Tips for Researching Keywords for Better SEO
The world of digital marketing is noisy and crowded. Standing out and getting noticed is both an art form and a science. Today, we are going to talk about the science of getting your brand discovered online and increasing your reach. It all comes down to keywords and using the right ones.
The Challenge and Why It Matters
We often see two major issues that brands have when it comes to keywords. The first is when brands don’t think keywords are important (or don’t know it’s a thing), and don’t really do any research into them or think about using them in their content. The second problem many brands have with keywords is that they are using them, but they aren’t using good keywords that actually help reach their marketing goals.
Is there such a thing as a “good” keyword? Yes! For example, your website may be ranking high for specific keywords, but if they aren’t the keywords your target audience is searching for, that high search result rank is meaningless because it won’t lead to meaningful clicks or conversions.
The bottom line: if you aren’t using keywords that your target audience is actually searching for (i.e. the right ones), you won’t reach your growth goals. In order to get your brand discovered or beat out the competition, you have to do your research and use the right keywords.
What is Keyword Research?
SEO keyword research is simply the process of finding and analyzing the search terms (words and phrases) your target audience uses online. In other words, it helps you understand your target audience and their behaviors. Previously, keywords only applied to search engines like Google, but now they apply to social media platforms, websites, blogs, and pretty much any online content.
By understanding what resonates with your audience through keywords, you can not only rank higher in search results, but create relatable content that drives real, measurable results.
1 | Where Do I Start?
Getting started with keyword research doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Start by thinking about phrases that describe your business, industry, or topic. Make a list of three to five words or short phrases you want to start with and put them into a keyword tool. There are paid options out there like SEM Rush, but also free tools like Google Keyword Planner, which is great for beginners. Some tools even offer up related keywords that you may not have thought about that are even better than what you originally searched.
2 | Understanding and Analyzing the Metrics
These tools will return some metrics on the keyword you’ve input. The three key data points you want to look at are:
- Keyword search volume: measures the average number of monthly searches for that keyword
- Keyword/SEO difficulty: indicates how hard it is to rank for that keyword
- CPC (cost per click): what advertisers pay for this keyword
The goal is to find the sweet spot where you get in front of enough eyeballs but allow for achievable goals. Generally, this is keywords with a volume of 100-1,000 searches and a difficulty of under 40 for new sites. That doesn’t mean you can’t go after more difficult keywords, but just don’t expect fast results.
Let’s delve into the metrics a little further so you can better understand why those numbers are the sweet spot.
Search Volume
Search volume measures demand. Here, higher isn’t always better. A keyword that has 10,000 searches in a month can be impossible to rank, while one with 500 searches could drive qualified traffic immediately.
Here’s how it’s generally broken down:
- 10 – 100: low volume, but often highly specific and convertible
- 100 – 1,000: sweet spot for most businesses starting out
- 1,000 – 10,000: competitive but worthwhile for established brands
- 10,000+: highly competitive and requires significant authority
Keyword Difficulty
This assesses competition and scores predict how hard it will be to rank. Most tools calculate this based on the authority of sites currently ranking.
The guidelines for difficulty are:
- 0 – 30: new sites can compete
- 31 – 60: needs some existing authority and quality content
- 61 – 80: requires strong domain authority and backlinks
- 81 – 100: dominated by major brands and authoritative sites
Search Intent
This reveals why someone searches and getting this wrong means even perfect SEO won’t convert visitors.
There are four types to recognize:
- Informational: learning or researching (e.g. “how to do xyz”)
- Navigational: finding a specific site (e.g. “LinkedIn login”)
- Commercial: comparing options (e.g. “best xyz”)
- Transactional: ready to buy (e.g. “buy xyz”)
CPC and Competition
This understands the value of the keyword by showing what advertisers pay for clicks. High CPC often indicates commercial value while competition scores indicate how many advertisers bid on the keyword.
Here, high CPC and competition means that is a keyword worth keeping.
3 | Organize Your Keywords
After selecting the keywords that hit that sweet spot, organize them into a spreadsheet. Group related words by topics and intent (informational, commercial, transactional). This will become your content roadmap.
We recommend starting with 10 to 20 keywords maximum. It’s better to create excellent content for a few keywords rather than mediocre content for 50 to 100 keywords or phrases.
4 | Some Final Tips
Finally, it’s important to realize that these keywords aren’t set in stone. Your target audience’s behavior changes and as it does, so should your keywords. It’s important to periodically do keyword research, especially if you notice you are no longer getting good results from what you’ve been using. Likely, you just need to make some small tweaks.
Second, don’t be afraid to use long-tail keywords. These are phrases that can provide more specificity. For new or smaller brands, this can be helpful because you’ll get more engaged audiences and it can lead to higher conversion rates.
Get Help from the Pros!
Keyword research isn’t as scary as it initially seems, but it can be time consuming. It also requires some understanding of SEO to get started. At some point, you may hit a wall with your efforts and more detailed knowledge of SEO will be needed to overcome that plateau. That’s where having a digital marketing expert can help. If you don’t have the time to tweak your keyword research or to dig into the intricacies of SEO to help you overcome a slump, a digital marketing expert has the knowledge to create an SEO strategy that helps your brand not only get noticed, but really stand out amongst your competitors. Learn how Tintero Creative can help you create an SEO keyword research strategy that drives real results!