Keywords are the foundation of any successful SEO strategy. Choosing the right keywords can help you rank higher in search engines, drive more qualified traffic to your site, and boost conversions. This comprehensive guide will teach you how to research and select the best keywords to target for your business.
Before diving into keyword research, it's important to understand some basics about keywords and SEO:
What are keywords? Keywords are the words and phrases that users type into search engines like Google to find information online. For SEO, you want to identify keywords that are relevant to your business to optimize your pages around.
Types of keywords: There are a few main types of keywords:
Keyword competition - This refers to how hard it will be to rank for a particular keyword. Keywords with high search volume but low competition are ideal to target.
Relevancy - You want to choose keywords that are highly relevant to your business offerings and website content. These will convert better than irrelevant keywords.
Search intent - Keywords can represent different types of user intent, like informational, navigational, or transactional. Target keywords that match your ideal customer's intent.
Follow these key steps to research and select the best SEO keywords to focus your efforts on:
Start by simply brainstorming a big list of keywords that are related to your business, products, or services. Think about words and phrases customers would use to find you. Be expansive in this initial brainstorming phase - you can narrow it down later.
Leverage keyword research tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, Moz Keyword Explorer, UberSuggest, and Soovle to expand your keyword list and get keyword statistics like:
Once you have a big list from your brainstorming and keyword tools, go through and analyze the top keywords to identify the ones that are most relevant with decent volume and manageable competition. Eliminate irrelevant or uncompetitive keywords.
Create groups or tiers of your top keyword targets from your research, which may include:
Take your refined keyword list and break it down by category, topic, and specific pages on your website. This will make optimization easier. Identify which groups of keywords should be used on which pages.
Keyword research is an ongoing process. Continuously add new keywords and monitor existing keyword performance in search engine rankings and site analytics to refine your targets over time.
Leveraging the right keyword research tools is key to finding your best keyword opportunities. Here are some of the top free and paid tools:
Google's free keyword planning tool lets you see monthly searches, competition and suggested bid prices for keywords. Integrates with Google Ads. Requires a Google Ads account to access detailed data.
SEMrush offers robust keyword research options including detailed volume, competition, and ranking data. Paid tool but offers a limited free version. Great for in-depth research.
Ahrefs is another paid SEO tool with excellent keyword research functionality. Shows keyword difficulty scores and detailed ranking analysis. 7-day $7 trial available.
Moz's keyword tool gives keyword volume, competition, and search trends data. Part of their paid Moz Pro service, but offers some free keywords.
KWFinder is a fast free keyword research tool that generates many long-tail keyword suggestions quickly with volume estimates. Easy to use with flexible filters.
UberSuggest is a free keyword suggestion tool from Neil Patel. It generates lots of long-tail keywords and shows monthly search volume and cost-per-click data.
This free tool generates keyword suggestions based on common question formats people use like "how to" etc. Helpful for getting conversational keywords.
Soovle is a free multi-keyword research tool that shows keyword volume, trends, and keyword ideas. No competition data but easy to use.
KeywordTool is a paid tool but offers some basic free keyword research functionality without needing an account. Shows keyword difficulty and CPC data.
Keep these tips in mind as you evaluate keywords:
Once you've selected your target keywords, use them strategically throughout your website pages:
Focus on providing useful, relevant content that answers searcher intent while seamlessly working keywords into the page for SEO. Avoid awkwardly stuffing keywords.
Monitor your keyword rankings in search engines to see if your optimization is working. Use tools like SEMrush, Moz Pro, or Ahrefs to check rankings.
Look at website traffic sources and keyword reports in Google Analytics to identify the highest converting keywords driving visits.
Refine your targets and optimization strategy over time based on performance. Keyword optimization is an ongoing process.
A: Some of the top free keyword research tools are Google Keyword Planner, UberSuggest, Answer the Public, KWFinder, and KeywordTool. They provide keyword ideas, search volume data, and related keywords.
A: Use tools like SEMrush, Ahrefs, or Moz to analyze the keywords your top competitors rank for. See which are driving their organic traffic. Identify any keywords they rank for that you don't to find new targets.
A: Ideally focus on optimizing each page for 1-3 main keyword themes only. Trying to target more becomes ineffective. Include related long-tail keywords, but keep the core focus limited per page.
A: Exact match keywords are search phrases typed in verbatim with quotation marks like "buy shoes online". They signal high commercial intent so are very valuable for conversion. Tools display exact match data.
A: Include your target keywords in meta descriptions - this helps click-through rate. But don't awkwardly overstuff. The description should sound natural and compel clicks.
Keyword research is a crucial ongoing process for SEO success. By leveraging the right tools to identify low-competition, high-commercial-intent keywords that are relevant to your business, you can drive more organic traffic and customers to your website.
Use this guide to research, select, optimize for, and track top-performing keywords over time. With the right keywords powering your SEO strategy, you can improve website visibility and performance in search engines.
