful, high-quality, and findable content. In this post, we’ll take you through the steps involved in keyword research.

Table of contents

What is keyword research, originality versus findability, a video on keyword research, focus keyword, long-tail keywords, keyword strategy, search intent, how to do keyword research in 10 steps, quick keyword research, prioritize your keyword list, a focus keyphrase and its synonyms only need one page, add related keyphrases to help google understand your text, check out results for singular and plural keywords, use a keyphrase only once, ready start writing.

Are you looking for a guide to keyword research for ecommerce? You can find more information tailored to your needs in this post about keyword research for online stores .

Keyword research is part of SEO (search engine optimization). It’s the work someone does to come up with an extensive list of keywords they would like a website to rank for. To obtain such a list, website owners need to dig into their desired audience and search engines. What search terms do people type into Google when looking for a particular product, service, business or type of organization? And what do they expect to find? With this list, website owners can create content that will attract more high-quality traffic to their site. Keyword research is never finished: repeating it regularly is essential to staying up-to-date!

Read more: What is keyword research? »

Why is keyword research important?

Proper keyword research is important because it makes clear what search terms your audience uses. At Yoast, we frequently come across business owners who use one set of words to describe their products, while their target audience uses a completely different set of words! As a result, potential customers can’t find those websites. In other words: there’s a mismatch.

To avoid this mismatch, you should do thorough keyword research. This research will make sure that you use the same words as your target audience. In addition, you should also consider your audience’s search intent . This will help you figure out what exactly your audience is looking for. All that’s left is for you to write high-quality content that answers your audience’s questions!

What about originality? Isn’t it better to stand out from the crowd and use different keywords than your competitors? Let’s say you (or your marketing department) decides to give a product an uncommon name. This can be a smart marketing decision, because people could remember your product more easily. If you rent out vacation cottages instead of vacation homes, for example, you might stand out more.

But beware: very few people search for [vacation cottages]. So if you optimize your text for cottages , you’ll probably rank well on that specific term. However, because your audience uses a different word, you won’t generate a lot of traffic, and you won’t reach a large part of your potential customers.

In this video, Michiel tells us more about keyword research and how we think it should be done. It’s part of our SEO for beginner’s course , available through our Yoast SEO Academy subscription :

Essential concepts of keyword research

Before we jump to doing keyword research , we’ll briefly explain some of its essential concepts.

A focus keyword or keyphrase is the word or phrase you want a certain page on your site to be found for in Google. You determine your set of focus keyphrases by doing keyword research.

Long-tail keywords are more specific and less commonly searched for than head keywords. They focus on a niche. The longer and more specific search terms are, the easier it will be to rank for them. Why? Because there will be less competition.

However, long-tail keywords are still worth ranking for! Because even though less people are searching for them, they might be more motivated to buy, subscribe, sign up, etc.

Your keyword strategy is about the decisions you make based on your keyword research. For instance, what content are you going to create first? Will you focus on the head or tail? How and where will you publish it? Will you create a piece of writing, a post or a product page, a video tutorial or an infographic?

Digging into search intent is key here: you have to discover what a searcher actually wants or needs. You’re not just looking at keywords. You’re also looking at the underlying goals of what a searcher wants to know, do or buy. Your content should provide a solution to the searcher’s “problem”. This is also known as content design .

There are 10 crucial steps to follow when carrying out keyword research. We’ll guide you through the process, and give you practical tips so you can conduct your own keyword research:

Before you start, think about your mission . Reflect on questions such as: What is the main goal of your business or organization? What makes it special? Who exactly are you trying to reach? And, what promises do you make on your website? Take your time and literally write down your mission. Once you’re able to answer these questions in detail, you’ll have taken the first and most important step in developing your keyword strategy. What if you’re in a competitive market? The market you’re in determines whether you’ll be able to rank high with your chosen keywords. Some markets are highly competitive, with large companies dominating the search results. It’ll be hard to compete with these companies, because they have huge budgets for marketing in general and SEO in particular. If you’re launching into a competitive market, your best bet is to start out small. Once you ‘own’ a small part of that niche and become a bigger name in your business area, you could try to level up and sell your cruises to a larger (more general) audience. Your mission will then become more general as well. The scope of your business mission should align with your SEO goals, too. Be realistic about what kind of rankings you can achieve with the size of your business, and focus on what will help you achieve your mission. An example Let’s say you sell cruises to Hawaii. You offer great facilities for children, which makes your cruises especially suitable for parents with younger kids. If there are no other family-friendly cruises to Hawaii, you will stand out from the crowd. It will make your service unique. So it would be smart to make this your mission, your niche – because this is what you have to offer your audience.

Based on the data you’ve collected now, you can determine a keyword strategy . If you’ve followed the steps above, you should have a spreadsheet with a substantial amount of keyphrases, plus information about the competition and the search intent of your audience for those keyphrases. Now think about this question: How does my website hold up compared to the websites in the SERPs? Are you of equal size and marketing budget? Then go ahead and focus on those head terms. If not: try more long-tail keywords first. Focusing on a whole bunch of long-tail keywords combined could very well attract a lot of traffic. Once you’ve managed to rank for those long-tail keywords, aiming for more head terms will become easier. When you’ve decided where to jump in, think about the type of content: What was the search intent for my keyphrases? What is my audience looking for? But also, which content can I create that isn’t there yet, and how can I stand out in terms of quality or providing solutions? This will help you decide on the type of content you’re going to create .

In theory, this step is out of the scope of keyword research itself. Nevertheless, creating awesome landing pages is essential if you want to get traffic to your website. So, you’ll need to build optimized landing pages for your search terms. You don’t have to create all these pages immediately – it can be a long-term effort. Your keyword strategy will help you prioritize. Cornerstone content For your most important keyphrases you’ll create cornerstone content articles ; articles that provide the best possible content about that keyword – authoritative and all-encompassing. All your supporting long-tail articles should link to your cornerstone content pages. This is part of your internal linking strategy , which Yoast SEO Premium can help you implement . You can also use our SEO workout: the Cornerstone content approach to build a strong internal linking strategy in a few easy steps.

Once you’ve done a thorough analysis of your chances to rank on each specific term, published some amazing articles (and optimized them accordingly), you should wait a little. Check out your rankings. Does your article pop up? Did it hit the first page of Google’s SERPs? Or is it hidden away on page 2 or 3? Make sure to evaluate your results in the SERPs. There are various ways to check how your content is performing in the search results. The simplest way is to Google the terms you’ve optimized your articles for. Another option is to use Google Search Console to find out which queries you’re ranking for . While the Google Search Console method is a bit more complicated, it can be a great way to find new opportunities! And finally, a third method is to use a keyword tracking tool to monitor your rankings ; you can do this easily using the integrated Wincher features in the Yoast SEO plugin. However you do it, it’s always a good idea to check if your efforts are paying off. If you’re not able to rank on the first page, try to write another article, focused on an (even) more long-tail keyword. Make it a little bit more specific, more niche. And see how that goes. Evaluate again. Continue this process until you hit that first page of the SERPs!

As time goes on, things will change. Your audience may start using different words to search for what they want, so you might need to add new keywords to your sheet. And with the rise of generative AI , the competitive landscape is bound to change, either making it easier or harder to target particular keywords. Who knows? Blogging might not be relevant anymore. When you look at the situation from year to year, a lot can change. That’s why it’s important to reevaluate and refresh your keyword research once in a while. Take the time to update your sheet with the latest information. And don’t forget to keep your content fresh and up-to-date , too!

In an ideal world, you would do your keyword research, make a beautiful spreadsheet and create landing pages for each one. Your site structure would be flawless, and you’d blog and write every day, making your site rank higher and higher in Google. But we live in the real world.

Of course, your keyword research will not always be as extensive. And some posts or articles aren’t written as part of an awesome strategy, but just because the topic was in the news or something inspired you to write it . That’s just how these things work. But this doesn’t have to be a problem.

If you’re writing something that doesn’t exactly fit your strategy, this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to make that content rank. You could still use it to rank for something related to the terms in the list of your keyword strategy. Use the tools mentioned in step 3 and Google Trends to quickly check which keyword you’d like to rank for. At least, take some time to think about how to make your article or blog fit your strategy. After all, if you are writing valuable content, you might as well make it rank! You can find more tips on how to do keyword research on the fly in our focus keyword article .

Tips for keyword research

This all might sound pretty straight-forward, but we know it’s a lot of work and easier said than done. When put into practice, you might bump into some common issues or questions. Here we’ll give you some tips to make it work!

Pro-tip: Want us to guide you through keyword research step-by-step? With videos, quizzes and other training material? Take a look at our keyword research training in Yoast SEO academy and let us help you!

How many keywords should you target? Well, we can’t tell you the exact number of keywords you should have, but we can tell you that you need a lot of them – as many as you can think of. However, more than 1000 keywords is probably too many! Even if you’re a reasonably small business, you’ll probably end up with a couple of hundred keywords.

But there’s no need to create pages for all of these straight away. You can add content bit by bit. Think about which keywords you want to rank for now (perhaps the more long-tail ones?) and which ones aren’t as important right away. Understand your priorities and plan the creation of your content.

Keep reading: Managing a growing blog: content planning »

In the past, each of the keywords you wanted to be found for got its own landing page. Today, however, search engines are so smart that they mostly use search intent to give searchers the best answer to their questions. The page that answers those questions best will rank on top. Search engines also understand subtle differences between keywords, so you don’t have to create landing pages for every subtle variation of a keyword, like synonyms.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use synonyms! In fact, synonyms can really improve the readability of your copy, so make sure to use them. Our Yoast SEO Premium plugin can help you with this; it allows you to optimize your content for synonyms and related keyphrases . You can fill in synonyms of your keyphrase under the SEO analysis tab in your Yoast SEO sidebar. If you want to fill in more than one, you can separate them by commas. When it comes to adding related keyphrases to your text, we have an awesome feature you will want to know more about. So let’s discuss that next!

Glossary of terms

In the following paragraphs, we use a few words that you might not be familiar yet. Such as related keyphrases, word forms and exact focus keyphrase. Don’t worry! We wrote a glossary of terms that can help you out when you’re not quite sure what we mean when we use a specific term.

Related keyphrases are words and concepts that deepen and broaden the understanding of your focus keyphrase. They even help Google better understand the topic you’re talking about . By using related keyphrases in your text, you can paint a complete picture of your focus keyphrase in the article you’re writing.

How do you find related keyphrases?

You might be able to think of a few related keyphrases, but we think using proper keyword data is the safest bet. That’s why we have a Semrush integration in Yoast SEO. It suggests related keyphrases and even shows you the search volume and trend for every keyphrase. As Semrush is one of the leading SEO and marketing software companies in the world, this will help you find the right related keyphrases for your content.

You can find this feature in the Yoast SEO sidebar and meta box. Simply go to the ‘Get related keyphrases’ button underneath the ‘Focus keyphrase’ field and click it. The first time you click this, you will need to connect your Semrush account or create an account and authorize Yoast SEO to use it. After you’ve connected your account, you will be able to click the ‘Get related keyphrases’ button and find related keyphrases right away:

The related keyphrase feature is available for free, but if you use Premium you can also use those related keyphrases to optimize your content with the related keyphrase feature . This feature allows you to add related keyphrases or synonyms to a field in the Yoast SEO sidebar or meta box. That way you can easily optimize your content for multiple keyphrases and synonyms. If you want to know more about this integration, we have an article on how to use the Semrush related keyphrase feature .

Should you aim for the singular or the plural keyword? Well, this depends on the query. As Google learns more about the search intent of your query, it is able to better guess what you’re looking for. For instance, if you search for book , you get different results than if you search for books . Apparently Google thinks that in the first case you’re looking for a definition, in the second case it believes you’re intending to buy a book. So make sure you know what you offer on your page and that it fits with the query and results Google gives on that query.

Yoast SEO Premium has word form support , so it automatically detects all the different forms of your focus keyphrase (known as keyword stemming ). So, you no longer have to optimize your post for a specific word form. Optimizing your post has become a much more natural process. However, there are reasons why you’d still want to optimize for a very specific word form of a keyword. In this case, you can put your focus keyphrase in quotes: “best books ever”. Yoast SEO will now only take that exact focus keyphrase into account when checking your content.

Beware, you shouldn’t use your exact focus keyword more than once . If you do, your rankings might suffer from keyword cannibalization . Google has a hard time distinguishing between content that’s very alike. Therefore it might rank very similar posts or pages lower.

Not sure if you used a focus keyphrase before? The post why and how to export your focus keyphrases with Yoast SEO Premium will help you get an overview of the focus keyphrases you’ve used before and on what page. Also, Yoast SEO gives you a warning in the SEO analysis if you use one twice.

Did you find out you’ve already used the same or very similar keywords or keyphrases on various posts and pages? Then, it probably makes sense to audit your content and perhaps merge/delete/redirect some of it. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to solve keyword cannibalization issues .

Keyword research should be the start of any sustainable SEO strategy . The result will be a long list of keywords for which you’d like to be found. But the hardest part is still ahead: writing all that content. You should write articles and blog posts on every single keyword you would like to be found for. That’s quite a challenge. Check out our ultimate guide to SEO copywriting to get started!

Read on: WordPress SEO: The definitive guide to higher rankings for WordPress sites »

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Camille is a content specialist at Yoast. As part of the Search team, she enjoys creating content that helps you master SEO.

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8 responses to keyword research for seo: the ultimate guide.

Wow, this ultimate guide on keyword research is incredibly detailed! As a blogger, I know how crucial it is to target the right keywords for SEO, and this article has provided me with a wealth of information and strategies to improve my keyword game.

The step-by-step process of conducting keyword research is well-explained and easy to follow. I’ve always struggled a bit with finding the best keywords, but now I feel more confident in selecting the ones that will boost my website’s visibility.

I appreciated the explanation of long-tail keywords and their importance. It’s fascinating how these less competitive keywords can drive highly targeted traffic. Any tips on how to use long-tail keywords effectively in blog content?

The section on understanding keyword intent was an eye-opener. I never realized how crucial it is to align my content with what the audience is actually searching for. I’ll definitely be implementing this in my content strategy.

I noticed that the article focuses mainly on keyword research for written content. How can I apply these techniques to optimize my video content for better search rankings?

It would be great to see some real-life examples of successful keyword research implementations. Case studies or before-and-after scenarios would be incredibly beneficial to understand the practical application.

Hi there! Thank you for your comment :)

We actually have an article on how to do keyword research for YouTube which can help you figure out what keywords to use for your videos! If that’s not quite what you’re looking for, I can also recommend our article on video SEO in general. Good luck!

Clear and detailed information, thanks for sharing.

You’re welcome and thank you for your comment! :)

What an excellent analysis you have done on research. Your research is very good and it was an excellent guideline. Best recharge tools ever in your research.

Thank you very much, glad you found it helpful :)

This is a nice article on keyword research. I find it very useful. To my experience Ahref has the best keyword research tool ever. But of course there are many other useful tools available as well.

Thank you for your comment, Ehsan! Good to hear that it’s helpful, lots of luck with your keyword research :)

In accordance with international sanctions, the Semrush platform is no longer accessible to businesses registered or based in Russia. We’re sorry for the inconvenience and if you believe there is a mistake, please send us an email to [email protected] so our team can review.

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Copyblogger

How to Do Keyword Research: Steps, Examples, and Tools

In the world of SEO, keywords are like directions to your website. Pick the wrong ones, and you decrease your chances of people finding it. But the right keywords allow your target audience to find your content exactly when they need it.

So, this is your guide to keyword research techniques that will drive more targeted traffic to accelerate the growth of your business.

At Digital Commerce Partners (DCP), the content marketing services division of Copyblogger, we help companies achieve their business goals with tailored strategies.

Keyword research is a foundational element of our meticulously crafted content creation and optimization process. And I’m going to show you how we do it for our clients.

Before I share specific details about how to do keyword research, let’s break down what it is and why neglecting it can be a mistake. 

Want us to scale your traffic?

For the first time, The Copyblogger methodology is now available to a select few clients. We know it works. We’ve been doing it since 2006.

What Is Keyword Research?

The key to attracting organic traffic is understanding how people search — what questions they ask and what information they seek. This is where keyword research for SEO comes in.

Keyword research is about figuring out the phrases people type into search engines to find information they need. 

But how do you go about it? 

Here are three key steps.

• Brainstorm primary keywords: We put ourselves in the shoes of our clients’ audiences. What questions would they ask when searching for similar products or services? 
• Dig deeper into keyword analysis: Once we’ve completed a competitor gap analysis (more on this below), we draft a solid list of potential keywords. Then we analyze our clients’ business goals and past SEO efforts.
• Figure out how to beat your competition: As soon as we have a refined keyword list, we create a strategic SEO content plan for our clients. 

This three-step process should be the foundation of your SEO strategy if you want to attract a specific target audience from organic search results. We know this method works because we’ve been using it on our own sites since 2006!

At DCP, we’ve developed a solid keyword research process that lets us quickly find untapped keyword opportunities for our clients.

Our SEO content strategy helped one of our clients triple their revenue since the beginning of our collaboration, win top-ranking positions for more than 370 relevant keywords, and increase their organic traffic by 301.46%.

When you learn how to do keyword research correctly, it’s possible to achieve similar (or ever better) results. 

How to Do Keyword Research for Ecommerce 

If you manage an ecommerce website or want to launch an online store, you have to find relevant keywords for your:

• Product pages
• Sub-categories
• Informational blog posts

Below you’ll find our step-by-step keyword research process. Mastering this approach will ensure your valuable product pages reach your target audience at the right time. 

1. Identify Primary Keywords

A seed keyword is a broad term that serves as a starting point for generating more specific primary keyword ideas.

Imagine you run an online record store. When brainstorming keywords for your ecommerce business, some initial ideas that come to mind might be “vinyl records” or “used vinyl.” These are your seed keywords.

When using a keyword research tool like Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool , even one seed keyword is enough to find thousands of relevant keywords.

Type your seed keyword into the search bar and hit “Search.”

Semrush will generate a long list of keywords users actively search for online, all related to your seed keyword. You can easily narrow down the list using these filters:

• Search Intent: This helps you understand what a user is looking for (e.g., informational, transactional, commercial, or navigational content).
• Search Volume: This indicates the average number of monthly searches for a particular keyword.
• Keyword Difficulty (KD): This estimates how challenging it will be to rank high for that keyword.
• Keyword Type: This categorizes keywords by their nature (e.g., short-tail, long-tail).

Which look like good options from the keyword list below? 

I’ve highlighted a few examples that seem like a good fit for an online record store. Read on to learn how to analyze keywords further and choose the best ones to support your business goals.

2. Check Your Competitors’ Ranking

An SEO-based content strategy is never complete without assessing our clients’ competitors. Therefore, we always monitor their top-performing keywords. 

This competitive analysis helps us reveal additional keywords that might not have seemed relevant during the initial research phase.

There are many ways to find competitors’ top-performing keywords. At DCP, we always strive for simplicity and efficiency. That’s why we use the following two methods:

• Check the top-performing website pages and keywords they rank for
• Conduct a keyword gap analysis

The first method is a quick way to learn which keywords drive the most traffic to your competitors. 

In Semrush, click “Organic Research,” insert your competitor’s URL and navigate to the “Positions” tab.

By default, the report displays the top traffic generation keyword. However, you can apply various filters to quickly find suitable keywords for your business. 

For example, you can use the following metrics to find easy-to-rank keywords with business potential (more on this below):

• KD: 0–29% (indicates a low competition)
• Search Intent: Commercial, Transactional 
• Search Volume: From 100+

Based on our experience, this method works for businesses with only a few competitors. 

However, if you operate an ecommerce store in a competitive niche, you’d benefit from conducting the keyword gap analysis. 

Semrush’s Keyword Gap Tool allows you to check up to five competitors at a time. 

The keyword gap analysis shows keywords your competitors rank for … but your site doesn’t (yet).

And you don’t have to analyze every competitor one by one and then check whether your site already ranks for these keywords, Semrush can do it for you.

This method is an efficient way to discover more ecommerce content marketing opportunities. 

3. Check Existing Keyword Rankings 

By now, you should have compiled a list of potential target keywords. But don’t rush to create content just yet. We’re still in the research phase.

Before diving into analysis, let’s make sure your site isn’t already ranking for your target keywords. This will save you time and resources and avoid competing with your existing content ( keyword cannibalization ).

There are many ways to analyze existing keyword rankings.

With Google Search Console (GSC), the data comes directly from Google.

Suppose you want to rank for the keyword “SEO tools.” Type it in the “Query” filter and hit “Apply.” If any pages of your website rank for this keyword, the report will show you the URLs, impressions, and clicks.

Don’t have GSC? Well, you definitely should. But you can use Semrush too. 

Go to “Organic Research,” enter your website URL, and open the “Pages” report. This report reveals which web pages rank for specific keywords in search results.

4. Analyze Your Keyword Ideas 

Now it’s time to analyze your keywords and identify the most suitable ones. 

First, consider search volume — are there enough people searching for this term to make it worthwhile?

Next, check the keyword difficulty — how competitive is it to rank for this keyword on a scale from 0 to 100? The higher the keyword difficulty, the stronger the competition is in the top 10 organic search results. 

Ideally, you’d want to target high-volume keywords with low competition.

5. Prioritize Money-Making Pages with Traffic Potential 

Search intent is another important factor to analyze before selecting keywords.

Your target audience is either:

• Researching a product (informational)
• Considering their options (navigational)
• Ready to buy (transactional)

Depending on your website’s domain authority and business goals, you can focus on low-competition top-funnel keywords (to increase brand awareness) and bottom-funnel keywords (to drive sales). 

For example, our custom SEO content strategy for IA Path prioritized their business goals. 

IA Path is a website that offers training and mentorship programs for adjusters, and we helped the company achieve a 10X increase in leads in just six months! 

“The organic traffic and email automation system that DCP set up for me has taken me off the lead generation hamster wheel. Now I sell more and work less.”

Chris Stanley

Founder and CEO, IA Path

How to Research Keywords for Your Blog 

While SEO and content marketing are long-term investments, you can still achieve some early wins.

We bridge the gap by crafting custom content plans that leverage keywords with realistic ranking potential. These keywords can accelerate your performance in organic search results and help you attract your target audience faster. 

To pick suitable keywords for your blog, consider the following:

• Your website’s domain authority
• Which keywords your website already ranks for
• Search volume
• Keyword difficulty
• Users’ search intent
• Your business goals 

For new websites, chasing high-competition keywords is a recipe for slow progress. 

Effective keyword research is about finding keywords your site can realistically rank for, which is why we use specific filters in Semrush Keyword Magic Tool:

• Keyword Difficulty: 0–29% (indicates a low competition)
• Search Intent: Informational (focuses on increasing brand awareness)
• Volume: 100+ (ensures a decent audience size)

From here, you can look through the list and select relevant keywords for your website.

Once you’ve identified your target keywords, the next step is to choose the ideal content type (blog post, landing page, etc.) and format (listicle, guide, etc.) to maximize your reach.

In other words, to create valuable cornerstone content , you need to identify and match users’ search intent.

Example Keyword Phrase: How to Clean Vinyl Records

For example, let’s look at what ranks in the top 10 positions for the keyword “How to clean vinyl records.”

• Content type: blog posts
• Content format: how-to guides

What does this information tell you?

To increase your chances of ranking on Google, you’ll likely have to create an in-depth guide to compete with the top search results.

Remember that SEO today goes way beyond keyword stuffing. Search engines like Google prioritize user experience.

That’s why you have to research related keywords and use SEO copywriting to cover the subtopics that interest site visitors.

Here’s how to find related keywords with Semrush.

• Open “ Keyword Overview ” report for your target keyword
• Navigate to “ Keyword Variations ” or “ Questions ” reports to discover a treasure trove of related keywords.

At DCP, we note related keywords when creating our article briefs and outlines, which are detailed descriptions of the writing assignment for our handpicked writers.

Our briefs for writers include:

• Recommended blog post structure: A clear outline to ensure your content flows naturally.
• Subheadings (H2-H4) made from related keywords: This helps target relevant subtopics and align with search intent. 

Now let’s look at keyword research tools you can use.

Top 3 Keyword Research Tools 

Over the years of working with clients in the ever-evolving landscape of SEO and keyword research, we’ve tested many tools, such as Google Keyword Planner, Moz, Ahrefs, and Semrush.

But not all keyword research tools are created equal …

To help you navigate this landscape, here are the best keyword research tools we recommend based on our rigorous testing and proven data accuracy.

• Ahrefs 

Semrush is an all-in-one online marketing toolkit that provides 55+ features, covering everything from keyword research to competitor analysis and website audits. 

We trust Semrush to help us craft data-driven SEO strategies for our clients because of its massive keyword database (about 25.6 billion keywords!) and accurate data.

Semrush also allows you to approach keyword research in many different ways. 

The Keyword Magic Tool can generate 20 million keyword ideas for a single seed keyword across 142 countries. With such a vast pool, we easily uncover high-impact and easy-to-rank keywords for our clients. 

The Keyword Gap Tool is our go-to feature for rapidly assessing keyword potential within various niches. Additionally, it helps us identify keywords that our clients’ competitors use to dominate search results. 

Armed with insights from these keyword research tools, we create strategic SEO content plans that give our clients a competitive advantage.

Semrush offers a free 7-day trial, perfect for both SEO contractors seeking a budget-friendly option and website owners who want to tackle DIY SEO. Plus, even after the trial ends, you can keep analyzing 10 keywords daily for free!

Paid plans start at $129.95 per month. 

Ahrefs is another major player in the SEO tool arena. 

While Ahrefs began as a link-building tool, it’s grown into a multi-faceted SEO toolkit, including its Keyword Explorer. 

Similar to Semrush, Keyword Explorer analyzes keyword difficulty, search volume, traffic potential, intent, and related keywords. A recent addition, keyword clustering, automatically groups keywords to save you time.

However, Ahrefs doesn’t offer anything similar to Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool to quickly generate thousands of keyword ideas from your seed keyword. 

It’s important to note that Ahrefs has transitioned to a credit system for pricing, which might not be ideal for agencies or owners of large websites. Essentially, actions like opening reports, applying filters, and conducting new searches consume credits. Once depleted, you’ll need to add more credits to your account.

While the most affordable plan starts at $129, it only grants 500 monthly credits. In our experience, this might not be sufficient for comprehensive keyword research.

Years of using both tools for clients’ projects taught us that Semrush and Ahrefs cater to slightly different needs.

If you manage a large website and want to quickly discover suitable keywords, Semrush might be a better fit. Ahrefs, on the other hand, stands out for its robust link building capabilities. 

Moz offers tools and resources specifically designed for SEO and inbound marketing. 

A key component of this suite is the Keyword Explorer tool. This tool allows you to discover relevant keywords, analyze their search volume and difficulty, and gain valuable insights into user intent behind each term.

While Moz stands tall as another potent keyword research tool, it approaches things a little differently than Semrush and Ahrefs. 

For instance, Moz’s database contains 1.25 billion keywords compared to Semrush’s 25.6 billion keywords. 

In addition to all standard keyword metrics, Moz shows you the minimum domain authority for websites ranking in the top 10 search results. In our experience, this saves valuable time by offering a quick snapshot of the competition level.

Moz Pro subscription starts at $99 per month, but the most affordable plan offers only 150 monthly keyword searches. 

If you want to leverage Moz primarily for keyword research, consider taking advantage of their 30-day free trial and potentially upgrading to the Medium plan for $179 per month.

Can You Use Google Keyword Planner for SEO? 

While Google Keyword Planner (KP) might seem like a tempting option for SEO keyword research due to its free access, it has limitations that can hinder your SEO strategy. 

If you’ve ever used KP, you might’ve noticed its search volume ranges are broad. That’s why you can’t accurately estimate keyword popularity.

KP lacks in-depth keyword difficulty metrics — a critical metric for keyword analysis. Without this metric, you won’t be able to assess how competitive it is to rank for a particular keyword in organic search results. 

The tool also doesn’t provide information about users’ search intent. 

Perhaps most importantly, KP prioritizes data relevant to paid advertising campaigns. This means the information you see might not accurately reflect real user behavior in organic search results.

For extensive keyword research, it’s better to use more comprehensive tools that provide accurate keyword data and valuable insights on search intent.

3 Best Keyword Research Tips from an SEO Agency 

At DCP, we’ve written more than 5,645 optimized articles for our clients. This experience has helped us reveal unique insights about how different keyword types and on-page SEO techniques impact rankings. 

As a result, we’ve been able to refine our keyword research process, craft content that resonates with each client’s target audience, drive organic traffic, and convert more customers.

Below are some of our most valuable keyword research tips that help us discover highly impactful keywords for our clients.

1. Analyze Search Intent 

Understanding search intent helps us uncover the “why” behind a search query. 

It’s like having a conversation with potential customers. You need to know what kind of information they’re seeking — are they researching a product, looking for buying advice, or simply trying to solve a problem? 

This could be an informative buying guide for a “browsing” user, or product pages with a CTA for a ready-to-buy customer.

By analyzing search intent, you can tailor your content to perfectly match what users are looking for and attract highly relevant traffic that’s more likely to convert.

Here’s what our former client, SoulSalt, said about our laser focus on users’ needs and search intent, which helped the personal development and coaching company increase their organic traffic by 22,111%. 

“Our SEO is so great that we have clients who sell themselves on us before they even have their first discovery session.”

Lyn Christian

SoulSalt Founder

2. Target Keywords Within Your Ranking Capabilities

Chasing high-volume search terms dominated by industry giants can be a recipe for wasted resources and frustration. 

Instead, understand your ranking capabilities by identifying keywords with search traffic that aligns with your website’s authority and backlink profile. 

Semrush has a straightforward keyword difficulty score which you can use to assess whether your website can realistically rank for your preferred keywords depending on the competition level. 

If your website is new and has close to zero domain authority, consider prioritizing easy-to-rank keywords with up to 29 KD. 

For example, SoulSalt ranked for just 213 organic keywords when our team joined the project. 

With a crystal clear strategy and carefully picked keywords that their website could rank for, they built up to 11,670 organic keywords in two years.

Of those, 3,367 ranked in the top 20 of the Google SERPs.

3. Optimize for SERP Features 

SEO isn’t just about ranking high for keywords. 

The modern SEO game involves optimizing your content to appear in SERP features — those attention-grabbing snippets that appear at the top of the search results page. 

These features, like featured snippets and answer boxes, can help you increase organic traffic and brand awareness even if your website doesn’t snag the top spot. That’s why optimizing for SERP features should be part of your SEO content strategy. 

Take SoulSalt, for example. DCP’s optimized content helped them get 56 featured snippets for high-value keywords. 

Today, SoulSalt ranks in the top 10 organic results for their target terms, and their SERP features grab user attention at the very top of the page. 

That’s the power of SERP features in action.

Accelerate Your SEO Success with Keyword Research That Works

Picture this: potential customers searching online and finding your website exactly when they need it.

At DCP, we’ll bridge that gap with laser-focused SEO.

Our expert team will analyze your industry and niche, identifying the keywords with a healthy balance of search volume and competition.

Then we’ll create compelling content that resonates with your audience and positions you as an industry leader — not just another website lost in the search results. 

The outcome will be a surge in organic traffic that skyrockets conversion rates and drives business growth. 

Interested in learning more?

Contact us today to discuss how we can help you achieve your business goals through SEO and unlock the true potential of your website.

Jon Nastor is co-founder and head of strategy for Digital Commerce Partners . He’s a music nerd who’s spent the past 12 years as a content-obsessed marketer, prolific podcaster, and hyper-competitive SEO consultant.

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Future-Proofing Your SEO: How to Do Keyword Research

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Without good SEO , people won’t be able to find your website or online store. That’s why SEO keyword research is so important, no matter if your site is built using a website builder or a CMS. People search for a specific word or phrase and search engines direct them toward related content. And, hopefully, that’s your website’s content.

In this article, we’ll go over the keyword basics, learning what they are, why they’re so critical to websites, and how to do SEO keyword research yourself. Let’s get started!  

What Is Keyword Research?

Keywords are the words and phrases people type into search engines to get information. They help search engines understand the content on a web page so that they can decide if it’s relevant to the query.   

When you strategically use these keywords in your website content, you drive up your site’s visibility. This helps search engines drive traffic to you.  

SEO keyword research is simply the act of finding and analyzing the search words that people enter into search engines, then using those terms in your website, content-making, and marketing. SEO keyword research helps you immediately understand what your potential customers are looking for online, and target them to guide them back to you. 

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Why Is Keyword Research Important?

Keyword research can guide your content strategy. If done properly, you’ll get insight into the habits, choices, and preferences of your audience . This helps you get a better idea of how to get your audience’s attention and best solve their problems.  

Keyword research can guide your content, product development, and marketing. Your business should be creating products and content that your target audience will find valuable.  

There’s so much noise online, so we understand it can be difficult to stand out from the crowd. But by using the most relevant keywords, you help users find your content. You’re speaking their language, and you’re making a roadmap that leads them straight to your website.  

When Should Keyword Research Be Used?

Once you understand how to find keywords for SEO, you have a lot to gain. The great thing about keyword research is there there are plenty of applications for it, including:   

• SEO Optimization: When you use the right keywords in your website content, meta descriptions, and tags, those rankings go up, and so does organic traffic to your site.  
• Content Strategy: Keyword research can tell you about the topics that interest your audience. You can create content around these keywords, attracting even more visitors. Targeted content means relevant information that keeps your audience on your site, and that means more visibility on your pages and a higher chance of conversion.  
• Paid Campaigns: When you’re ready for paid advertising campaigns like Google Ads or social media ads, keyword research gives you the best words to use. This expands the reach of your ads and ups the return on investment (ROI).  
• Long-Tail Keywords: These are longer and more specific phrases that have less competition. When you go for long-tail keywords, you’ll rank higher for specific queries. Generally speaking, the more specific a product search query, the more likely the visitor is to convert. For instance, “best website builders” is fairly broad, but “best website builders for food delivery businesses” is a specific query that leans toward a purchase.   

How To Conduct Keyword Research: The Main Steps

By now you might be chomping at the bit to get into how to find keywords for SEO. Here’s a handy step-by-step list to walk you through the process of SEO keyword research:  

Finding Keywords  

Of course you want to find keywords for SEO! You can begin by brainstorming possible keywords that are relevant to your business and audience. If you were searching to find your business or looking for related information, which keywords would you naturally use?  

Analyzing Keywords  

Once you’ve formulated a list of possible keywords, it’s time to use tools to analyze them (we’ll discuss these in more detail in the next section). Pay attention to search volume (how many people search for the term), difficulty (how competitive is the keyword), and relevance to your business.  

Considering User Intent  

When choosing your SEO keywords, consider the audience’s intent behind using them. For example, if people search for “best website builders”, are they looking for an expert opinion or are they ready to sign up to a platform? The keywords you prioritize can depend on the user journey and the stage the reader is at.  

Comparing Keywords  

Have a look at which keywords your competitors are using and ranking for. What are they missing? Are there any gaps in the market that you can take advantage of? What is everyone talking about? What’s trending? Where can your content rank highly?  

Targeting Keywords  

After finding and analyzing your keywords, the next step is to pick the most promising keywords to use in your content. With your research, you should be able to determine which keywords work best for your audience and website.  

Prioritizing and Optimizing Keywords  

Go beyond just picking the right keywords. Prioritize those keywords depending on their SEO impact. Some terms will perform better than others, so we recommend tailoring your content around these.   

Verifying Search Intent  

Now, make sure that your keywords match the audience’s searches by regularly reviewing your keywords. Popular keywords change over time, so adapting and targeting new search terms will help your website rank well and meet your audience’s needs.  

Tools for Keyword Research

You might be wondering how to do keyword research for SEO – as in what type of help is available?   

For accurate SEO keyword research, we recommend using a dedicated SEO tool to help determine and analyze your targeted terms. Here are a few of the most popular options:  

Ahrefs  

Ahrefs is a comprehensive SEO keyword tool with a huge keyword database and accurate search volume data. Its “Keyword Explorer” tool gives you keyword data including keyword difficulty, search volume, and clicks-per-search.   

You’ll also get the top-ranking pages for a specific keyword and insights into how many backlinks would help your pages rank better.  

Semrush  

Semrush has robust SEO keyword research capabilities, a user-friendly interface, highly-detailed keyword reports, and competitor analysis (to help you analyze your competitors’ keywords and strategies).   

We recommend using its “Keyword Magic Tool”, which will cover all of your basic keyword research needs. It helps you find the right keywords by showing the broad match, phrase match, and exact match keywords, along with their search volume, trend data, and difficulty score.    

Google Keyword Planner  

Google Keyword Planner is not only a free tool, but it’s extremely powerful because its insights come directly from Google, the world’s most popular search engine.   

Though it’s technically meant for paid search campaigns, it finds keywords related to your business or industry and gives search volume and competition-level info for each keyword.  

Moz Keyword Explorer   

Moz’s Keyword Explorer is a great tool for SEO keyword research thanks to its predictive metrics, which can let you know which keywords are worth targeting in the first place. No more wasted time!   

It gives you a wide variety of data, including monthly search volume, difficulty, priority, and click-through rate. And it also suggests related keywords and which websites are high-rankers for the target keyword.  

KWFinder  

Are you a small business with limited resources? KWFinder has a user-friendly interface and focuses on finding less competitive keywords . That means you can be a big fish in a smaller pond instead of competing against the big sharks.   

KWFinder finds those long-tail keywords with low SEO difficulty so that you can spot good opportunities. On top of that, it will give you keyword suggestions, search volume data, and information on trends.   

How To Maintain Keyword Rankings

SEO keyword research isn’t a one-time thing. Once you’ve done the hard work of finding, analyzing, and implementing your keywords, you’ve got to keep your rankings as high as possible.  

That means part of how to do keyword research is to regularly revisit your SEO keyword research , lightly (or completely!) refresh your content, keep checking out what your competitors are doing (and what they’re missing), and stay on top of SEO trends.  

As we’ve discussed, knowing how to do keyword research for SEO is an essential part of a successful SEO strategy. You want to drive appropriate visitors to your website – all it takes is knowing the best keywords to target them effectively, and how to use them across your website and content.  

SEO keyword research is a goldmine of information that every website should tap into, giving you all the insights you need to target your ideal audience.   

When you understand your audience’s language and meet them where they are, you can boost your visibility, drive traffic to your site, and ultimately, grow your online business.  

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How to do keyword research for beginners.

Keyword research is critical to search engine optimization (SEO) , which can help you earn more conversions and revenue. Every business should know how to do keyword research, regardless of their digital marketing experience.

With this beginner’s guide to keyword research, you’ll learn how to do keyword research for SEO so that your company can maximize the performance (and return) of SEO. We will cover the following topics:

What is keyword research?

Why is keyword research important, how to research and incorporate keywords, how to choose the best keywords, best keyword research tools for your business.

Keep reading to learn how to do SEO keyword research! If you’re looking for keyword research tools, consider SEO.com , a free alternative for do-it-yourself SEO!

Keyword research is the process of finding, analyzing, and choosing  search terms — which people use to generate results on search engines — for SEO. SEO uses keywords to  help search engines rank pages accurately in search results and help people understand a page’s context.

For example, if you Google “bike shops in Harrisburg,” that would be your keyword, and these are the most relevant results:

This keyword is telling Google what information you want when searching. Doing keyword research for SEO can help you tell Google (and users) what your site is about.

Finding keywords is invaluable to your SEO process, as you’re targeting users’ search right from the start and building content around their needs. Keyword research for SEO is critical for a few stakeholders, including:

• Search engines: Search engines like Google use  keywords  to rank websites in search results. A blog post with a  title tag  with the keyword, “best running shoes,” and a list of the best running shoes tells search engines that it’s a relevant page to show for searches with that keyword.
• People: Searchers use keywords to search for content online — and choose which content to click on from search results. Someone looking for a compilation of the best running shoes, for instance, is more likely to click on a round-up blog post of the best shoes than a product page.
• Companies: Businesses that use keyword research generally earn a better  return on investment (ROI) from SEO  because they target keywords with the most value. A business that does SEO keyword research, for instance, may focus on  long-tail, low-competition keywords .

When you know how to research keywords, you make data-driven decisions about your  SEO strategy . Instead of guessing what your target market searches for, you know what terms will help users find your business.

You know why SEO keyword research and integration is important, but how do you get started? Here are eight different steps to help you learn how to find and incorporate SEO keywords:

• Brainstorm potential keywords
• Research competitor keyword targeting
• Compile a list of long-tail keywords
• Use a keyword research tool
• Choose the best keywords to use
• Integrate keywords throughout your site
• Organize your keyword hierarchy
• Make keyword research continuous

Keep reading to break down how to research and implement keywords for SEO.

1. Brainstorm potential keywords

The first step to keyword research is brainstorming a list of possible keywords. These keywords can be as broad as you want and include anything that relates to your industry, products, or services.

A bike shop in Harrisburg might use keywords like, “bike shop,” “bike rack,” “bike seats,” or any other bicycle parts that you sell. You can also use location-based keywords — words and phrases that describe your state, city, region, or area.

2. Research competitor keyword targeting

Check out your competitors’ sites and see the keywords they’re using to describe the similar products and services that they have. Investigating your competitors can help you come up with original ideas and inform the rest of your keyword research.

As you look for keywords, see what sites typically rank high in the search engine results pages (SERPs). You can then use these websites as  “seed list” for keyword ideas.

Enter a website in SEO.com , for example, and it’ll show the site’s keyword rankings:

Filter by topic, URL, position, and more to find relevant ideas. When researching keywords based on competitor data, though, ensure the topics are relevant to your audience.

3. Compile a list of long-tail keywords

Once you have your basic list, the next step is to expand this into a longer list of long-tail keywords . Short-tail keywords are around 1–2 words and name vague terms, while long-tail keywords are around 3–5 words and offer more detail.

The keywords you came up with in step one might be short and generic, like “bike shops.” But there could be thousands of businesses across the country trying to rank for that exact keyword.

As a local business, you’re probably not going to rank in the top 10.

Instead, you want to find longer, more-specific keywords that indicate whether a user is specifically looking for the parts you offer or a bike shop in your area. Instead of “bike shop,” you could try “bike shop in Harrisburg, PA” to narrow the search intent.

4. Use a keyword research tool

While you can rely on suggested searches from Google, this approach can take a significant amount of time. That’s why we often recommend using a keyword research tool like KeywordsFX . This step will expand your keywords based on user search trends and data.

When you type a keyword into KeywordsFX, you’ll get an alphabetized list of all the variations that users commonly search in Google.

If you type in “bike rack,” one of the results is “bike rack for audiq5.” This result means that a lot of users out there have searched for that exact phrase in Google in the past. It also means that if you sell a bike rack compatible with this specific car, you might want to target this keyword.

Depending on the keyword that you entered, you could get an overwhelming list of suggestions. Take note of the ones most relevant to your business. You can repeat this process for every keyword on your original list to branch out your keyword options.

5. Choose the best keywords to use

Now that you have a wide range of keywords to choose from, it’s time to pick the ones you intend to target. You should consider several factors when making your choice, including:

You can find out more about how to choose the right keywords later on this page. Once you’ve made your choices, it’s time to start adding to those keywords to your content.

6. Integrate keywords throughout your site

Adding keywords to your website is an essential step to your research. If you have quality keywords but don’t know how to integrate them, all your time and energy will go to waste.

Here are some tips for making sure Google and searchers can get the most of your keywords:

• Focus on one target keyword and 3–5 supporting keywords that highlight your page topic.
• Add the target to the page title, title tag, and meta description.
• Use the target or main keyword within the first 100 words of your page.
• Don’t add an outgoing link with your keyword anchor text.
• Aim to use each keyword two times naturally.

Our keyword density tool makes it easy to see where your keywords are and if you need to add or remove some.

7. Organize your keyword hierarchy

Once you have your list of keywords, you can determine how you want to incorporate them on your site. Connecting keywords and showing their relationship can better serve Google and your users.

If you found keywords that you already have pages for, add the keyword to your title tags, header tags, meta descriptions, and other important HMTL elements, as well as the body copy on each of these pages.

Throughout the keyword research process, you might have found a few keywords that you don’t yet have content to support. Instead of adding these keywords to random pages, use this as an opportunity to create more content for your site and more pages that will help your customers.

From there, you can build internal links to show how your keywords relate. For example, if you have a parent page on bike parts, you might link to other pages on bike racks, wheels, chains, and more.

Be sure to avoid keyword stuffing , or adding keywords where they’re not relevant or necessary. All the content on your site should be written with your users in mind to inform potential customers.

8. Make keyword research continuous

As you optimize your site, continue to do keyword research as much as you need. Over time, this process will help you identify even more keywords that are helpful to your customers. It  will also keep your keywords relevant to changing search volume and trends.

Even though the keyword “bike rack for 2024 Subaru Forester,” might be really valuable right now, there will be a newer model five years from now that users are searching for.

When choosing which keywords to use, it’s important to make sure you’re identifying the best options for your business. To do that, you’ll want to consider three main elements:

Let’s investigate each one below:

1. Relevance

Relevance describes the applicability of your keyword to the user’s intent — what the user’s goal is behind a search. Your content and keywords will rank well if they answer the user’s intent.

Google doesn’t want to give its searchers results that don’t solve their input. So, the algorithm uses your keywords to understand your site as relevant (or not) and post it in the results.

Using keyword clustering can help you organize the keywords you select by intent and keep your content relevant.

2. Authority

Google ranks sources that it deems authoritative higher than others. They want to only give the best results to users, and that includes finding websites with established domains and reputations.

So, how can you prove your authority?

Many sites do this by creating quality, informative content that helps users and earns backlinks. It also helps to understand the weight that expertise, authority, and trustworthiness (EAT) has on your rankings.

If there are other industry leaders out there (like the New York Times or Mayo Clinic), it might be harder to rank. However, you can also look to these sources for inspiration for how to improve your authority.

Keyword volume is measured by monthly search volume (MSV), which determines how many times one keyword gets searched in a month. You might rank for keywords, but if they have a low MSV, you are less likely to reach people.

You want to find keywords with a good search volume to answer people’s queries. SEO.com can help here by sharing search volume data, plus the keyword’s estimated difficulty.

Bonus: Cost-per-click (CPC)

The three metrics already listed are all you’ll need if you’re using keywords for SEO. If you’re researching keywords to target with your paid search ads, though, you’ll also want to consider cost-per-click (CPC).

CPC is data pulled in from Google Ads or Google Ads that represents how many advertisers are trying to place ads for that keyword. The higher the CPC, the more difficult it will be for your business to rank for that keyword.

The ideal keyword will have a high MSV, but a low CPC. These numbers mean that lots of users are searching for this information, but not a lot of websites are trying to rank for it.

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As we noted earlier, it’s a good idea to use a keyword research tool when you’re looking for new keywords to use. But which tool should you use? There are lots of different options out there, and you may be wondering which ones are the most useful.

Here are four of the best keyword research tools out there:

• Google Keyword Planner

Read on to learn more about each one.

1. KeywordsFX

KeywordsFX has three big advantages: It’s simple, it’s efficient, and it’s free. To use this tool, all you have to do is plug in a keyword. The tool will then return a long list of related keywords that you can use. These keywords are divided into regular keywords, questions, and modifiers.

This tool is the way to go if you want something that’s quick and easy to use, especially since it doesn’t cost you anything to use it. You also don’t have to download an app or create an account. All you do is visit a webpage.

On the opposite end of the spectrum from KeywordsFX is Ahrefs . Ahrefs is good for a lot of SEO tasks, but one of the things it’s best at is helping you identify related keywords. Using its Keywords Explorer tool, you can generate a lot of different keyword options.

And Ahrefs doesn’t stop at just recommending keywords. It also lets you view advanced data about the search volume for those keywords and how difficult it is to rank for them, among other things. That advanced data is why access to this tool only comes with an Ahrefs subscription.

Semrush’s Keyword Magic tool strikes a sort of middle ground between KeywordsFX and Ahrefs. It’s a bit more advanced than KeywordsFX, and it requires you to create a Semrush account in order to access it. At the same time, it’s a lot less advanced than Semrush, and it’s also free.

In terms of how it works, it uses pretty much the same process as the other tools on this list. Just plug in a keyword, get a list of related keywords, and then refine the results from there.

4. Google Keyword Planner

Sometimes, it’s best to get your information straight from the source. So when it comes to ranking in Google, what better source of keywords than Google itself?

That’s what you get with Google Keyword Planner , a free tool you can use to conduct your keyword research. You do have to sign in via your Google account to use it, but that’s basically the only hoop you have to jump through.

To use the tool, you have two options. You can plug in a keyword and get related keywords, like in the other tools listed here. Alternatively, you can plug in your website URL and get keyword recommendations based on your site content.

Use our proprietary keyword research tool, KeywordsFX , to help you find high-quality keywords for content and PPC campaigns. Identify Top Keywords for Free

Streamline keyword research for SEO with SEO.com

You’ve learned the basics about how to find SEO keywords and implement them on your site. If you’re ready to get started researching keywords, try SEO.com for free today to start finding new opportunities for your site!

Table of Contents

• What is Keyword Research?
• Why is Keyword Research Important?
• How to Research and Incorporate Keywords
• How to Choose the Best Keywords
• Best Keyword Research Tools for Your Business
• Streamline Keyword Research for SEO with SEO.com

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• How to Do SEO with 8 Basic Beginner Steps
• How to Find Long-Tail Keywords to Stay Ahead of the Competition
• How to Find Your Infographic All over the Internet
• How to Identify Quality Keywords
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A Beginner’s Guide: How to Do Keyword Research

• Katie Nichols
• Updated: June 19, 2024

• Thought Leadership

If you want your website to rank well on Google and drive organic traffic, keyword research is an essential skill. Keyword research is the process of identifying the words and phrases that your target audience is searching for, and then optimizing your site’s content to rank for those related search terms. When done effectively, keyword research provides a foundation for your entire SEO strategy. In this guide, we’ll walk through a step-by-step approach to keyword research. You’ll learn how to understand your audience, brainstorm keyword ideas, evaluate their difficulty and search volume, map them to your content, and track your rankings over time. By the end, you’ll have a solid framework for finding high-value keywords that can elevate your site’s visibility and attract more qualified leads. Let’s dive in!

See our Los Angeles SEO services!

What is Keyword Research?

At its core, keyword research is about getting inside the minds of your target customers. It involves analyzing the specific words and phrases they type into Google and other search engines when looking for information, products, or services related to your business. By understanding exactly what your audience is searching for, you can craft content that directly addresses their needs and interests.

Keyword research is important for SEO because it ensures you target terms with actual search demand. Rather than creating content around topics that no one is looking for, you can focus on search queries that have the potential to drive traffic and generate leads. Additionally, by analyzing metrics like keyword difficulty and click-through rates, you can prioritize the terms that are most likely to rank well and deliver strong ROI.

Understanding Your Target Audience

Before you start brainstorming keywords, you must have a clear picture of your target audience. Who are your ideal customers? What are their demographics, interests, and pain points? What type of language do they use when discussing your industry?

Creating buyer personas is a helpful exercise for getting into the mindset of your target customers. Buyer personas are semi-fictional representations of your ideal customers based on data and research. They typically include demographic info like age, gender, and income level, as well as psychographic details like goals, challenges, and preferred content formats.

To create effective buyer personas, start by analyzing your existing customer base. Look for common characteristics and patterns. You can also conduct surveys or interviews to gather direct insights from your target audience. Social listening tools are another useful way to see how your audience discusses topics related to your brand and industry.

In addition to understanding your audience’s demographics and interests, it’s important to consider the intent behind their search queries. Search intent refers to the underlying reason why someone conducts a particular search. Are they looking for general information, comparing product options, or ready to make a purchase?

The four main categories of search intent are:

• Informational:   Searches conducted to find information, such as answers to questions or how to complete a task.
• Navigational:   Searches conducted to find a specific website or page.
• Commercial Investigation:   Searches conducted by people considering a purchase and comparing different options.
• Transactional:   Searches conducted by people ready to buy a product or service.

Understanding the intent behind a keyword helps you craft content that aligns with what users are actually looking for. For example, a keyword with informational intent like “what is SEO” should be targeted with educational, top-of-funnel content rather than a hard sales pitch.

Brainstorming Initial Keyword Ideas

With a clear understanding of your audience in mind, start brainstorming potential keywords. A good place to begin is by listing out the main products, services, and topic areas you want your site to rank for. These will be your “seed keywords” that you can expand upon.

For example, let’s say you run an e-commerce store that sells outdoor gear. Your initial seed keywords might include terms like:

• Hiking backpacks
• Camping tents
• Sleeping bags
• Hiking boots
• Outdoor cooking equipment

From here, you can use keyword research tools to generate related ideas and expand your list. Some popular options include:

• Google Keyword Planner:   A free tool that provides keyword suggestions and search volume data based on a seed keyword.
• SEMrush:   A paid tool that offers keyword research, competitive analysis, and site audit features.
• Ahrefs Keywords Explorer:   Another paid tool that’s known for its large keyword database and ability to analyze backlink profiles.

Plug your seed keywords into these tools and look at the suggested terms they generate. Pay attention to the search volume and difficulty scores to understand how popular and competitive each search query is (more on this later).

Another useful tactic is to analyze the keywords your competitors are targeting. By looking at the related search terms that other sites in your industry optimize, you can identify opportunities to compete for the same audiences.

Some ways to do competitive keyword analysis include:

• Search for your target keyword on Google and review the sites that currently rank on page one. What keywords do they include in their page titles, meta descriptions, headings, and body copy?
• Using tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, or Ahrefs to view the keywords a specific URL ranks for.
• Leveraging the autocomplete feature in Google search to see common search queries containing your keyword.

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Expanding Your Keyword List

At this point, you should have a substantial list of potential keywords to target. However, many of these terms may be very broad and competitive. To expand your list and find less saturated opportunities, distinguish between short-tail and long-tail keywords.

Short-tail keywords are brief and generic, usually one to three words long. Examples might be “hiking boots” or “camping gear”. These terms tend to have high search volume but are also very competitive since many sites will try to rank for them.

Long-tail keywords, on the other hand, are more specific keyword phrases and usually contain four or more words. Examples might be “best lightweight hiking boots for women” or “how to choose a camping tent”. These terms typically have lower search volume but are also less competitive. They’re also more likely to convert since they catch people further along in the buyer’s journey.

To find long-tail keyword ideas, try entering your short-tail terms into Google and looking at the related search terms that appear. You can also use tools like Answer the Public, which provides question-based keyword suggestions (e.g. “how to choose hiking boots” or “what to look for in a camping tent”).

As you expand your keyword list, it’s important to keep your research organized and easily accessible. Using a keyword research template can help you keep track of your seed keywords, related terms, and long-tail variations in one centralized location. This makes it easier to analyze your keywords and make data-driven decisions about which terms to prioritize.

Evaluating Keyword Difficulty

Once you’ve built out a sizable list of keyword ideas, the next step is to evaluate their difficulty. Keyword difficulty (KD) is a metric that estimates how hard it would be to rank for a particular term based on the current competition.

Most keyword research tools will provide some form of KD score, typically on a scale of 0-100 (with higher values indicating greater difficulty). However, it’s important to note that each tool calculates KD slightly differently.

To get a rough idea of KD, look at the sites currently ranking on page one for your target keyword. Are they mostly well-established, authoritative domains? Do they have a high quantity of quality backlinks? If so, the term is likely quite competitive.

You can also perform a manual Google search for your keyword and assess the following:

• Page titles and meta descriptions:   Are they well-optimized to include the target keyword?
• Page content:   Is it in-depth, high-quality, and relevant to the keyword?
• Domain authority (DA):   This metric from 0-100 predicts how likely a site is to rank in search results based on its backlink profile. You can check DA using MozBar or other SEO tools.

In general, you want to target keywords that strike a balance between high search volumes and reasonable competition levels. As a newer site, you may need to focus on lower-difficulty keywords at first and gradually target more competitive terms as you build up your authority.

Assessing Keyword Search Volume

In addition to assessing difficulty, evaluate the search volume for your target keywords. Search volume refers to the average number of times a particular term is searched per month. This metric helps gauge the demand and traffic potential for a keyword.

Most keyword research tools will provide search volume data alongside the keyword suggestions. Take these numbers with a grain of salt, as they are often rough estimates.

When assessing search volume, look for keywords that have a substantial number of monthly searches (at least a few hundred for most industries). But be wary of terms with extremely high search volume, as they may be too competitive to realistically rank for.

It’s also important to consider the trend of search volume over time. Some keywords may be highly seasonal (e.g. “Christmas gift ideas”), while others may be steadily increasing or decreasing in popularity. Look at the search volume trend over the past 12-24 months to get a better idea of a keyword’s staying power.

Analyzing Keyword Click-Through Rates (CTR)

Another important factor to consider when selecting keywords is the expected click-through rate (CTR) from search results. CTR refers to the percentage of people who click on a result after searching for a particular term.

Even if a keyword has high search volume, it may not drive significant traffic if the CTR is low. This can happen for a few reasons:

• The search intent behind the keyword is unclear or ambiguous.
• The SERP features (e.g. featured snippets, People Also Ask boxes) are capturing most of the clicks.
• The top ranking results are not compelling enough to earn clicks.

To estimate the expected CTR for a keyword, you can use Google Search Console data (if you already rank for the term) or tools like Ahrefs and SEMrush (which provide average CTR benchmarks by position). In general, aim for keywords with a higher expected CTR, as they are more likely to drive actual search traffic to your site.

Mapping Keywords to Content

Once you’ve identified a list of target keywords, the next step is to map them to specific pages or pieces of content on your site. This keyword research process helps ensure that each page is optimized around a central keyword theme and that your site architecture is clean and logical.

Start by categorizing your keywords based on their search intent. Group together keywords that imply similar intent (e.g. informational keywords vs. transactional keywords). These keyword groups will form the basis for your content silos or topic clusters.

A content silo is a way of organizing your site’s content into clear, hierarchical categories. A topic cluster involves creating one authoritative pillar page around a broad keyword, and then linking to several supporting blog posts about more specific subtopics.

For example, let’s say one of your target keywords is “best hiking boots”. You might create a pillar page optimized for this term, and then write supporting blog posts optimized for related long-tail keywords like:

• “best lightweight hiking boots for summer”
• “best budget hiking boots under $100”
• “best hiking boots for wide feet”
• “how to break in new hiking boots”

By linking these more specific posts back to the main pillar page, you create a clear content hierarchy and signal to Google that your pillar page is an authoritative resource on the topic.

As you map keywords to content, consider the stage of the buyer’s journey each term represents. Keywords with informational intent should be mapped to top-of-funnel content like blog posts and guides, while keywords with transactional intent are best suited for bottom-of-funnel pages like product pages or landing pages.

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Prioritizing Your Keyword Targets

With your keyword list mapped out, it’s time to prioritize which terms to focus on first. Not all keywords are created equal, and some will likely have a higher potential impact on your business than others.

To prioritize your keyword targets, consider the following factors:

• Relevance:   How closely does the keyword align with your products, services, or business goals?
• Search Volume:   How many people are actually searching for this term each month?
• Keyword Difficulty:   How competitive is the keyword, and how likely are you to rank for it based on your site’s current authority?
• Business Value:   If you ranked for this keyword, how valuable would the resulting traffic be in terms of potential leads or revenue?

Based on these criteria, assign each keyword a priority score (e.g. Low, Medium, High). This will help you determine which terms to focus on first in your content creation and optimization efforts. In general, aim for a balance of short-tail and long-tail keywords, as well as a mix of low, medium, and high competition terms. This will help you drive short-term gains while also setting yourself up for long-term success.

On-Page Keyword Optimization

Once you’ve selected your target keywords and mapped them to specific pages, optimize those pages around the chosen terms. This process is known as on-page SEO.

Some key places to include your target keywords include:

• Page title:   This is the main title that appears in search results. Aim to include your primary keyword near the beginning of the title.
• Meta description:   This is the brief snippet that appears below the page title in search results. While it doesn’t directly impact rankings, it can influence click-through rates.
• Headings:   Use H1, H2, and H3 tags to structure your content and include variations of your target keyword.
• Body copy:   Incorporate your keyword naturally throughout the page’s content, aiming for a keyword density of around 1-2%.
• Image alt text:   Include your keyword in the alt text of any relevant images on the page.
• URL:   If possible, include your keyword in the page’s URL structure (e.g. www.example.com/best-hiking-boots).

However, it’s important not to overdo it with keyword placement. Aim for a natural, readable flow rather than awkwardly forcing keywords into every possible spot. Use variations and synonyms to avoid keyword stuffing, which can actually hurt your SEO.

Additionally, make sure to optimize for related keywords and subtopics that help reinforce the page’s main keyword theme. By covering a topic comprehensively and naturally including related search terms, you can improve your chances of ranking for a wider range of long-tail keyword phrases.

Tracking Keyword Rankings

After publishing and optimizing your content, track how well it’s performing in search results. Monitoring your keyword rankings over time can help you understand which optimization tactics are working and where there’s room for improvement.

To track keyword rankings, you can use tools like Google Search Console, SEMrush, or Ahrefs. These tools will show you the average position your site ranks for specific keywords, as well as the change in position over time.

Pay attention to any major shifts in rankings, especially sudden drops. This could indicate an issue with your site’s SEO, such as a penalty or algorithm update. On the flip side, steady increases in rankings can show that your optimization efforts are paying off.

In addition to tracking your own rankings, monitor your competitors’ rankings for the same keywords. This can help you identify areas where you’re falling behind and need to step up your game.

Based on your ranking data, adjust your keyword targets and optimization approach as needed. If you’re struggling to rank for a particular term, you may need to reevaluate its difficulty and search volume. If you’re seeing strong rankings for certain keywords, look for opportunities to capitalize on that success (e.g. by creating additional content around those topics).

Advanced Keyword Research Tips

As you become more comfortable with the basics of keyword research, here are a few advanced tips to take your skills to the next level:

• Capture “People Also Ask” keywords:   Google’s People Also Ask (PAA) feature is a goldmine for long-tail keyword ideas. These are the questions that appear in a box on the SERP, often containing terms closely related to your main keyword. You can use tools like AlsoAsked or Ahrefs to scrape and analyze PAA questions at scale.
• Optimize for local keywords:   If your business has a local component, make sure to target keywords that include location-based terms (e.g. “hiking boots Seattle”). You can also optimize your Google My Business listing and build local citations to improve your chances of ranking for searches and   boost your local SEO .
• Don’t neglect YouTube and Amazon:  Google is not the only search engine worth targeting. If you create video content, optimizing for YouTube keywords can be a powerful way to drive views and engagement. And if you sell physical products, ranking well in Amazon search results can directly impact your bottom line.

Keyword research is a fundamental skill for any SEO professional or content marketer. By understanding what your target audience is searching for and optimizing your content accordingly, you can drive more qualified traffic to your site and achieve your business goals. While the process may seem complex at first, it becomes easier with practice. The most important thing is to approach keyword research with a curious and analytical mindset. Constantly put yourself in the shoes of your target customer and think about the language they would use to find your products or services.

Additionally, remember that keyword research is an ongoing process. As your business grows and evolves, so will the keywords you need to target. Make keyword research a regular part of your SEO and content marketing workflow, and continually look for new opportunities to expand your organic presence.

With dedication and practice, you’ll be able to identify high-value keywords that drive real results for your business. So roll up your sleeves, fire up your favorite keyword research tool, and start optimizing!

Elevating Brands Online: The Helium SEO Story

At Helium SEO, we’re a team of passionate and experienced professionals dedicated to helping businesses like yours soar to new heights online. With over a decade of experience in the ever-evolving world of digital marketing, we’ve crafted unique strategies to build powerful SEO campaigns that deliver real, measurable results.

Our focus is simple: to help you achieve your business goals and drive revenue growth through the power of search engine optimization. We understand that every business is unique, so we take the time to create innovative, cost-effective SEO strategies tailored specifically to your needs.

Our full-service agency offers a range of digital marketing services designed to give your brand a competitive edge online. From pay-per-click advertising and social media marketing to web design and analytics, we have the tools and expertise to help you succeed in today’s digital landscape.

Whether you’re a small local business looking to attract more customers or a large enterprise seeking to dominate your industry online, Helium SEO has the knowledge, skills, and experience to help you achieve your objectives. We’re passionate about what we do and committed to helping our clients succeed in the fast-paced, ever-changing world of digital marketing.

So if you’re ready to take your online presence to new heights and start seeing real, measurable results from your digital marketing efforts, look no further than Helium SEO. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help your business soar!

Frequently Asked Questions

How many keywords should i target per page.

As a general rule, it’s best to optimize each page for one primary keyword and a handful of secondary or related search terms. Trying to target too many search terms on a single page can lead to content that feels unfocused or unnatural.

That said, the exact number of keywords will depend on the length and depth of your content. A short blog post may only target one or two keywords, while a long pillar page could target several related keywords.

The key is to make sure all of your target keywords are closely related and fit naturally within the context of the page. Avoid keyword stuffing at all costs, as this can actually hurt your SEO.

How long does it take to rank for a keyword?

The amount of time it takes to rank for a keyword can vary widely depending on factors like:

• The keyword’s difficulty and competitiveness
• The quality and relevance of your content
• Your site’s authority and backlink profile
• The age of your site and the specific page

In general, newer sites and pages will take longer to rank than established ones. And highly competitive keywords may take several months or even years to crack the top positions.

As a rough benchmark, you can expect it to take at least a few weeks to a few months to start seeing meaningful rankings for a new keyword. But keep in mind that SEO is a long-term game. Consistency and patience are key to achieving lasting results.

How often should I perform keyword research?

Keyword research should be an ongoing process, not a one-time event. At a minimum, aim to revisit your keyword strategy every few months to identify new opportunities and adjust your targeting based on performance.

However, the exact frequency will depend on your industry and the rate at which new keywords and topics emerge. In fast-moving industries like technology or fashion, you may need to perform keyword research more often to stay on top of emerging trends.

A good rule of thumb is to make keyword research a regular part of your content planning process. Before creating a new piece of content, always do some keyword research to identify the best terms to target and optimize around.

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How to do keyword research: A step-by-step guide

By The IFTTT Team

March 01, 2024

Understanding how to do keyword research is crucial for achieving success in any digital marketing campaign, even though it can be quite complex. With the right walkthrough, fortunately, beginning to understand keyword marketing is a very doable task.

In this guide, you'll learn the basics of keyword research, including definitions, best practices and strategies for success. We’ll also look at the most important concepts and tools that any successful keyword research project must include.

To finish, we'll introduce IFTTT , our free automation platform that offers hundreds of solutions for your SEO and keyword research needs. Whether you browse our millions (yes, millions) of user-created integrations, or build your own, you are guaranteed to find your perfect keyword tool.

An easy definition: What is keyword research?

Keyword research is a fundamental practice in search engine optimization (SEO) where you identify popular words and phrases people enter into search engines. Depending on what combination of words the user enters into the search bar, the search engine will yield a unique list of results.

If you are a business or brand that wants to gain the most visibility possible, you want to be the first, second, third, or fourth website displayed for your specific niche. Since people searching on the internet view the top results as the most popular, highest quality, and best respected, they are always going to choose higher-ranked pages.

Understanding these demand patterns can help inform content strategy, and marketing strategy more broadly. Keyword research can uncover queries to target, the popularity of these queries, their ranking difficulty, and more.

It's not just about getting visitors to your site, but about getting the right kind of visitors - those who are likely to become leads or customers. Therefore, effective keyword research requires an understanding of your target audience and how they are searching for your content, services, or products.

In essence, keyword research is about understanding the language of your potential customers and applying this knowledge to your SEO strategy.

Understanding different types of keywords

Not all keywords are created equal; exactly which types you focus on can have an impact on the performance of your SEO campaign. To understand these different types, you'll need to look at the differences between primary and secondary keywords, as well as other common variations.

Primary keywords

These are the main keywords that most closely describe the content or product/service offered. They are the focal point of your content and should be included in key areas such as the title, headers, and meta description.

Secondary (or related) keywords

Secondary keywords relate to the primary keyword. They help to support and give context to your content. Including secondary keywords helps search engines understand the full scope of your content.

Long-tail keywords

These are longer, more specific keyword phrases that visitors are more likely to use when they're closer to the point of purchase or when they're using voice search.

Long-tail keywords are highly valuable because they tend to result in higher conversion rates, even though they get less traffic overall.

Localized keywords

These are keywords that include specific locations. They are crucial for local SEO and businesses that have a physical location or cater to a specific geographic area. Example: "Best Italian restaurant in Brooklyn".

Using tools for keyword research

In the world of SEO, there are several tools available to help with keyword research. Each has its strengths and can provide valuable insights into your keyword strategy. Let's take a look at some of the most popular ones:

Google Keyword Planner : This is a free tool provided by Google as part of its advertising platform, Google Ads. It allows you to find keywords related to your business or industry, see how often certain keywords are searched, how their search volume changes over time, and understand how much competition there is for these keywords.

SEMrush : This is a comprehensive SEO tool that offers advanced keyword research features. SEMrush provides detailed information about keyword difficulty, the number of organic search results, and competitive density. It also shows the phrases that your competitors are ranking for.

Ahrefs : Ahrefs is another robust SEO tool that provides extensive details on keywords including search volume, keyword difficulty, relevant keyword ideas, and how many backlinks you might need to rank on the first page of Google.

Moz Keyword Explorer : Moz’s tool offers keyword suggestions, SERP analysis, and a 'keyword difficulty' score. It also provides a unique metric, 'Potential', that combines all keyword metrics (Volume, Difficulty, CTR, Importance) into one score.

Using these tools, you can identify which keywords are most effective for your SEO strategy. Remember, the goal isn't just to increase traffic, but to attract quality traffic that aligns with your business goals.

Step-by-step guide to doing keyword research

Everyone will have a different strategy for implementing good keyword research, but here is a step-by-step walkthrough that many experts follow. This is a perfect example of a path to follow for first-timers simply looking for a guide on how to do keyword research. As with most things, mastering keyword research is difficult.

1. Understanding Your niche and target audience

We cannot emphasize enough how important this step is. Before you start keyword research, you need to fully understand your niche and who your target audience is. What topics are they interested in? How would they describe your product or service?

2. Brainstorming initial keyword ideas

Start by brainstorming a list of topics related to your business. Then, think of keywords that your audience might search for related to these topics. You can type the first letters or words of your keyword string into Google and see what others usually look up.

3. Using keyword research tools to find keyword volume and competition

Use tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, Ahrefs, or Moz to find out how often people search for these keywords (search volume), and how many other websites are competing for these keywords (competition).

4. Analyzing keyword difficulty and search intent

Not all keywords are created equal. Some are more difficult to rank for than others. Keyword difficulty is a metric usually provided by SEO tools that gives an estimate of how hard it would be to rank on the first page of Google for a particular keyword. Also, consider the intent behind the keyword - is the user looking to buy something, learn something, go somewhere, or do something?

5. Selecting the right keywords for your content

Finally, choose keywords that have a good balance of search volume, competition, and relevance to your business. Remember, it's not just about getting traffic to your site, but about getting the right kind of traffic.

6. How to apply keywords in your content

Once you have your list of keywords ready, you need to apply them in the right places in your content. You should aim to use primary keywords in titles, headers, and meta descriptions. Secondary and long-tail keywords can be used throughout the body text or placed into subheaders. Localized keywords should only be used if your business is targeting a specific geographic area.

You should always strive for naturalness and readability in your text. Stuffing keywords into your content will not only make it difficult to read, but will also hurt your rankings instead of helping them. It’s better to use a few relevant keywords than cramming as many as possible. By using some of the keyword tools above, they can analyze your writing and alert you of any readability or cramming issues.

Make sure you're using keyword variations and synonyms as well. This is important for ranking high in search engine results and helps to keep your content from feeling repetitive.

By following these steps, you’ll be able to create a comprehensive keyword strategy that will help you reach your SEO goals. Good luck!

Keyword research made easy with IFTTT

By pairing your newfound knowledge about keywords with IFTTT's easy-to-use tools, you can become an unstoppable SEO powerhouse. We offer hundreds of automations that you can use to quickly and efficiently do keyword research.

For example, you can use our integration that sends you an email every time there is a significant change to your website’s ranking on Google or Bing. This way, you'll know immediately when something needs to be optimized or tweaked for better results. You won't find this functionality with any other tool.

Read on to hear about our mission, and our top picks for free automations to start leveling up your keyword game.

What is IFTTT?

IFTTT , an acronym for "If This Then That," is our free web-based service and mobile app designed to boost productivity by automating tasks. It works by creating connections between popular apps and services, allowing them to work together seamlessly.

The basic idea behind IFTTT is to create "applets" or sets of instructions that trigger when certain conditions are met. This can be turning on the lights automatically when you enter your house, for example.

Founded in 2011, IFTTT has been used by over 25 million individuals to automate both business and home tasks, saving time and increasing efficiency. It's commonly used to connect disparate services and systems, making all products and services work well together in a way that instills user confidence. Best of all, it's free and only takes a couple of minutes to set up.

Top keyword Applets with IFTTT

Subscribe to any RSS Feed and receive an email when a new entry includes a keyword you choose

With this automation, you can create your own email newsletter from any RSS Feed URL you paste in the field below. Enter a keyword too and this Applet will send you an email for every new entry that matches.

Text me if a tweet matches these keywords

Looking out for what's popular, or what competitors are doing in your sector? Use this Applet to text you an alert if there a Tweet that matches your chosen keywords.

Generate an outline for a topic

Are you writing a blog post, article, or ebook? Use our AI tools to generate an outline for the topic using keywords and relevant data. This Applet will create outlines by pulling in titles and subheadings straight from accredited sources for your chosen topic.

To access these Applets and millions more, try IFTTT for free today!

How to Do Keyword Research – The Complete Guide 2024

When I started blogging, I simply wrote a lot of articles without caring so much about the keywords I was targeting.

I just wrote and hoped for the best.

As I quickly found out, this approach led to no visits to my blog because my posts only ranked for keywords with very low volume, if at all.

But as I got more and more proficient in SEO , I discovered a blueprint that keeps putting my site at the top of Google every time .

This blueprint, combined with some solid keyword research is all you need to also rank at the top.

In today’s post, I will show you how you can easily find keywords to target and how to include those in your posts effortlessly to increase your traffic and rankings.

Want help with your site’s SEO audit and campaign? Hire me for a consultation.

I will also explain what keywords are, how to use them, what not to do (very important!), and the one deep, dark secret to getting Google’s attention.

In the Beginning… The Start of Keywords

When the internet started there was no good way to find the information or websites you wanted. In fact, everyone had to keep a list of the web address that they liked.

Then search engines came along to fix this problem.

The very first search engine was called Archie. It was created in 1990 by Alan Emtage at McGill University in Montreal. It was, in essence, a database of file names that one could search to find what they were looking for.

In 1991, Tim Berners-Lee invented the concept of the World Wide Web. It was a system whereby information could be transferred easily and quickly.

Related: Read about the history of blogging

It didn’t take long for a bunch of search engines to show up. Each of them, including Google, are based on some simple principles.

A spider goes out and looks for web pages. Those pages are scanned and cataloged.

How does the spider understand what the page is all about?

It uses keywords and keyword density to figure out the main topic of the page. With this information, the spider tags the page and clusters it in a category such as “health care” for example.

What are keywords?

Keywords and their use on websites is really not an unfathomable idea. In fact, when you step back from it a bit, they are quite simple.

Dictionary.com defines a keyword as, “a word or concept of great significance.” It goes on to say, “an informative word used in an information retrieval system to indicate the content of a document.”

Keywords are words in any document that tell you what the document is about. In fact, it’s not that hard to demonstrate, particularly when you’re looking at non-fiction items.

Let’s consider the following passage, scanning only the keywords highlighted:

“ Michael Jordan (born February 17, 1963) is a professional American basketball player , Olympic athlete, businessperson and actor. Considered one of the best basketball players ever, Michael Jordan dominated the sport from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s. He led the Chicago Bulls to six National Basketball Association championships and earned the NBA’s Most Valuable Player Award five times. With five regular-season MVPs and three All-Star MVPs, Jordan became the most decorated player in NBA history.” – (From Biography.com )

Here is a list of potential keywords: Michael Jordan, basketball, basketball players, championships, NBA.

With these keywords the spider might make the following associations (as explained in my RankBrain article):

Michael Jordan <-> basketball, basketball player <-> NBA <-> championships

By simply scanning for keywords Google can clearly understand what that passage is all about and start ranking that site for keywords like “who is michael jordan?” or “michael jordan championships”

So in short, keywords give us the main topic of an article.

So now that you know what keywords are and what they look like, how do you decide what keywords to use on your website? How can you maintain great keyword usage throughout the site?

How to find the right keywords

Here are 3 simple ways to find good keywords for your site

• Write a list of what your website is about
• Look at what Google and other tools say about those words
• Steal keywords from your competitors

I will go in depth about each of them now.

Step One: Make a list

I’m going to use a single example throughout the rest of the article to make it easy to track the progress of a single website.

The business: Frank’s Plumbing and Heating

Location: Iowa City, Iowa

The first thing that Frank needs to do is a make a list of words that are relevant to what he does. It’s simply a list of nouns and verbs that relate to his business.

• Emergency service 
• Installation
• Construction

Those are all words that relate to Frank’s plumbing business. That’s not everything, but it’s a great start. Armed with his list, Frank is going to see what search engines have to say about what he does.

Use Ubersuggest for More Keywords

One thing that you can do now is to take your list to Ubersuggest . It’s a free tool that will take your main keywords and expand on them.

All you have to do is enter a keyword and Ubersuggest will show you a list of related keywords that you can try.

The Ubersuggest list can also be used to estimate how good your initial list was in terms of volume, CPC and competition. (Related: here are the highest paying Adsense keywords )

This list can be compared to the tool that’s next, Google’s Keyword Tool.

Step 2: Use Google Keyword Search and other Keyword Research tools

Since Google is the big dog, I will speak about Google most of the time. Everything you do for Google will work well for Bing, Yahoo, Baidu, and every other search engine. Google is used for nearly 68% of all internet searches.

Another important note is that only 15% of all searches are unique. That means that 85% of all searches are repeated. That’s why keywords work well, but at the same time exact-match keywords are not as useful as they used to be .

Google offers a great and free keyword search tool: its Keyword Planner .

If you are new to Adwords, you will need to open an account to use it.

Follow their instructions to set up an account. Don’t worry, you don’t have to spend money. You only need to promise to think about it.

✋ Stop worrying about SEO and have me do it for you

PS: Ready to work with the 0.01% of all SEOs worldwide? Click here .

After you’re in, you’ll see this page:

You will want to search using a phrase, for now. 

Frank is just going to type “Plumbing” into the search box:

There is a box at the bottom that he can use to focus on Iowa City. Since he doesn’t have a national business, he will put the city name in there. Frank doesn’t speak Spanish, so he is going to use English words.

Now we have a list of keywords:

By clicking on the “Avg. Monthly Searches”, you can arrange the keywords that Google supplies you in order of the most searched.

Note that the first result, “plumbing supply,” isn’t useful to a plumber, so Frank eliminates it from his list. The next few words, though, are perfect Frank’s needs.

Here are other tools you can use to do keyword research (and more, like backlink building).

Step 3: Stealing keywords

The next thing to do is to ‘steal’ keywords from your best competitors.

Frank will Google, “plumbers near me.” The first three or four listing, as long as they are actual competitors will work great.

We’re going to use a new and somewhat simpler tool: https://www.semrush.com/features/domain-vs-domain/

Another tool that you can use is Ahrefs . For more tools for keyword research tools click here .

Both of these companies offer a very low introductory price, so you can get started with this and also check out the massive suite of SEO tools that each offers.

The first plumber on Frank’s list came up as: https://hawkeyesewer.com/ .

Simply put the website URL and hit enter.

The page will give you results of the keyword density on the Hawkeye Sewer website.

Here you can see what Hawkeye Sewer is doing right. Do that with two or three more websites, and you have a great keyword list to work from.

Using Google Search to Find Suggested Keywords

At the bottom of the first page of Google searches there is always a list of related search terms that you can look at.

When Frank types in “plumber Iowa City”, we can see that Google makes suggestions of other searches that you can use.

These search suggestions can be incorporated into your list of keywords and phrases so that you can try to capture that traffic as well.

Put it all together

Now, you can just put it all together, copy and paste all the keywords into an Excel spreadsheet that weight the words based on keyword density on different sites, as well as the monthly search information from Google. You can sort this by Volume or Difficulty and get writing.

Keyword Difficulty

One thing that you can do to make your life easier is to discover the “keyword difficulty” of the primary keyword or phrase that you’re using.

One tool that you can use to figure this out easily is KW Finder .

When you type in the keywords there, you’ll see keyword difficulty numbers. The higher the number, the more difficult it will be to rank for that keyword. It simply means that there’s a lot of competition.

If you have a website that is already getting a lot of traffic, you can reorient your text to that word.

On the other hand, if you have a new website, you might look for a number that’s low (<10-20). It will allow you to rank in a smaller niche. Later, when you’ve gotten traffic from the new keyword, you can go for the harder words.

Additionally, you can find a wealth of other keywords at Ahref’s Keyword Explorer.

When we type a keyword like “hire a plumber” we can see that it’s difficulty is 18 and that we need about 20 backlinks to rank in the top 10 results for this keyword.

You will also see various search suggestions and other keyword opportunities you might have missed.

Some More Tools You Can Use

Here is a list of great online tools that you can use to look up keywords , check on competitors, and improve your page ranking.

• Google Trends – free – Google Trends tracks keyword usage in real time. This allows you to see what keywords are on the rise and which ones aren’t as popular. You can focus your energy writing on new keywords because presumably there isn’t as much in-depth content about that topic yet. 
• Wordstream – free – Enter your competitor’s URL, industry, and location and you can see what the searches are in that are for their keywords. It’s a powerful free tool that allows you really see what’s going on.
• Moz Keyword Explorer – paid – Moz is one of the leading resources for SEO tools online. Their keyword explorer is designed to make the data simple by showing you how tough the competition is for any given keyword.
• SEMRush – paid – SEMRush is mostly an advertising platform, but that same data is used for SEO and marketing your website. SEMRush has some great keyword tools that you can use to dominate in your category.
• the Amazon Search bar – free – If you go to Amazon.com and type a product keyword, the auto-suggest feature will show you a gold mine of keywords that have commercial intent.
• KeywordsEverywhere – free – This chrome addon will show you volume, CPC and competition scores for each keyword search you perform.
• Quora – free – If you go to Quora and analyze the wording of the questions that people ask over and over, you can find keyword patterns to include in your next article.

How to Use Keywords in your Blog Post or Article

Have you ever read some text on a website that constantly repeats a single phrase over and over, awkwardly? “Best plumber, Iowa City” is put in every few lines. There are some things that you can do that don’t affect SEO, can make reading the text much more pleasant.

In fact, this is often the hardest part about using keywords on your page. Many people end up hiring a professional writer to do the writing, just so they don’t have to try to figure it out.

Here are a few things that you might know about or heard of that can make using keywords harder. Follow these guidelines and it’ll be much easier.

Stop words are common words that appear throughout a language. “A”, “an, “the”, and “and” are all very common in your language. In fact, “the” is the most commonly used word in the English language.

For many years, “stop words” were just that. They were words that would stop Google from reading on. “Frank the Best Plumber in Iowa City” would only be read as Frank. Google has improved this over time. In fact, the Hummingbird upgrade on the Google algorithm was designed just for that.

Today, you can use stop words in your keywords and your text. So “Best plumber, Iowa City” can be written as “the best plumber in Iowa City” without losing SEO juice .

Punctuation

Another place that text on a web page can get strange is with punctuation. Google ignores most punctuation. So a phrase like, “Many people are looking for the best plumber. Iowa City has many qualified people, but Frank is the best,” will be read correctly by Google.

Use Keywords in your URL, Alt text, Headings, and Meta

These are all elements of your writing and your SEO. It’s best to keep the titles clean. Here are some other ways you can improve your On-Page SEO .

Use LSI Keywords

Latent Semantic Index (LSI) Keywords simply refers to synonyms or variations of your main keyword. For example instead of repeating “best plumber in Iowa”, you could use “highest rated plumbing service in Iowa”. Not only this will help you rank for tons of related keywords (thanks to Google’s Rankbrain algorithm ) but will also make your text more readable.

The GIANT SECRET about SEO and rankings

Here’s the big secret. The one that’s at the heart of everything that Google is doing. This is worth millions of dollars in SEO work and data analysis. And it has to do with a very simple white hat SEO strategy .

The simple secret is to write great content .

When you write content that is valuable (like this post!), people will spend a lot of time reading it, people will organically share it and all of this will boost your site to the top.

What not to do (unless you want to piss off Google)

1. doing keyword stuffing.

The biggest no-no for Google with keywords is ‘keyword stuffing.’, which means simply putting your keywords as often as possible in your text.

From  Google :

“Keyword stuffing” refers to the practice of loading a webpage with keywords or numbers in an attempt to manipulate a site’s ranking in Google search results. Often these keywords appear in a list or group, or out of context (not as natural prose). Filling pages with keywords or numbers results in a negative user experience, and can harm your site’s ranking. Focus on creating useful, information-rich content that uses keywords appropriately and in context.

Examples of keyword stuffing include:

• Lists of phone numbers without substantial added value
• Blocks of text listing cities and states a webpage is trying to rank for
• We sell custom cigar humidors. Our custom cigar humidors are handmade. If you’re thinking of buying a custom cigar humidor, please contact our custom cigar humidor specialists at [email protected] .”

Many, many websites, early on, used keyword stuffing to try to get Google’s attention. It worked, for about a year. Nonetheless, it’s not hard to look around today and still see websites with a bunch of keywords packed on a page.

One of the biggest examples is lists of the towns that you work in. If you’re a plumber, you might work in 20 towns and cities. Many web designers will put a huge list of all the towns at the bottom of the page. That’s not only not going to get you the results you need, it’s likely to make the Google bot mark your site down.

If you want to list the towns, create a nice, separate page for each town and list them on your site. Your developer can even make the pages invisible to people, but visible to Google.

Keyword stuffing isn’t a positive way to get Google’s attention. It is considered a very bad blackhat technique

2. Using Irrelevant Keywords

A plumber shouldn’t have a lot of references to football, the Super Bowl, Valentine’s day, and other things that have nothing to do with the business. The more focused and targeted your keywords, the better.

3. Picking Keywords That Have No Traffic

Don’t make the mistake of working on keywords that don’t get any traffic. Very often, people will go with their instincts. Do the research that I talked about above.

4. Placing All your Eggs in One Keyword

Making only one keyword the focus of your website is a huge mistake. So often people, especially ones who are specialists, will get too focused on a single keyword because they’re worried that they will get calls from people that want things that they don’t offer. It’s a good thing to say to people, “Sorry, I don’t do that, but let me refer to you to my friend,” rather than looking at a phone that never rings.

Summary Of All Need to Know About Keywords

I went over a lot in this post. Here’s a quick recap about keyword research:

• You need to make sure that you do proper keyword research. Don’t skip this really important step in building a website or even posting a blog post.
• If you are new, focus on keywords with lower competition.
• Picking the right keywords is just half of the battle, the other half is creating the best post ever .
• Write for real people. Don’t be too obsessed with how Google will interpret your post. Write so that real people will want to read it. This will generate you tons of business .
• Don’t make the blackhat mistakes above, especially keyword stuffing.
• No matter what happens, put up the best website and content that you can. Here are some of the best website builders that can help you with both.

If you enjoyed this post and have found new ideas to find keywords, please share it with a friend and drop a comment below. I read them all.

(And additional benefit of dropping a comment is that you can build a very quick and easy backlink to your site)

Be sure to also check out:

• My collection of best articles about SEO
• What is SEO? (Intro for beginners all the way to advanced)  
• How to do white hat SEO and be a nice guy in Google’s eye

Alejandro Rioja

Alejandro Rioja (UCLA '17) is a serial entrepreneur who founded Flux Ventures , a holdings company that owns: 1) Flux Chargers , the top rated and best selling power bank in over 90 countries, with a #1 worldwide rank by Mashable, Engadget, and Digital Trends; 2) Flux.LA , a software and marketing consulting firm that will get your site at the top of Google; 3) Flux Capital, an investment firm and 4) Young Slacker Media , a series of popular websites (like FutureSharks , and The Insurance Nerd ) and his own rapper persona, Snap: @youngslacker , Instagram: @youngslacker . If I can be of any help or if you would like to do business with me, don't hesitate to reach out!

youtube izlenme hizmetleri

Other than this, do you have any other helpful tips for discovering keywords for an eCommerce website? obviously, the number of keywords is gone be vast and differs quite a bit.

Hi, Alejandro

Thank you for the tip, looking forward to more such valuable content!

Tons of keyword research tools explained here. I also love tool named AnswerThePublic.com as well, gives a deeper info on long term keyword research.

There were all the usual trappings of a startup demo day. Caffeinated founders paced the lobby in colorful T-shirts splattered with their company logos, polishing their pitches for their on-stage presentation and meetings with potential investors.

I would say this is one. From beginning to end you nailed it. To write this you may have worked for study. Best regards, Lunding Hessellund

Thank you, I put a lot of effort on this one 😀

I am really happy to say it is an interesting post to read. I learn new information from your article, you do a great job. Best regards, Harrell Henneberg

Thank you! Glad you liked it.

hay there, I really want to thank you for the content. It is so good and helpful. Keep posting about how to choose the keywords for any content. I will be looking forward

This is a great article, sir. Semrush is a great tool for uncovering profitable keyword. I am in love with its Keyword magic tool. Keywordseverywhere addon helps a lot as well.

Hi Alejandro Rioja, I really appreciate your effort in creating these articles. I totally agree with your list for a step by step Keyword research. I also gethered some experts advices on keyword research here in this article: https://progostech.com/40-seo-experts-advise-on-keyword-research/ Will be glad to hear your thoughts on this. 🙂

The best article I read so far. I usually read Niel patel but this article was more better I think. The way you explained using the example made it very easy to understand. Thanks for the share. Keep up the good work and keeping your posts easier to understand. Cheers.!!

I’m having an issue with being able to use Google’s Keyword Planner without first having to set up an ad/enter CC info, etc. Perhaps they’ve updated that since you’ve last updated this guide or perhaps I’m just not figuring out a workaround (the interface is now different than your screengrabs).

Any advice on this?

Thanks for a great article & resource.

Hi Alejandro Rioja, it is very well organized article about Kework Research. Hopefully, I am going to follow all your tips and trick. Thanks a lot.

glad you liked it!

I have just started my blog and this article will definitely help in what points to consider while doing keyword research and optimizing blog.

Thanks for sharing such awesome and informative content.

Thanks for sharing the valuable information. KW finder also a very handy tool for keyword research.As it shows keywords search volume and its competition level.

That’s a very well researched and useful article. I really appreciate your effort in creating these articles. I totally agree with your list for a step by step Keyword research. To add to the keyword research part, I would like to introduce Latest semantic keywords (LSI) and long tail keywords from my side. They are not only useful in getting more intentional searchers but also helps in creating topics for your next wonderful article. What do you think about it? Thanks!

Great !!! This information will be more helpful for me as i creating my own website. Please keep sharing such blogs. Thanks a lot..

Hey man awesome content, I was my keyword research and then saw your blog post. While going through I saw you have founded Flux Ventures. Great MAN, you are doing a great work where newbies will learn a lot from you and those who needs any help your article will be there with lots of useful information. I also liked the way you have described not to choose the wrong keywords which are not being search or from where you will not get any traffic. I have also seen this many times people believe on their own instincts, choose keyword without doing any research and then they complaint that they are not getting any traffic. It is really important to know what will be the best for you and your blog.

Hey bro can you guide me if i use 4-5 images in my 2000 words article can it affect SEO

Loved the info and explanations – clear, easy to understand. So well written I feel compelled to leave a comment. Thankyou.

This is one of the best articles I’ve ever read , cool topic and nice explanation, wow I’d stop keyword stuffing .

I really appreciate this post a lot. It’s a simple guide on how to use keywords

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Crafting A Successful Outreach Strategy In The World Of Digital Marketing

Essential Sales Tools for Optimal Results: Enhance Performance and Productivity

How To Migrate A Website Successfully?

Keyword Research

• Keyword Value & Buyer Intent: Is It Valuable To Rank?
• What is Keyword Research? (And Why Is It Important?)
• How to Do Keyword Research For SEO (Beginner's Guide)
• Keyword Search Volume: Are People Searching For Your Keywords?
• Search Intent: What Do Users Really Want?

How to Do Keyword Research For SEO (Beginner’s Guide)

Keywords are the words and phrases that potential customers use when searching for services or products. They expose and give insight regarding important information about your targeted audience.

They impact your business, your content, and are used to boost search engine ranking and used with general content strategy .

In fact, 50% of the global population is consistently using the internet today. That means that if you use keywords and other SEO methods your business has the chance to reach over 3 billion people! 

Starting the SEO journey may seem like a giant undertaking. But with the right guidance, you can get your business ranking in SERPs using professional digital marketing techniques that actually work.

This step-by-step beginner’s guide will explore the right steps to take to master keyword research, explain why it’s important, and teach you everything else you need to know about keywords. Let’s jump in!

What Are the Steps to Perform Keyword Research?

Keyword research has two main goals; it helps target the right audience, and it improves ranking in SEO . Every part of your website needs keywords. This includes PPC , CPC , and Google Adwords advertising, blog posts, and any other content.  Understanding the steps can boost your traffic and your conversion rate. 

The number of users searching online for different products and services has grown substantially in the past few years. 

As a matter of fact, the traffic volume for the 1,000 most visited pages increased by 22% , and organic search results that ended up on the top  of search results received about 28% of clicks . 

After learning those statistics, you can see how important ranking, keyword research, and website optimization is, and why your business needs a professional SEO content marketing strategy .  So, let’s start with discussing the keyword research process with these helpful steps:

Step 1 – Start by brainstorming

Start by trying to think of keywords that people might use to find your business online. Try and put yourself in the shoes of your potential audience. If you were them, what words would you use to type into Google and what are the related searches ? 

Here are some questions you might want to ask yourself to get your creativity flowing:

• What phrases would you type in if you were looking for your products?
• What categories do your products or services fit into?
• What problems do your products or services solve?
• What type of people do your products or services serve?
• What questions do your customers ask before they buy?

You can also get more ideas by typing your keywords into Google.

As you type, Google will suggest other possible keyword phrases that might be relevant.

After you complete the search, Google will also display related keywords at the bottom of the search results page. Make note of any keywords that might be relevant to your content.

Step 2 – Use competitor websites for ideas

Another great way to generate ideas is to take a look at your search competitors’ websites.

“Search competitors” are different than your normal competitors, because they are looking for websites that rank for your target key phrases. It would be best if you were to model them since they are already ranking well. Don’t plagiarize, just look at what is working for them, and then do it better yourself. 

You can find these sites by just typing in your main keyword to Google and finding the URLs of the top-ranking positions.

Then, you can use a tool like our own SEO rankings checker to see what your competitors are ranking for!

Analyze title tags and other metadata to see what keyword phrases they are intentionally targeting. Title tags will give you clues about what keywords your competitors think are important.

Step 3 – Use keyword research tools

Keyword research tools will help you decide which new keyword phrases to target by revealing keyword phrases that you may not have thought of as well as estimated search volume .

The HOTH Keyword Research Tool is a good place to start when doing keyword research! It’s free and it will show you everything you need to know and give the right keywords to help grow your target audience and your marketing strategy . 

Here is a list of the other best keyword research tools for SEO : 

• Ubersuggest
• Google Keyword Planner
• Keywords Everywhere
• Google Trends

Tools like Ahref ’s Keyword Explorer , Moz , and SEMRush can provide additional keyword ideas and keyword volume numbers.

When performing a keyword search , type in a keyword phrase , then click the “View Keyword Research” button.

The results will display a list of keywords , a range for estimated traffic, and what people are paying on Google Ads to get paid traffic for those keywords.

If you want to get serious about keyword research, then you should consider investing in other keyword tools so that you can get more data on the best keywords .

By checking the monthly search volume of the terms you’ve chosen to use, you can then create an SEO strategy based on your keyword list .

Step 4 – Consider search intent

Before you create content, make sure you understand what content typically ranks in Google when searching for that keyword – you may be surprised!

Search intent or user intent is used to describe the reason for a search. When a user types a question or service into Google, they are looking for something. For example, 46% of searches are users with local intent.

Another thing you may notice is that Google prefers ranking long-form how-to guides, tools, or lists. SEO keyword research is so valuable when creating high-quality content. Your website, landing pages , and content need keywords so Google and other search engines can show it to its users. 

You’ll want to try to model the content that is ranking if you want to rank highly!

Step 5 – Consider trends and seasonality

When optimizing for SEO traffic, you also need to consider seasonality and trends.

Google Trends is a tool that you can use to view a keyword phrase ’s popularity over time.

Google Trends is an effective tool. It uses the best data collected by Google’s user searches to show interest for a search term over time. You can use previous data from past years to predict future Google user trends. 

Some keywords or topics can trend up or down over time.

For example, “salsa dancing” seemed popular in 2004, but appears to be declining in popularity.

Seasonality

A seasonality index is a forecasting tool. It basically just determines the demand for services or products. It’s a fantastic tool to use when finding what products your audience is searching for. Search terms in any market over the course of a year is a good starting point for finding the metrics you need for your niche. 

Some keyword phrases can also experience seasonal fluctuations.

For example, “easter chocolate” sees a spike in search interest every Easter.

Before investing in SEO , you should consider trends and seasonality to determine if your marketing efforts will be worthwhile over the long term.

Step 6 – Select your target keywords

Select a primary keyword phrase to target. This phrase will likely be the highest volume phrase that is most relevant to your web page.

You can use this as your primary keyword for creating and optimizing your content.

Additionally, you can create a list of long-tail keywords that you can add to your page content.

Although these keywords won’t drive a lot of traffic individually, the cumulative traffic that they send to your site can add up quickly.

Some super helpful tips include performing an on-page SEO audit to make sure that your on-page is up to par with your competitors. Try mapping your keywords, and lastly, avoid keyword stuffing.

Step 7 – Create your content and optimize it for SEO

Once you know what keywords you will be using, then you can create your content!

Keyword optimization is a way to make sure that your content and your keywords are driving the right kind of traffic to your website. Ranking high in your niche is also a major goal for any business. 

Keywords need to allow search engine algorithms such as Googlebot and Bingbot that your content is worthy of being a top result for search queries . 

Keyword optimization may also turn into a never-ending process where you are always updating and adjusting old content to meet the criteria for an ever-evolving SEO strategy . 

Here are a few ways to begin the process of keyword optimization : 

• Use keywords in title tags
• Use keywords in your links
• Use keywords in your content
• Use keywords in your alt text images
• Use keywords inside of your site structure

Your main targeted keywords should be included in your title tag. This is a really important part of your content and your website both off-page and on. 

Be sure to do on-page SEO (and possibly some link building) to optimize your web pages to rank in the search engines . Inbound links and internal links should have your target keywords optimized within them. 

After you have selected your keywords, add them to your web pages, and completed SEO marketing activities like link building. Checking your metrics is also a good practice to keep track of your progress. 

It may take several months or longer before you rank for the keywords that you are targeting, especially if they are competitive.

Ranking well and connecting with your key audience is vital for business and traffic. Not only do you need to create the best content for your niche, but you need to optimize keywords for every piece of content you create. 

Optimizing your meta descriptions, your alt text, image size and file name is a great way to start optimizing your images for SEO . It’s important to incorporate your target keywords into your images. That will allow search engine crawlers to do their job. 

Keyword optimization is important regarding how you structure your website. Not only do you need the best keywords for your niche, but you need to group by relevancy, and categorizing them into corresponding pages is a good place to start on website optimization structure for SEO .

Or get done fast and efficiently with web copy by using our product HOTH Web Copy .

Step 8 – Measure your results

Not only does Google Trends have a huge amount of information about search demand, but Google Search Console is a fantastic addition to your strategy. Combining the two and figuring out the data history and using it to your advantage can greatly increase your traffic. 

You can use tools these helpful tools to analyze your SEO results and improve them.

Here are the primary factors you should measure for SEO :

• Keyword ranking
• Organic Traffic
• Bounce back rate
• Click-through rate 
• Website authority
• Website and page speed

The best way to track your targeted keyword ranking is to do a quick for your services or products. The results will give you an idea of where your website ranks for competitive keywords . The goal is to get on the first page and preferably as close to the first result as possible. 

Organic search traffic is important for your business because it is targeted. The user is specifically searching a solution your product or service can help them with. It’s also one of the best ways to get a new customer. By improving organic search results, your website can get more visibility. 

A good way to understand your keyword’s rank and find new relevant searches is to conduct a keyword analysis.

Search engine visibility is important because it measures how many potential customers can view your website in search results. To have authority in SERPs is the goal here. This metric gives you a huge insight into your SEO progress and your digital marketing strategy as a whole. 

A bounce-back rate is the percentage of people who view your website without actually buying or doing anything else on it. Google Analytics counts these as a visit and counts more than one click as an interaction.

The click-through rate is the percentage of people who click on your site that were guided there from the SERPs . You can use this metric to optimize your title tags are. Inserting targeted keywords into your website pages and URLs can boost this metric .

If your click-through rate is lower than expected then it’s a good idea to optimize your meta description and other on-page SEO . 

Your site’s authority score is basically just a prediction regarding how good a domain will rank. A lower number can cause traffic to decrease and ranking; whereas, a higher number can boost traffic and provide a better ranking. 

Look at your domain authority scores and compare your business to your competitors. This is a great place to adjust your strategy if your score is not as high as you would like it to be. 

Backlinks are a major factor in SEO and monitoring link-building is an important step in ranking. Another thing it would be best to keep an eye on is your web page speed. Optimizing images for mobile and desktop is a good place to begin. 

Pay attention to which keywords are driving traffic to your site, which keywords are driving sales and conversions , and make decisions based on the data if you decide to adjust which keywords to target!

Why is Keyword Research Important?

Keyword research is vital to search engine optimization efforts because it helps business owners discover valuable phrases, terms, and keywords that people are actively searching for. Without these keywords, you will miss out on opportunities for search traffic .

If you don’t do proper research, you’ll waste time on search terms that are either too competitive or have a low-volume search rate. And your rankings can suffer, meaning you’ll miss out on potential customers.

By performing relevant keyword research, you could definitely learn a lot about what topics people are interested in and care about. Using the right SEO and keyword researching tool is an important part of learning what keywords work for your niche, and which don’t.

By researching specific keywords that are getting high-volume searchers , you can figure out your content stream and deliver high-quality content for your targeted audience. 

You can then narrow down your topics, pick and choose the right keywords for your blogs, articles, and other related content. By doing so, your organic traffic will increase and so will your conversion rate.

What Are The Best Kinds of Keywords to Use?

Different kinds of keywords help you design an informed and strategic marketing method that best matches your business or niche. 

When you understand all of the available options to you, then you can find the best keyword to help you connect with your audience, boost traffic, and maximize your conversion rate. 

If you are experiencing keyword difficulty , it may be because you aren’t using the right keywords for your business. 

Here are some great places to start when finding the best kinds of keywords:

Short-tail keywords

Short-tail, head, or high-volume keywords are basically just generic keywords that are broad and usually popular such as “computers.” 

These keywords are only about one or two words and are extremely competitive, hard to rank, can boost traffic but likely won’t increase your qualified lead conversion rate. Head keywords should be used as a base, but not as the only keyword.

Medium-tail keywords

Mid-tail keywords waver somewhere in, between head keywords, and long-tail keywords . They are usually two to three words long. For example, “the best computers” would be considered a medium-tail keyword. 

They have smaller traffic that head keywords but more than long-tail. These keywords can be helpful when used in any content.

Long-tail keywords

Long-tail keywords are a fantastic SEO method. They’re keywords or phrases that are more specific to a topic and are usually much longer than head keywords and even medium-tail keywords. 

Long-tail keywords get less search traffic but have a much higher conversion rate because users are specifically searching for them. They let you gradually get more traffic to your site and be discovered by your targeted audience.

On-Site Keywords

On-site keywords are used for SEO optimization for a website or landing page . These keywords are used within your website and used inside your on-page content. This helps search engine crawlers understand the topic of your website and helps you rank better in search engines like Google or Bing . 

Primary keywords

A primary keyword is the main keyword of your content on your page. Each SEO page of content should have a primary keyword. 

The website or page should use optimization practices to send search engine crawlers clear signals that the page is about the main keyword. 

Relevant or LSI (latent semantic) keywords

LSI keywords are used as a support to primary keywords. Each piece of content or webpage should have the main keyword and three to four relevant keywords that give extra context. 

That often helps search engines rank a page and understand the information more.

Google Ads Keywords

Google Ad keywords are an important part of keyword research if you’re marketing PCP or CPC SEO or coming up with a great local SEO strategy . A keyword option allows your ad to show up when a user searches for that particular keyword . 

There are a few different types of Google Ad keywords such as broad, phrase, exact, and negative. The following sections will explore these types of keywords in more detail to help you understand how keywords affect your Google Ads and SEO in general. 

Broad match keywords

Broad match is the main match type and the one that reaches your targeted audience. When you use a broad match, your ad can appear whenever someone searches your key phrase in any order. For example, if you use the keyword “photography,” your ad might display variations of that keyword phrase such as, “photographer needed” or “best types of photography.” 

Google might also match up your ad to searches using related words such as, “picture artwork,” or “black and white photos.” Your broad keyword may not target these exact keywords, however, Google may think that users who search those related terms would like your ad.

Phrase match keywords

Phrase match keywords offer a bit more versatility than a broad match but with way more control over who sees your ad under what search query . Your ad will appear when a user searches for your key phrase using your keywords in the same order you choose them. However, there might be some other words before or after your chosen keyword. 

Exact match keywords

Exact match is the most restrictive keyword match type. More recently Google has changed the way exact match keywords work. In previous years, exact match keyword phrases would only match your exact keyword and that’s it. Thankfully, Google now shows a little more inclusive keywords in its exact match category. 

Negative keywords

Negative keywords sound like they may be bad for business; however, all they do is prevent your ad from being accidentally triggered by a certain phrase or keyword. You have control over where your ads show up and who they are shown to. This process is known as a negative match and they can help your control your audience through ads. 

Buyer Keywords

Buyer keywords are search phrases, terms, and keywords that people use when searching to buy a service or a product. When users use buyer keywords in search engines like Google, it signals that they are interested in buying a product or service. They indicate that they are definitely ready to make a purchase.

There are a few different types of buyer keywords that businesses can utilize when advertising a product or service. These include, informational, navigational , commercial, and transactional . 

Informational keywords

Informational keywords start with the how’s, the what’s, the why’s, and the where’s. They can also include guides, ideas, best, or tips. This indicates that the users are searching for information. 

These keywords have a low buyer intent because they are searching for how to do things. An example of this would be, “best art tutorials” or “how to build a landing page .” 

These keywords don’t get potential customers to buy, they only provide great content on how to make something or how to solve a problem.

Navigational keywords

Navigational keywords are used by users who are looking for a particular page or website. Customers will be using keywords that include product names, brands, or other specific services to find the exact page or content they are looking for. For example, “Sony earbuds” would be a navigational keyword. 

Transactional keywords

Transaction or “buy now” keywords are phrases that have the most intent to buy something. The customer is willing and ready to complete a purchase and are only trying to figure out from where. 

Your goal as a business owner is to find keywords matching each step of the buyer keyword process and then create the best content to incorporate these keywords into. By using this strategy you can bring in your targeted audience in all forms of the buying phase. 

Customers also like to buy from someone they know or a business that they feel they can trust. That is why reviews, answering potential customers ‘ questions and concerns is an important part of this keyword research process . 

By adding intentional keyword buyer keywords into your product ads, you can guide them towards your service or product. 

Commercial Keywords

Commercial keywords are used by people who are looking to find products, services, or a specific brand name. These usually have an intent for action or intend to buy something now or in the near future. 

What is Keyword Stuffing (and How to Avoid It)

Keyword stuffing is unnecessarily repeating keywords or phrases. That also includes adding words that aren’t relevant to the content of the page and repetitive keywords or phrases that don’t match the information.

The reason keyword stuffing isn’t good for your content is because it’s a bad experience for users and because Google crawlers understand that’s a tactic for ranking, and won’t bite the bait. 

Website content should try to serve and engage readers. Provide helpful information and help guide users towards a goal. Content stuffing your pages with keywords isn’t doing any of these things. 

It not only creates a poor experience and takes away from your audience, but it will send users away from your content and drive leads away from your business. It may also lead to a search engine penalty and your content may be banned from crawlers.

Here are some great tips to avoid keyword stuffing:

• Pick a primary keyword for each piece of content
• Write more than 300 words (preferably longer than 2,000 words based on SEO )
• Use the right primary keyword density 
• Add secondary keywords, related phrases, and long-tail keywords
• Double-check your on-page SEO for optimization

One of the most important steps is choosing one target keyword for your webpage or content. This primary phrase should connect your content with your audience. The phrase should be popular, yet low-competition. This improves your ranking and conversion rate. 

Search engines rank higher word count content more than lower word count pages. It’s best to write more than 2,000 words, but in order to avoid keyword-stuffed content, your page needs to have more than 300 words. In fact, a high rank is usually correlated with a higher word count .

Writing and webbing your target keyword throughout your content is important. Don’t overuse it though, put it where it feels natural and appropriate. Keyword density should be below 2% to stay within SEO guidelines. 

Having a great primary keyword is important for SEO success; however, choosing a good secondary keyword is a great idea. Search engine crawlers use other keywords and phrases to find relevant content for their users. 

Your content should use synonyms, long-tail keywords , secondary keywords along with your target term. That helps you rank and reinforces your content for crawlers. 

Ranking and keyword research have so many different factors, it can be a bit overwhelming. It’s not enough to pick the right keywords , it would be best to optimize your on-page keywords for SEO . You need to research strategy along with keywords and give your pages what crawlers want. That will help you compete with competitors and boost your business. 

Summing Up Keyword Research

Keyword research is such a big part of SEO optimization . It takes practice, and you may need to readjust your keywords many times before getting it right. 

SEO is an ever-evolving process, you might need to measure your traffic and other metrics for months before understanding what you can improve on and what you know works.

If you want to skip the hard stuff and work with a trained professional, don’t hesitate to reach out to one of our SEO experts and schedule a call now !

You can also sign up for free and take advantage of all of our free resources and guides ! 

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How to Do Keyword Research for SEO: Quick-Start Guide

Want to know how to do keyword research for SEO to optimize your website and get more organic traffic? Knowing how to perform SEO keyword research and use keywords on your site is one of the very best methods for growing your traffic and your business.

In this article, we’ll show you how to do keyword research to find the right SEO keywords that will help take your traffic to the next level. We’ll also take a quick look at where you should place those keywords on your site.

How to Do Keyword Research for SEO in 5 Straightforward Steps

The best way to improve your keyword research process is to follow a set of steps for each page, post, or piece of content.

But before jumping into actual keyword research, it’s a good idea to take some time to ask yourself a few questions about your audience:

• What does my target audience look like?
• What type of content are my readers looking for?
• How can I narrow down the niche I am looking to write about?
• What do I offer as a solution for my customers?

Understanding the answers to these questions will give you a great starting point.

Now, let’s take a look at the process for how to do keyword research.

Step 1: Learn about Your Current Audience

Before you start writing or optimizing, you need to know who your audience is and what kinds of things they’re looking for in your niche.

A great way to learn about your target audience is to look at your current site visitors and observe how they behave on your website.

That’s because it doesn’t matter if your site ranks well in search results and receives lots of traffic if your current visitors aren’t the right traffic for your site and aren’t converting .

If this is happening, you could be using the wrong keywords and targeting the wrong audience, despite your high search rankings.

To learn about your current audience and track organic keyword conversions , use Google Analytics. Or, if your site is on WordPress, use the MonsterInsights plugin to bring the data that matters the most right into your WordPress dashboard.

To start, if you don’t have them turned off for GDPR compliance , you can use your Demographics & Interests reports to see what your audience might be most interested in reading.

In WordPress and MonsterInsights , your Interests report is right inside your WordPress dashboard:

In Google Analytics, you’ll find the Interests report under User » User attributes » Overview :

For directions on accessing these reports, check out our tutorial on turning on demographics and interests reports .

This gives you a look at the kind of people already coming to your website, so you can continue to target the same kind of people with your SEO keywords .

Here are another few ways you can learn about what your audience is interested in:

• Check social forum sites like LinkedIn, Quora and Reddit to find out what questions people are asking in your niche
• Do competitor research
• Connect Search Console to your website to see what keywords are getting clicks already in search
• Create buyer personas

Step 2: Create a List of Potential Keywords and Topics

After you identify what kind of audience you’re targeting with your content, it’s time to create a list of potential keywords and topics.

Think about each product, service, or other asset on your website and come up with a few terms you think people might be searching for around it.

Try to look for keywords that’ll target site visitors at many stages of the sales funnel. After all, some people are only just becoming aware that your company exists, while others are ready to make a purchase.

Include variety in this list, such as general terms you think people might be searching for, and specific terms that highlight what you sell.

Remember, the most generic keywords will typically have the highest search volume and drive the most traffic to your site. But the most specific keywords will bring people to your site who’re looking for exactly what you have to offer.

For example, let’s say your company sells pet supplies. It would be cool to rank at the top for the term “pet supplies”, but it’s also really important that someone searching specifically for a blue pet collar to find you in search, since they’re probably ready to buy that blue collar right away.

One great way to find keywords to target is by looking at what keywords your competitors, or other sites in your niche, are ranking for. To do that, try a tool like Semrush (tons of data) or WordStream (free). Plug in a domain to get an overview of what the site is ranking for:

Step 3: Gather Keyword Volume Data

Once you have a list of keywords you want to target, it’s time to check and see if people are actually searching those terms in search engines.

After all, if no one is looking for the terms you’ve thought of, and you target them with your content anyway, you might not get the traffic you were hoping.

So, it’s time to use keyword research tools to determine which keywords on your list are the best ones to create content around first.

The two that we used in step 2, Semrush and WordStream , are good choices. Our favorite is Semrush, which you can also use in a somewhat limited capacity for free . WordStream is always free, but you have to enter your email to obtain your keywords.

Let’s take a look at an example. Let’s say you want to rank for “how to drive a stick shift.” If we plug that term into Semrush’s Keyword Overview report, it not only gives us data about the keyword, but also suggests related terms and questions, along with their volumes:

It looks like we should target “how to drive a stick shift” and include different sections for “how to drive a stick shift car” and “how to drive a stick shift truck,” or write separate articles for those.

Step 4: Analyze Related Terms & Search Intent

While you got an idea of related terms from Semrush in the step 3, you still want to actually search your targeted term to see what it looks like in search.

A great place to start is with Google’s autocomplete feature. Simply enter the keywords you’ve chosen into Google’s search bar and see what pops up.

The autocomplete feature will help you see what variations of your keywords people are using.

Continue your search and see what types of articles show on the first page of Google’s search results. This is the content that receives the most traction. Your goal is to compete with these articles.

Look both at the organic listings and the People also ask box, plus the Related searches area at the bottom of the page to see related terms people are using when searching for your keyword.

During this step, you should also think about search intent . To do this, take a look at the results for your keyword and think to yourself, “what is the searcher really looking for here?” If the top articles are mostly beginner’s guides or listicles, for example, your searcher probably expects to find that type of result and won’t click on yours if you don’t meet that intent.

Think about what type of results the searcher wants to find for the keyword.

Keyword Research FAQ

1. what is keyword research in seo.

Keyword research in SEO is a way to identify the terms and phrases that people use in search engines when looking for information related to your business or industry. Keyword research helps you understand the demand for specific topics and guides content creation to improve search engine rankings and increase the number of people clicking on your search results.

2. How do I find the best keywords for my website?

To find the best keywords for your website, use tools like Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, or Semrush to generate keyword ideas. Then, analyze search volume and keyword difficulty to prioritize keywords with a high search volume and low competition. They’ll be the easiest to rank for!

Finally, investigate search intent by examining the top-ranking pages for your chosen keywords to ensure your content aligns with what users are looking for

3. Why is search intent important in keyword research?

Search intent refers to the purpose behind a user’s search query. Understanding search intent ensures that your content matches what users are actually looking for, whether they have informational, navigational, transactional, or commercial intent. Aligning your content with search intent improves user satisfaction with your content and increases the chances of higher rankings in search results.

4. What are long-tail keywords, and why are they important?

Long-tail keywords are longer, more specific phrases that visitors are more likely to use when they are closer to making a purchase or finding the exact information they need. They are important because they often have lower competition and can attract highly targeted traffic, leading to higher conversion rates on your website.

5. How can I analyze my competitors’ keywords?

Analyzing competitors’ keywords can provide valuable insights into which terms are driving traffic to similar sites. Tools like Semrush and Ahrefs allow you to input your competitors’ URLs to see the keywords they rank for, the search volume, and the estimated traffic those keywords generate. This helps you identify potential keyword opportunities for your own site.

And there you have it! The surefire steps it takes to conduct keyword research and create a list of terms that will not only rank well in search results, but drive traffic to your site and convert your visitors.

If you’re using WordPress, make sure to also check out the awesome keyword research features in All in One SEO .

If you liked this article, you might want to check out:

WordPress SEO Checklist: 17 Simple Steps 7 Best Free Keyword Generator Tools to Master SEO 9 Google Analytics SEO Hacks to Increase Search Traffic

Finally, don’t forget to follow us on X , Facebook and YouTube for more helpful Google Analytics tips and tutorials.

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SEO Keyword Research: The Foundation of Organic Traffic Success

SEO keyword research is the cornerstone of any successful search engine optimization strategy. You can drive organic traffic to your website by identifying the right keywords and boosting your search engine rankings. Without a solid understanding of SEO keyword research, your content may struggle to reach its target audience.

But how do you navigate millions of words and phrases to find the ones that will truly make a difference for your business?

What is SEO Keyword Research?

At its core, SEO keyword research is the process of discovering and analyzing the terms and phrases people type into search engines when looking for information, products, or services. It's not just about finding popular words; it's about understanding your potential customers' language and the intent behind their searches.

By identifying the keywords relevant to your business, you can create content that targets those terms and improves your chances of ranking higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). This increases your visibility and drives more traffic to your website, leading to potential conversions and business growth.

This research forms the backbone of your SEO efforts. By identifying the right keywords, you can:

• Align your content with user needs
• Improve your website's visibility in search results
• Drive more qualified traffic to your site

Why SEO Keyword Research is Important

Imagine selling ice cream in a neighborhood without knowing what flavors people prefer. You might stock up on vanilla when everyone's craving chocolate chip cookie dough. SEO keyword research prevents this mismatch by helping you understand what your audience is searching for.

Consider the case of a small online bookstore struggling to compete with larger retailers. Through thorough keyword research, they discovered a niche market for rare first editions. They tailored their content and product listings to target these specific keywords, resulting in a 150% increase in organic traffic and a 200% boost in sales within six months.

Types of Keywords in SEO

Not all keywords are created equal. Understanding the different types can help you create a more balanced and effective SEO strategy.

Short-tail vs. Long-tail Keywords

Short-tail keywords are brief, often just one or two words. They typically have high search volumes but are also highly competitive. For example, "shoes" is a short-tail keyword.

Long-tail keywords, on the other hand, are longer phrases, usually three words or more. They have lower search volumes but are more specific and often easier to rank for . An example would be "comfortable running shoes for women."

Informational, Navigational, and Transactional Keywords

• Informational keywords: Used when people are looking for knowledge or answers. Example: "how to tie a tie"
• Navigational keywords: Used when searching for a specific website or page. Example: "Facebook login"
• Transactional keywords: Used when people are ready to make a purchase or take action. Example: "buy iPhone 15 Pro"

Primary vs. Secondary Keywords

Your content's main focus is your primary keywords, while secondary keywords support and reinforce the primary ones. They work together to provide context and depth to your content.

SEO Keyword Research Tools

Several tools are available to help with SEO keyword research, each offering unique features and benefits. Each tool has strengths, so consider trying a few to see which best fits your needs and workflow.

Google Keyword Planner

Google Keyword Planner is a free tool that provides insights into keyword search volumes and competition levels. It's a great starting point for beginners and offers detailed data directly from Google.

SpyFu allows you to analyze your competitors' SEO keywords and see which terms they are ranking for. This can help you identify opportunities and gaps in your own keyword strategy.

Ahrefs is a comprehensive SEO tool that offers in-depth keyword analysis, backlink tracking, and competitor research. It's highly regarded for its extensive database and accurate data.

Moz provides various SEO tools, including keyword research, site audits, and rank tracking. Its Keyword Explorer tool is useful for finding new keyword opportunities and assessing their potential impact.

How to Conduct SEO Keyword Research

• Identify your niche and target audience
• Brainstorm seed keywords related to your business
• Use keyword research tools to expand your list
• Analyze competitor keywords
• Refine your list based on relevance and metrics

Analyzing Keyword Metrics

Once you have a list of potential keywords, it's time to dig into the data. Key metrics to consider include:

• Search Volume: How many people are searching for this term monthly?
• Competition: How many other websites are targeting this keyword?
• Keyword Difficulty: How hard is it to rank for this term?
• Relevance: How closely does the keyword align with your content and business goals?

Remember to look at keyword trends and seasonality. Some terms may spike in popularity during certain times of the year, which could inform your content calendar.

Selecting the Best Keywords

Choosing the right keywords is a balancing act. You want terms that:

• Have a decent search volume
• Aren't too competitive for your site to rank for
• Align closely with your content and user intent

Consider creating a mix of head terms (more competitive, higher volume) and long-tail keywords (less competitive, more specific). This approach can help you target low-hanging fruit while working towards more ambitious SEO goals.

Implementing Keywords in Content

Once you've selected your keywords, it's time to put them to work. Here are some best practices:

• Use your primary keyword in your title tag, H1 heading, and within the first 100 words of your content.
• Incorporate secondary keywords naturally throughout your content, including in subheadings where appropriate.
• Include your keyword in your meta description to improve click-through rates from search results.
• Use variations and synonyms of your keywords to avoid repetition and appeal to a broader range of searches.

Remember, the goal is to create valuable, readable content for your audience. Don't sacrifice quality for the sake of keyword density. Search engines are smart enough to understand context and natural language , so focus on writing for humans first.

Avoiding Keyword Stuffing

Keyword stuffing is the practice of overusing keywords to manipulate search rankings. Not only does this result in a poor user experience, but it can also result in penalties from search engines. Instead, aim for a natural keyword density of 1-2% of your word count.

Maintaining Readability

Your content should flow naturally and be easy to read. Use tools like the Hemingway Editor or Grammarly to check your content's readability score. Aim for a grade level appropriate to your target audience for general web content, usually around 6th-8th grade.

By following these guidelines and consistently applying thorough keyword research to your SEO strategy, you'll be well on your way to improving your search engine rankings and driving more organic traffic to your site. Remember, SEO is a long-term game. Be patient, keep refining your approach, and the results will follow.

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• Resume and Cover Letter
• How to List Publications on a...

How to List Publications on a Resume (with Examples)

8 min read · Updated on December 18, 2023

Showcase your qualifications for any position

For job seekers who want to make a great first impression on hiring managers, it's important to include the right kind of information on a resume. Of course, most people understand the need to include key contact details, skills, work experience, and notable achievements. But what if you've published research or other writings to your credit, that you feel can enhance your job search prospects?

In this post, we'll examine the types of published works that you may want to include in your resume and why employers need to see them. We'll also provide some important tips to help you learn how to list publications on your resume, along with some examples you can use as inspiration.

What are publications for a resume?

Depending on your chosen career, your resume-worthy publications may take a variety of forms. For example, if you're an Academic Researcher or Scientist, any published journal articles, research papers, books, or scientific treatises may count as worthwhile publication listings for a resume. Since most of these types of publications will be peer-reviewed, the quality of the work will often be taken for granted.

Marketers, professional writers, and those with similar careers can include book publications and online website publications.

How can you decide what types of publications to list in your resume?

Before you even think about including any publication in your resume, it's important to consider one main issue: relevance. Do you have any published material that's relevant to the job you're seeking? Relevance in this context doesn't necessarily mean that your publications line up in every way with your desired job, but the hiring manager should be able to easily identify some connection.

For example, if you're seeking a marketing position, your college physics research paper may not really be the best example of your work. However, a couple of published marketing research papers would be obvious choices for inclusion in your resume. In short, consider what you've published and then examine it with the prospective employer's needs in mind. If the piece showcases abilities and results that would spark interest in your candidacy, then add it to your resume.

Why do employers want to see your published work?

You might be wondering why employers even care about published works. After all, why bother to learn how to list publications on your resume if hiring managers have no interest in seeing them? Well, rest assured, if you're seeking a job in an industry that prizes research, academic thought, or specific skills that involve the creation of materials for publication, then any prospective employer is going to want to see examples of your past work.

That's why it's so important to know how to list publications on your resume - because it's the easiest way to demonstrate that you have the skills and experiences that you claim to possess. The inclusion of published works demonstrates that you have a solid foundation of analytical, research, and writing skills.

How to list publications on your resume

Once you've answered the question “should I put publications on my resume?” the next question to answer is “how do you put publications on a resume?” Don't worry! We have you covered there too.

The challenge of learning how to list publications on a resume can seem a little daunting at first. However, it's simple if you take it step-by-step. To help you with that process, we've compiled some great tips that you can use.

1.     Decide where to put publications on your resume

There are two main options for including publications on your resume: within your education section, or in a separate section labeled Publications . Some general guidelines to help you determine which option is right for you are outlined below:

Education section . If you're an academic or scientist, include your published works in this section if you only have one or two publications, or if your only published works did not appear in a peer-reviewed journal. Others with published works in trade journals or online sites can also use this option.

Publications section . When you have several publications to your credit, it's generally best to add them to a separate Publications section. This compartmentalization can help to add gravitas to these achievements and make it easier for hiring managers to quickly locate that information.

If your publications are an important part of your qualifications, you may also want to include reference to them within your resume summary. One way to do that would be to select your most relevant or attention-grabbing publication and mention it within the last sentence of your summary paragraph.

2.     Choose your citation style

It's a good idea to choose a specific citation style and use it as consistently as possible throughout your publications list. There are two commonly acceptable options when it comes to style - APA or MLA. The former is typically used for citing scientific and engineering publications, while the latter is generally used for citations to any publications in the humanities fields like history or philosophy.

APA example citation : [last name], [first initial]. [middle initial]. (year of publication). [article title]. [journal name] [volume number] ([issue number]) [pages].

MLA example citation : [last name], [first initial]. “[article title].” [journal name], [volume number], [issue number], [date], [pages]

Note that you may also want to include the URL of any website where the work is published if the publication is online. You can also use a simple format for listing published books:

[Your Last name, Your First name], [Book Title], [Name and location of Publisher], [Year of Publication]

Finally, if you have a mix of publications encompassing both technical and humanities-based works, or simply want to simplify your list, you can use this format:

“[Publication title]”, [Publisher name], [Date]

If you choose that last option, however, be prepared to provide a complete list of those publications with all relevant details if the employer asks for it.

3.     List publications in reverse-chronological order

Since you will likely be using a reverse-chronological format for your resume , it's important to list your publications in reverse order too. To do that, simply cite your most recent published work first and then list the others in reverse chronology.  

4.     Verify the details of each publication citation

Always take the time to double-check your citations to ensure that all the relevant details are correct. That will ensure that you don't provide any unverifiable information, while also demonstrating your keen attention to detail and accuracy.

5.     Consider relevance

Again, think about the relevance of each publication that you choose to cite in your resume. This is especially important if you have a long list of published works, since including them all could make it difficult for the most important works to stand out.

In addition, it's always a good idea to have your most relevant publications cited near the top of your list. If you have more recent publications that have little relevance for your current job search, you may want to consider omitting them to ensure that a more relevant work is showcased in that top spot.

6.     Don't be afraid to include pending publications

If you've completed materials that are currently being reviewed for publication in a journal, it's acceptable to include those citations on your resume too. However, you should list those publications in italics, to indicate that they are not yet published. In addition, don't add details about the publisher.

Examples of publications on a resume

Naturally, it can be helpful to see some hypothetical examples of how to list publications on a resume. Below are several sample citations that you can use as templates or guidance while you create your own publication section.

Smith, J. “Analysis of the impact of wind turbines on migratory bird populations in the American Midwest”, American Journal of Bird Concerns, Vol. 2, Issue 19, 2012, 35-38.

Jones, T. J. 2021. Finding Meaning in a World Full of Ghosts. Journal of Modern Pseudoscience. Vol 3 (Issue 22) 56-72.

Presentation: Thoughts on Modern Fiscal Policy in the Age of Partisanship. Anytown Expo. 2022. Anytown.

Hines, T. “Probing Fake News' Prevalence, A Statistical Analysis”, Media Science, 2020. www.mediascience.com/probingfakenews/

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More From Forbes

A psychologist explains why couples ‘gray divorce’ after years of marriage.

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New research reveals how the seeds of a “gray divorce” may be planted early on in a marriage.

A “gray divorce” refers to the phenomenon of older adults, typically aged 50 and above, ending their marriages. Many wonder why a couple that has stayed together for so long would only realize much later in life that they aren’t right for each other.

However, it is essential to remember that people can learn what’s right or wrong for them at any point in their lives and that, sometimes, it takes years to act on such a life-changing realization.

So, what finally leads to their breaking point after years together? A recent study published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships explored the experiences of 44 divorcees—60 years and older—and found that there is usually a two-phase process behind the timing of late-life divorces.

Here are two reasons why long-term marriages end in gray divorce, according to the study.

1. Staying Together While Growing Apart

Researchers found that the first phase leading up to a gray divorce often involves long-term dissatisfaction in the marriage, with couples staying together nonetheless.

Ex-spouses reported growing apart due to instances of infidelity , verbal abuse and being controlled by the other person, realizing their incompatibility due to differences of character and a lack of communication or going through personal development, which created distance between them when their partner did not want to pursue the same path.

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This dissatisfaction motivated them to seek a divorce, but they often stayed together longer for their children and due to being financially dependent on their spouse, adhering to the social norms of their time and avoiding the stigma associated with divorce.

For instance, one couple from the study, Dan aged 69 and Rachel aged 68, explain their differing perspectives on the end of their marriage after 32 years together.

“He studied with twenty-five-year-old girls, and suddenly he got a motorcycle driver’s license, and suddenly he wouldn’t come home. From the experience of the long-standing betrayal and the experience of the lies that have also been told throughout all these years, it has been 10 years. I really wanted to get a divorce, a long, long time ago, but the argument was not to break up the family because there was the daughter who was at home,” says Rachel.

In contrast, Dan says, “I went to study and an amazing world opened for me that very, very much I wanted my ex-wife to be my partner in. At first, she complied, and it was a lot of fun. At some point she either got fed up or it didn’t interest her. We no longer had the usual topics of conversation. The divorce was essentially a final stop in a process that had started years before. And with all the suspicion that I have someone, what she is caught up on is my infidelity. That it started there. But it didn’t start from there.”

Another participant, Ruth, aged 68 and previously married for 44 years, describes how personality differences and flawed communication styles strained her marriage but socio-cultural circumstances delayed the divorce:

“I am a very warm person, very emotional, very hugging, very loving, and my partner was very cold, very intelligent. We were dragged into endless arguments about who is right, what word was said, in what tone it was said and what punishment is due for it. It was exhausting,” says Ruth.

“For many years I wanted a divorce, and I was probably not strong enough to do it. In the early years I was so immature, think about it, the 1970s, what it meant to get divorced. We didn’t have examples of those who did it. It took me a while to even believe that I was in a situation which actually isn’t good,” Ruth adds.

2. Realizing That The Marriage Must End

Researchers suggest that the second phase of marriage culminating in a gray divorce is when the decision is finalized after years of escalating marital distress, due to significant turning points where the marriage goes completely downhill.

These “points of no return” include specific events such as a public event that puts the couple’s strained relationship on display, amplified instances of marital or financial dishonesty or extreme instances of physical, economic or emotional abuse. This often leads to a moment of clarity and decisiveness about getting divorced.

Additionally, participants explain how they were in a better position to get divorced due to changes in the family structure such as finally having an “ empty nest ,” changing sociocultural norms as time passed, gaining emotional maturity and a strong desire to enjoy the remainder of their lives.

“Ex-dyad David aged 70 and Miriam aged 69 are divorced after 40 years of marriage, following ongoing infidelities and David’s disrespectful behavior since the beginning of the marriage. The point of no return was David’s 60th birthday party, to which several of the husband’s romantic partners were invited. Miriam gave David an ultimatum about inviting these women to the event, which was ignored. This was the moment she decided to divorce. Public exposure of a poor marital relationship forces us to face the marital reality and promotes realization that change is necessary,” the researchers write.

Another ex-couple, Sarah aged 62 and Jacob aged 66, were married for 35 years but divorced when Jacob had felt deeply unappreciated and disrespected by her and Sarah had suddenly learned about his infidelity. For Sarah, his refusal to admit his infidelity or seek couple’s counseling impacted her decision more than the act itself. Jacob had a different breaking point:

“On holiday eve I bought presents for everyone and gave them to my wife and children. She tells me “I didn’t buy you anything, go downtown tomorrow and buy something for yourself.” It was so representative - get along - I’m not supposed to do anything about it. It’s peanuts, yeah? I made some sort of decision that the 20–25 years I have left to live, I want to live them as I see fit. And that led me to leave home,” Jacob explains.

These vulnerable stories are a reminder to detect the signs of marital strain early and address them promptly. Gray divorce is often rooted in deep-seated issues, significant turning points and personal evolutions that span many years. It involves navigating complex emotions, societal expectations and the practicalities of starting anew.

Yet, these individuals show remarkable resilience and a determination to seek happiness in their remaining years, proving that it’s never too late to reevaluate one’s path and make changes that align with their personal growth and well-being. An authentic and fulfilling life is always worth pursuing, regardless of your age.

Are you feeling lonely in your marriage? Take this test to receive a science-backed answer: Loneliness in Intimate Relationships Scale

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How to Quit Vaping

Millions of Americans use e-cigarettes. There’s little research into how to help them stop.

By Dani Blum

By his junior year of college, Zach Arledge had already tried to quit vaping about half a dozen times. But with each attempt, he found himself reflexively reaching for his Juul within a day.

So when he decided to try again, Mr. Arledge wanted to be prepared. He waited until winter break, when he’d have more free time, and took a week off work. He bought sugary cereals to help kick his cravings, and melatonin in case he had trouble sleeping.

He drew 72 squares onto paper, each one representing an hour of his first three days without nicotine. He marked them off as the hours ticked by, checking off a chunk when he woke up. Those first days, Mr. Arledge felt detached from his body, unable to focus on anything. He chewed on chopsticks and stayed in front of the TV, trying to distract himself.

The nicotine in vapes can be highly addictive, and can raise blood sugar , heart rate and blood pressure, among other health risks . And while some people turn to vaping to stop smoking cigarettes, e-cigarettes can contain substances that also pose health risks.

Despite the popularity of vapes — more than 8 million Americans were current e-cigarette users in 2018, according to federal health data — there is little established guidance to help people like Mr. Arledge quit. Many of the recommendations that do exist come from tobacco cessation efforts, not research into vaping specifically.

“The health care system hasn’t caught up completely,” said Suchitra Krishnan-Sarin, a psychiatry professor at the Yale University School of Medicine who studies adolescent tobacco use.

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Where Kamala Harris runs stronger (and weaker) than Biden in NBC News' poll

The latest NBC News poll , which was conducted before a gunman fired at former President Donald Trump and rallygoers in Pennsylvania on Saturday, showed both President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris trailing Republican Donald Trump by 2 points in head-to-head matchups.

Trump led Biden 45%-43%, with 12% undecided or preferring another choice, while the Republican former president was ahead of Harris 47%-45%, with 8% undecided or preferring another choice. Both results are within the poll’s margin of error.

But inside those head-to-head results, the poll found where Harris runs stronger than Biden, where she was weaker and where there was almost no difference, as some in the Democratic Party clamor for a nominee other than Biden following his June debate against Trump.

For starters, the NBC News poll showed Harris slightly outperforming Biden among Black voters, leading Trump among this demographic by 64 points (78% to 14%). That compares with Biden’s 57-point lead among Black voters (69% to 12%).

Meanwhile, the poll showed Trump doing   slightly better among white voters when matched up with Harris instead of Biden, leading her by 16 points among these voters, compared with his 14-point advantage here against Biden.

(These subgroups of voters, however, all have substantially larger margins of error than the poll’s overall margin of error, which is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.)

Among other demographics — by age, by gender, among Latino voters — there was very little difference between Biden or Harris.

But the biggest differences between Biden and Harris in the matchup against Trump go well beyond demographics.

Among the roughly quarter of Republican voters who say they are unsatisfied with Trump as the GOP’s nominee, Trump is ahead of Biden by 46 points, 63% to 17%.

When Trump’s opponent is Harris, however, more of   these dissatisfied GOP voters flock to Trump.   The Republican’s lead with that group   grows to 57 points, 73% to 16%.

Meanwhile, among the voters who prefer a third-party candidate in the poll’s multicandidate ballot test, Trump and Biden are virtually tied with these voters in a head-to-head matchup: Trump 32%, Biden 31%, with a plurality declining to make a two-way choice, saying they were undecided, would pick another candidate, or something else.

But when Harris is the choice against Trump, more of those respondents made a pick in the two-way ballot test.   The vice president leads Trump among these “other” voters, 46% to 39%, suggesting a higher upside with voters considering a third-party candidate.

The NBC News poll of 800 registered voters — 660 reached via cellphone — was conducted July 7-9, and it has an overall margin of error of plus-minus 3.5 percentage points.

Mark Murray is a senior political editor at NBC News.