Plus 6 Tips for Better Keyword Research that Drives Conversions!
Keyword research is the foundation of an effective SEO and marketing strategy. Before creating your website, blog article, or any other content, it’s important to have a better understanding of what your audience is searching for in the first place.
What your audience is searching for are your keywords! Based on these keywords, you can then begin to formulate and write high-quality content that is discoverable.
Let’s dive into the crucial world of keywords in digital marketing.
What is Keyword Research and Why is it Important?
Keyword research is the work you do to compile an extensive list of search terms your audience uses. Why is it so important that you research keywords? The first is that using the right keywords can help your content rank higher in search results, helping get more eyeballs on your content.
It’s actually quite common for business owners to use one set of words to describe their products or services while their target audience uses a completely different set of words. This mismatch is what you want to avoid, and why research is so crucial!
Essential Concepts of Keyword Research
Before diving into tips for better keyword research, let’s talk about some of the essential concepts.
A focus keyword or keyphrase is the word or phrase you want a search to find on your site or social post. You can determine your focus keyphrases by doing keyword research.
Long-tail keywords are more specific and they focus on a niche; the more specific they are, the easier it will be to rank them. This is because there is less competition from competitors here. Long-tail keywords are still worth ranking for as they are used by those who are more motivated to buy, subscribe, sign-up, etc.
A keyword strategy is the decisions you make based on your research. What you discover during your research should guide what content you decide to create and focus on. It should also help you decide if that content should be a video, a blog post, or a product page.
Search intent is how you discover what a searcher actually wants or needs. What are the goals of their search? Are they looking for information? Or are they looking to buy a product? Whatever problem the searcher is trying to solve, your content should provide a solution to their problem.
Tips for Keyword Research
Now let’s dive into some tips on how to do better keyword research.
1 | Keep Your Goal in Mind
What is the main goal of your brand? What makes your brand unique? Who are you trying to reach? Keeping the answers to these questions in mind will help you take the first step toward developing your keyword strategy.
2 | Make an Initial List
Next, make an initial list of the keywords you believe your target audience is searching for. For example, if you have a travel agency that books custom tours to Italy’s wine country, some of your initial keywords could include “Italian wine lover,” “trip to Italy,” “Italy wine country,” and “wine tour of Italy.”
Remember, this is not a stopping point. This initial list of search terms will help you dig deeper into what your audience is actually searching for.
3 | Research the Keywords You’ve Come Up With
Now that you’ve jotted down a list of keywords and phrases you think your audience is searching for, it’s time to do a little research on them. There are plenty of SEO research platforms out there that can help you dive into the metrics. Here are the metrics you should pay attention to:
- Volume: the number of searches the keyword gets
- Keyword difficulty: how competitive the keyword is to rank (a higher score means more competition)
- Search intent: this indicates whether the user is looking for information, a specific page, or to buy a product/service
- Cost per click (CPC): the average price advertisers pay for that particular keyword or keyphrase
The best performing keywords will be those with a high volume but a low keyword difficulty score. In other words, these are the words or phrases that your target audience is searching for, but won’t have a lot of competitor traffic.
4 | Find Variants
With some initial keyword research, you can then focus on long-tail keyword variants. These variants are more specific, or niche. Let’s return to our example of the Italian wine country tour travel agency. Some more specific long-tail variants could be “wine tours in Tuscany” or “wine tasting in Veneto.” This helps you get more specific on a topic, product, or service. In your content, you’ll want to use your focus or main keywords as well as these long-tail keywords for the most effective strategy.
5 | Analyze Your Competition
Heavy competition can really drive your keyword strategy. The more competitive a keyword is, the harder time you’ll have ranking with that keyword. If you have little competition, it can be easier to stand out. Just remember, while you want a lower score for competitiveness, you still want higher volume. If your audience isn’t searching for a term your content won’t get found.
6 | Make Note of Search Intent
Search intent will dictate what your content should be. If someone is searching for a product page to buy something, they don’t want a blog article talking up why someone should buy the product. That can annoy a potential customer and make them not trust your brand. So your content (video, blog, product/service buy page, etc.) should match the intent for that specific set of keywords or phrases you are designing your copy around.
Key Takeaways
Keyword research can help you get a better understanding of your target audience and what they are searching for, i.e. the problems they have that your brand can solve. When the keywords in your copy match the keywords they are searching for, and when competition is low from competitors, you’ll find that your content is much more discoverable and that it drives trust, community, and conversions!
Get help with your keyword strategy by hiring the experts! Tintero Creative offers a variety of digital marketing services that help your brand get noticed. Learn more about what we do or book a free consultation today!