Chapter 2
Keyword Research
What is your target market searching for?
By this point, we hope that you’ve learned some new terms and have a basic understanding of how SEO works. Now, we’ll be learning about keywords—specifically, picking ones that you want to rank high for, and how that will translate into increased web traffic.
A lot of the time, keyword research starts with getting a better understanding of who exactly your target market is and how they will search for your content. The goal is to not only end up with users flocking to your web page but to then have those users convert into actual leads or paying customers.
Some important questions that may help you get started are:
- What is your target market searching for?
- How many people are searching?
- How do they want this information they’re searching for displayed? (Text, infographics, video, etc.)
We want to make sure you leave this chapter equipped with the tools and strategies needed to answer these questions, so you can then build a strong web presence from the answers.
Ask the Right Questions
To get the most out of SEO, you have to make sure you understand who your target market is, what they’re looking for, and what your business goals are.
Note: This is a crucial planning step—skipping this can lead to wasted time spent attracting the wrong audience who isn’t looking for what you offer. Ultimately, this will cause you to fall short on business goals.
What you think you should rank for and what your target market is actually searching for are often two very different sets of keywords. This is why keyword research is such an important step of SEO. Otherwise, you can get yourself to the top of SERPs only to find out that all of your work was completely useless.
Let’s give an example. Eric & Kev’s (a Milwaukee-based, 100% plant-based, vegan burger shop) is ready to give SEO a try and wants to help improve how often they show up on organic search results. In order to assist them, it’s crucial to understand a little more about their target market so you know what type of content to craft. Here are some questions you might ask during your keyword planning stages:
- What type of burgers, sides, snacks, etc. are people searching for?
- Are there any seasonal trends throughout the year?
- Who is searching for these terms?
- How are they searching for burgers?
- What keywords are they using?
- What questions are they asking?
- Are they using mobile devices? Laptops? Smart home devices?
- How do they want your information displayed?
- Do searchers want to see a Google Business Profile or Yelp listing?
- Where is your target market located?
These are the type of crucial questions you must ask during your keyword planning stages to help you craft the correct type of content.
What Terms Are People Searching For?
The next step in the keyword research process is answering an important question: what terms are people searching for? You want to figure out how your target market is looking for your product or service—specifically, what words, phrases, or questions they’re using.
Discover Keywords
Chances are you have a few keywords in mind that you think you’d like to rank for—things like your products, services, or whatever else it is that your business does. While this is a great place to start, you won’t know for sure whether these are good terms to rank for until you do some thorough research. You can use a keyword research tool (examples to come later in this chapter) to discover things like average monthly search volume, similar keyword phrases, and a bunch of other things around those keywords.
We’ll dive into more details about search volume in the next section, but during this discovery phase, it’s important to know that a keyword with a higher search volume usually has a better chance of driving more visitors to your website.
To help you understand this better, let’s dive into a different example: a construction company.
Using the keyword research tool to analyze keywords like “construction company” and “adjustment” you’re going to see some other great ideas like:
- Local commercial construction company
- Historical restoration construction company
- Commercial construction companies near me
While you’re using the keyword research tool, you’ll probably find out that the search volume of those keywords is going to vary. Even though one keyword has a higher search volume, it may not be the best option for you. Keywords with higher search volumes mean that other competing businesses are also trying to rank for the same keyword, making it harder to generate leads for all parties involved. Research will help you get some new ideas about how specific you can be—but we’ll dive more into this soon too.
Diversify
Something important to note is that only web pages rank for keywords, and websites do not. Because of this, small businesses aren’t going to be ranking for as many keywords as big brands. That’s why it’s so important to diversify your website’s pages and create each page to rank for different keywords.
Keyword Metrics
Back when SEO was first becoming popular, businesses would only research for keywords with the highest search volumes. Then, they would cram these keywords into their content in a way that didn’t naturally fit to trick the search engine algorithms into getting their pages higher rankings in SERPS. (This is a term we learned in Chapter 1, called Black Hat SEO.) Doing this today will get your web page penalized, resulting in a loss of web traffic and rankings, and a potential removal from SERPS.
Google RankBrain
Google RankBrain is a component of Google’s algorithm based on artificial intelligence. It uses machine learning (the ability of machines to teach themselves from data inputs) to help Google understand the intent behind the search query and deliver the most relevant search results.
So what does all of this mean for your web pages? It means that you have to not only create relevant content online, but the content has to rank for keywords that are realistic for your web page authority (we’ll learn about web page authority in Chapter 4) and also have high search volume.
Unfortunately, it’s not always an easy task to find that balance. This leads us perfectly to our next subject: long-tail keywords.
Long-Tail Keywords
Long-tail keywords are phrases that are made up of a string of typically three to five keywords. They are less competitive than singular, generic keywords due to their specificity. Long-tail keywords are trying to rank for much more particular searches that people will be conducting. Although they tend to yield less search volume, they attract high-quality web traffic that is more likely to result in customer conversion.
So while tracking #1 for the keyword “burger” may sound like a good strategy, you may want to consider going with the long-tail keyword route instead. Those visitors who find you via long-tail keywords are more likely to engage with your content. Plus, with searches getting smarter and web users getting savvier, long-tail keywords tend to make up the majority of search engine queries today.
As you can see in the above graph, while long-tail keywords often don’t have a lot of search volume, you can’t underestimate their levels of engagement. Someone searching for “burgers” may just be browsing the web for information about burgers or trying to figure out what a burger is, while someone searching for “best vegan burgers near me” sounds hungry and ready to take action!
Long-Tail Keywords Tip
Something even more awesome about long-tail keywords is that they give you the chance to rank for multiple keywords. A keyword term like, “best vegan burgers near me” may also rank for things like “best vegan food” or “best vegan restaurants” as well.
How to Plan Keywords by Search Volume
At this point, we’ve mentioned search volume quite a few times now. To recap, the greater the volume a given keyword or phrase has, the more work is usually required to rank highly for those keywords or phrases. This is usually referred to as keyword difficulty, and this metric incorporates what are called “SERP features.”
SERP features are elements that pop up on a search engine results page that provide additional information to a search beyond the traditional search results. This can be things such as image packs, video carousels, knowledge panels, AI overviews, or “people also ask” sections. For example, if you were to search for “restaurants near me”, a SERP feature that would likely appear is a Google Map with the locations of close-by restaurants. SERP features go beyond the list of “blue links” you typically see.
However, that means that if a keyword or phrase has a bunch of SERP features, the difficulty for said keyword will increase. This is because the additional features take up a large amount of real estate on the SERP.
Note: Big brands often take up a majority of top results for high-volume keywords, so if you’re trying to go to war for a keyword like “shoes” it may be a near-impossible battle.
Keyword Difficulty
Once you find keywords you want to rank for, you’ll need to evaluate if it’s worth it to try and go after them. In the keyword planner tool mentioned earlier, you’ll notice something called SEO Difficulty (also known as SD) that is pretty much exactly what it sounds like—how difficult it will be to rank for a specific keyword or phrase based on the competition and available real estate on SERPs.
Search Intent
SERP analysis is another important part of keyword research. It helps you decide if:
- You are able to compete with the websites on the 1st SERP
- The search intent behind the keywords you want to rank for
By checking out the SERP, you can see what the intention is behind a user’s search and how the search engines are ranking this type of content. There are a bunch of possible search types, but let’s take a close look at five major categories of search intent:
- Informational – A search for general information, like “how to ride a bike.”
- Navigational – A search for a specific website or brand, like “Google Analytics.”
- Transactional – A search to buy something online, like “Trek bicycle for sale.”
- Commercial – A search to do research before purchasing, like “Trek bicycle review.”
- Local – A search to find something locally, like “best vegan burger near me.”
Figuring out which searches you want to rank for is another key piece of the puzzle, and as we mentioned before, a majority of searches are long-tail keywords, so make sure to check out SERPs during your research.
Tools for Keyword Research and Planning
You won’t get anywhere with your keyword research and planning if you aren’t using the right tools. While the sheer number of keyword research tools available out there may seem overwhelming, here are the ones we’ve found to have the most value:
Ubersuggest
This is a popular keyword planning tool. Ubersuggest shows you search volume, SEO difficulty, keyword ideas, content ideas, and a bunch of other things, all with an intuitive interface.
Google Keyword Planner
Google’s very own keyword planner has been the most straightforward, common starting point for SEO keyword research for quite some time. However, we feel like other tools are a little more user-friendly, especially for beginners.
Google Trends
Another Google tool that is incredibly powerful is Google Trends, especially if you’re interested in figuring out seasonal keyword fluctuations and planning in advance for those.
Semrush
If you mention Semrush to anyone in the SEO space, they’ll know exactly what you’re talking about. Semrush is another company with a historically good track record with Google and everything SEO related. A very credible resource and one we use daily.
A lot of these tools offer very similar services, so at the end of the day, it’s up to you to decide which keyword research tool works best for you and your business.
Now you have the perfect keywords and are ready to rank on the first SERP! Let’s dive into Chapter 3: On-Page SEO
Frequently Asked Questions
Seeds keywords are short phrases that are often the first step in discovering more keywords. They are typically one or two words long, and describe a topic broadly, giving you a starting point for further keyword research. For example, if you’re a coffee company, your seed keywords would be things such as “coffee”, “espresso,” or cappuccino.”
Branded keywords are search terms that include a brand, company, or product name. For example, “Eric & Kev’s Burger Restaurant” is a branded keyword search for Eric & Kev’s website. They are typically not the focus of keyword research but are important to monitor as competitors can target these keywords to steal traffic.
Depending on the niche of your business and your target audience, it’s okay to use words with low to no search volume, as they can still provide valuable traffic. However, you shouldn’t rely solely on these keywords. In some instances, it may help to pair low-volume keywords with high-volume search terms in order to help drive traffic.
There is no “magic number” to aim for when deciding keywords, as the ideal amount depends on your niche, content length, and the search intent of your target audience. However, always keep in mind quality over quantity, as it’s better to choose a few keywords that accurately represent your content as opposed to trying to stuff your web pages with as many keywords as possible.
When organizing your keyword list, try to rank them by importance, with the most useful and valuable keywords at the top. It also helps to group into categories that reflect the main content sections of your website. Make sure to remove irrelevant keywords that are difficult to use naturally in your content.
To help understand the intent behind a search query and deliver the most relevant search results, Google uses an AI algorithm called Google RankBrain. It uses machine learning (the ability of machines to teach themselves from data inputs) to analyze how users interact with search results and then learns from them to improve upon future searches.