Are you considering online marketing for your business? This post talks about one of the essential parts of online marketing, i.e., keyword research.

Google continuously introduces new algorithmic updates to provide the best experience to users. No matter how often Google introduces its algorithmic updates, one thing remains consistent – keyword research.

Keywords are the phrases searched by users to find content or any information online. For example, if someone is looking for a restaurant near them, they will type in “best restaurants near me” or similar phrases on Google. In this example, “best restaurants near me” is a keyword.

Doing keyword research in an SEO (search engine optimization) campaign is vital because it tells a lot about the user intent. Finding the right keywords and using them in your SEO campaign will help you get the right users; however, finding the wrong keywords and using them in the SEO campaign will result in users with different search intent.

What is Keyword Research?

Keyword research is the process of analyzing and finding high intent search terms that people enter into search engines. When doing keyword research, you might come across keywords with a massive search volume and less competition. However, targeting those types of keywords is not worth it when they are not high intent.

When doing keyword research and finding the right keywords, you will have to understand different metrics like KD (keyword difficulty), search volume, etc. Depending on the SEO tool you use, typing in one keyword will showcase multiple related keywords.

Before selecting keywords for your SEO campaign, the vital thing you need to keep in mind is your website authority. If your website is new, you should be focusing on low competitive and low-medium search volume keywords. However, if your website is old and it is already ranking for various keywords, you can target medium-high competition and medium-high search volume keywords.

Keyword research should be the first step of any SEO campaign. That’s because other factors like on-page SEO, finding content topics, content promotion, etc., are based on this factor. The mistake that most newbies often make is they don’t go through proper keyword research. Instead, they start creating content on random topics in their niche. This is the worst thing you can do because without researching keywords, you won’t know about what people are actually searching on giant search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc.

How To Do Keyword Research?

When doing keyword research, there are so many methods out there. You need to follow the one that works best for you. To make it easy for you, here we have shared a step-by-step process on how to do keyword research:

1. Make A List of Relevant Topics Based on Your Niche
2. Find Competitors’ Keywords
3. Search for Long-Tail Keywords
4. Research Related Search Terms
5. Check User Intent
6. Check Traffic-Generating Potential
7. Check Keyword Difficulty
8. Using Google Search Console
9. Keyword Placement

1. Make A List of Relevant Topics Based on Your Niche

The first and essential step in the keyword research process is preparing the list of relevant topics based on the niche. This is the step in which you need to figure out the topics you want to rank for. Deciding on topics first is essential because based on that, you will find relevant keywords for your SEO campaign. You need to figure out what topics your target audience searches for. By figuring this out, you can focus on creating content around those topics.

Also, Read – On Page SEO Techniques

2. Find Competitors’ Keywords

Once you have a clear idea about topics you want to cover for your SEO campaign, you need to find the keywords. There are various ways you can find keywords. One of the best strategies you can leverage is finding the keywords your competitors already rank for. With this strategy, you do not have to go through a lengthy keyword research process. All you need to do is find keywords your competitors have researched & used in the content and use them.

3. Search for Long-Tail Keywords

The best way to rank higher on giant search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc., is by focusing on long-tail keywords. If you are a beginner and have a new website, it is advisable to use long-tail keywords. Searching and focusing on long-tail keywords becomes more important when you are in a competitive niche. By using long-tail keywords, you would be able to rank your website for multiple keyword variations.

4. Research Related Search Terms

Rather than using the main keyword in your content, you should use its variations and related search terms as well. If you are facing difficulty finding more keywords, it can be a good idea to research related search terms. When you enter any search query in Google, it displays related search terms. Apart from this, you will also find related search terms when you type in your query and scroll to the bottom of Google.

5. Check User Intent

This is so important when doing keyword research. Finding and using keywords with different user intent will result in ranking your website for wrong keywords. And when the site ranks for wrong keywords, it will drive traffic with different intent. So, before you go ahead and use any keywords in your content, make sure you understand the user intent of your keywords.

6. Check Traffic-Generating Potential

Once you make the list of topics, find keywords, and check the user intent of the keywords, the next important step in the process is checking the traffic-generating potential of those keywords. This is an important metric that you must check before picking any keyword for your content. To check the traffic-generating potential, you will need the right tool. You can use Ahrefs, Semrush, Google Keyword Planner, or any other tool for it. By knowing the traffic, you will get an idea about how much traffic you can expect from your selected keyword(s).

7. Check Keyword Difficulty

After traffic-generating potential, another important metric you need to check when finding the keywords is keyword difficulty. This metric will give you an idea about how hard a particular keyword is when it comes to ranking it on the top of SERP (search engine results page). This metric can also be checked with various SEO tools like Ahrefs, Semrush, Google Keyword Planner, etc. If you are just getting started and your site is new, you should focus on long-tail and lower difficulty keywords. On the other hand, if your site is quite old, you can try ranking keywords with medium to high difficulty.

8. Using Google Search Console

Another great way to find profitable keywords for your niche is Google Search Console. It is a tool by Google that provides detailed insights on various metrics and technicalities of the site. From the Google Search Console, you can check out keywords your site is already ranking for. Using those keywords on your website can help you get increased rankings for those keywords.

9. Keyword Placement

Last but not least, keyword placement is the crucial part of the process. No matter how profitable and amazing keywords you have researched, if their placement is not proper, it’s not worth it. This is when the importance of on-page SEO comes into play. When doing keyword research, you need to find one primary keyword and a few secondary keywords. Make sure you use the primary keyword in your title, meta description, content, header tags, etc. Talking about secondary keywords, they can be used in content and header tags. Keep in mind you don’t need to stuff keywords. You need to use keywords in content in such a way that it looks natural.

Final Thoughts

Keyword research is an essential part of the SEO process. To help you find the right keywords for your SEO campaign, here we have shared a complete guide on how you can do keyword research. Throughout the process, you will require SEO tools. Depending on your budget and preferences, you can choose Ahrefs, Semrush, Ubersuggest, Google Keyword Planner, and/or any other tool.