Beginner’s Approach to Keyword Research for SEO

Well, finding relevant keywords that best suit your blog is challenging, and though there are a lot of tools available on the Internet the majority of them are costly and people find it difficult to afford them.

So how this problem can be solved but before that let’s understand what is Keyword Research and how it is beneficial from an SEO Point of View. 

What is Keyword Research in SEO?

Keyword Research is the process of brainstorming, finding, and analyzing data that actually people are searching on the Internet and later narrowing those keywords down and finalizing it. This will help in ranking your webpage for that article. Here the goal is to finalize some keywords with the goal often for search engine optimization ( SEO) and general marketing. 

Keyword Research in SEO is always done keeping the below points in mind:- 

  1. Queries to Target
  2. The popularity of the queries 
  3. Ranking Difficulty 
  4. Average Search Volume 
  5. And many more factors can be considered

Why is Keyword Research in SEO Important? 

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

People use keywords to find solutions when conducting research online. So if your content is successful and is ranking for the keyword and it is getting in front of the user as they are conducting searches, you stand to gain more traffic. 

Benefits that come along with Keyword Research in SEO.

  1. Marketing Trend Insight –  Seeing marketing trend insight before conducting keyword research is beneficial as it will give us an idea that what actually the content-hungry audience is searching for on the Internet.
  2. Traffic Growth – The benefit of keyword research is that when content once published and actually starts getting ranked for the keywords. The higher you rank in SERP the more traffic you will attract to your website. 
  3. Customer Acquisition – If your business has content that other business professionals are looking for and your content is meeting their expectations or needs and later providing them with a Call to action so basically so that a viewer can be brought from the informational stage to the buyer stage.

By researching keywords for their popularity, search volume, and general intent, you can tackle the questions that your audience is seeing answers for. Keyword Research tells you what topic people are interested in searching for and here I will mention the use of the right SEO tool.

Elements of Keyword Research in SEO:-

  1. Relevance:-  Google ranks content for relevance. “Search Intent” plays an important role Google keeps the searcher’s need in mind and your content will only rank when it is meeting the expectation of the searcher.
    In addition, I will also like to point out that one thing that many people don’t keep in mind while preparing content is that the content they are producing or I say publishing should be the best resource for the query. 
    Second, they should think that if there are other websites offering similar content but are offering an indepth resource and are more valuable compared to yours so what do you think that what are your chances of ranking higher will be on google pages? 
  2. Authority: Google will provide more weightage to that website which has more authority compared to its peers. That means You will have to work off-page also as you did on the page. Not sure what the Off page is when you do some activities outside the website but for the website.
    Basically promoting your content at various other websites and earning social signals and backlinks. If you do not enjoy enough authority as your competitors do. You won’t be able to beat them until and unless you earn some quality backlinks which will be a big plus in ranking your content higher and there will be very lower chances of ranking unless your keyword is exceptional. 
  3. Volume: There is a high chance that you got your website page rank for the keyword on SERP but you did not analyze the keyword volume and it turns out that the keyword you focused on had 0 volume.
    It will not result in traffic to your site. This will be similar to setting up a shop in a ghost town. Search Volume is the number of times a keyword is searched by an audience in the month.

How to do SEO Keyword Research?

  • Well, you can start typing your root search keyword in google and as soon you keep typing it.
    Google will keep on showing recommendations assuming that you might select one from the drop or if you try scrolling to the end of the google page you will see that google is still showing what other people are also searching for.  
  • So basically while brainstorming search terms/keywords one should collect as many as possible and should put them into a spreadsheet and manually review and pick the best keyword for your blog page also do make sure that the keyword you are choosing should have the informational intent. 
  • Before I tell you what the keywords research tools are. I will like to tell you why are they being used even though we manually reviewed them in an earlier process.

    The answer is because reviewing and picking out keywords with informational intent is not enough we will have to take one more metric into consideration which is Average search volume (while there are many other metrics that are taken into consideration but will be discussed later). 

Best keyword research tool in SEO:- 

  1. Ahref – Ahrefs is a popular SEO keyword research tool that offers a wide range of features for keyword research and analysis. Some of its key features include:
  • Keyword Research: Ahrefs allows you to discover new keyword ideas, analyze their search volume and difficulty, and find related keywords that you can target.
  • Site Explorer:  One of the important feature
  • This feature lets you see the backlinks pointing to your website and to your competitors, and analyze their anchor text and referring domains. This information can be used to improve your link-building strategy.
  • Content Explorer: With this tool, you can search for popular content in your niche, analyze its performance, and find opportunities to create similar content that can attract more traffic.
  • Rank Tracker: Ahrefs can track your website’s ranking for specific keywords over time, and compare it with your competitors’ rankings. This information can help you optimize your content and SEO strategy.
  • Site Audit: Ahrefs offers a comprehensive site audit feature that scans your website for technical SEO issues, such as broken links, missing meta tags, and duplicate content. This information can help you improve your website’s overall SEO health.

In summary, Ahrefs is a powerful SEO tool that can help you conduct keyword research, analyze your competitors, track your website’s ranking, and improve your overall SEO strategy.

2. Google Keyword Planner– Google Keyword Planner is a keyword research tool provided by Google. It offers several features that help users find the right keywords to target for their website or advertising campaigns.

Some of the key features of Keyword Research include:

  • Keyword Research: Google Keyword Planner allows users to find new keyword ideas, get keyword suggestions, and see estimated search volumes and competition levels for each keyword.
  • Competition Analysis: The tool also allows users to view the estimated competition level for each keyword, which can help users determine how difficult it may be to rank for a particular keyword.
  • Traffic Estimates: Google Keyword Planner provides users with traffic estimates for each keyword, as well as insights into how specific keywords may perform in certain locations or on specific devices.
  • Ad Group Creation: Users can create ad groups based on their target keywords and set bids for each group. This can help users optimize their advertising campaigns and target the right audience.
  • Forecasting: The tool also provides forecasting data that can help users estimate how many clicks and impressions they can expect for their advertising campaigns based on their budget and bidding strategy.

Overall, Google Keyword Planner is a useful tool for conducting keyword research in SEO. This is one of the best tools which is available for free for analyzing competition and planning advertising campaigns. It’s particularly useful for those who are running Google Ads campaigns and want to ensure they’re targeting the right keywords.

In summary, SEMrush is a powerful SEO tool that can help users with keyword research, competitor analysis, site audit, backlink analysis, and content analysis. It’s particularly useful for those who want to gain a competitive edge in their industry and improve their website’s overall SEO performance.

3. Neil Patel Keyword Research Tool – Neil Patel’s keyword research tool is a free SEO tool that allows users to find profitable keywords to target for their website or blog. The tool which is keyword research in SEO provides users with search volume data, keyword difficulty scores, and keyword suggestions based on a seed keyword or phrase.

Users can also view the top search results for each keyword and analyze the top-performing content to gain insights into what type of content performs well for that keyword. Neil Patel’s keyword research tool is easy to use and provides users with valuable insights that can help them improve their SEO strategy and attract more traffic to their website.

Users can also analyze keyword trends and view top-performing content for each keyword.

4. Keywordresearch.io – This tool is easy to use and provides users with valuable insights that can help them improve their SEO strategy and attract more traffic to their website or increase their advertising ROI.

As the majority of them are paid so I suggest using the Google Keyword Planner as it shows the important metric which is Average Search Volume (Discussed Earlier) and you can see what keyword has how much average search volume and can finalize keywords accordingly. 

If you want to contact an expert to help you with keyword research for your blog or service or product page why not get in touch with us? You can reach us at help@nickonline.com and we can discuss your project.