How to Research and Use Keywords for SEO

What is a Keyword? 

A keyword is a word or phrase customers use to find specific online information. If you know what keywords your target audience uses to search, you can harness this knowledge to direct traffic to your website.

Researching and using ideal keywords is also called search engine optimization (SEO).

According to MailChimp, Google uses over 200 elements to generate a search result. All internet results with that keyword or phrase are listed on the search engine results page (SERP).

Keywords can help push your business’ website, blog, or products toward the top of the SERP. Keyword research analytics helps a business know what its target audience wants to find, driving its content creation.

How to do Keyword Research

According to Semrush, keyword research has three main steps: Finding, analyzing, and targeting keywords.

Finding Keywords

The first step is to select a keyword discovery tool online and start with a few keywords. Research the target audience and determine what they use in their search bars. 

Four examples of discovery tools are:

•       Google Trends (free)
•       Google Keyword Planner (free)
•       Semrush (free and paid versions)
•       Ubersuggest (free and paid versions)

Starting with one keyword, called a seed keyword, can lead to discovering other important keywords using tools like Keyword MagicTool. Another way to find popular keywords is to analyze the words and phrases used by the top two or three competitors.

Analyzing Keywords

The second step is to take the keywords from step one, analyze them, and choose the best ones. Keywords can be evaluated for difficulty and ranked low, medium, or high depending on the competition for that keyword. The best strategy is to choose a word with a high volume of searches but low competition. 

Some examples of analytic tools are:

•       Ubersuggest
•       Moz
•       Keyword Magic Tool 

Neil Patel also suggests digital marketers put everything together on a spreadsheet. Excel’s Conditional Formatting quickly color-codes keywords with low competition and high searches, making it easy to identify the best ones. 

Another essential strategy is finding long-tail keywords with less competition, which are more specific phrases. It is helpful because there is less competition, and users searching for particular keywords already know what they are looking for and are more likely to engage in specific content or purchase.

Targeting Keywords

The third step is to identify primary and secondary keywords. When identifying these keywords, it is also important to consider the search intent. The search intent guides your choice of keywords depending on the type of online content you are marketing. For example, if you write an informational blog, using transactional keywords to attract the target audience for product purchases would be inappropriate.

Using Keywords

Now that we understand how to find, analyze, and target keywords, let’s talk about what to do with them. There are several critical places to put keywords when designing your content strategy and SEO. Keywords could appear in the title, in the first sentence or paragraph, within headings, or in phrases repeated throughout the body of the text. Notably, search engines will penalize your rankings for overstuffing keywords.

On the SERP, a meta description is below the title of each webpage found. It includes a brief webpage description and is a vitally important place to use your keywords. A well-written meta description can make the readers click on your link first.

Final Thoughts

Clients and editors seek skilled writers who understand content marketing. A writer should know how to draw customers to their content using keywords and SEO.

In an ever-changing digital world, frequently reevaluated keywords are necessary for effectiveness.