What is a Seed Keyword?
A seed keyword is a one or two-word-long keyword used as the starting point of investigación de palabras clave. Bloggers develop the seed keyword into the short or long-tail keyword they optimize their content around.
Seed keywords are generally broad and general. They have a high search volume, making them very competitive. However, they do have unclear intención de búsqueda. In the case of seed keywords that double as short-tail keywords, such keywords will be challenging to rank for unless your site has a high website authority.
Examples of seed keywords include:
- “Yoga” (for a yoga studio)
- “Recipes” (for a food blog)
- “Travel” (for a travel agency or blog)
- “Fitness” (for a fitness blog or business)
- “Internet marketing” (for an internet marketing agency)
The keyword discovery process begins with the blogger deciding on a seed keyword. Depending on your strategy, you can expand the seed keyword into:
- Short-tail and long-tail keywords
- Short-tail keywords, which you then expand into long-tail keywords
For example, a seed keyword like “yoga” can be expanded into short-tail and long-tail keywords like:
Short-tail keywords:
- Yoga poses
- Yoga classes
- Yoga benefits
- Yoga retreats
- Yoga equipment
Long-tail keywords:
- Best yoga poses for beginners
- Mental health benefits of yoga
- Yoga retreat destinations for relaxation
- How to find the right yoga class for you
- Essential yoga equipment for home practice
Optionally, we can expand “yoga” into the short-tail keyword, “yoga poses,” which we then expand into the long-tail keywords below:
- Easy yoga poses for stress relief at home
- Yoga poses for back pain relief and relaxation
- Yoga poses for better posture and core strength
- Advanced yoga poses to build strength and balance
- Best yoga poses for beginners to improve flexibility
Importance of the Seed keyword
Seed keywords help identify the core topics a website or business wants to rank for. This helps with SEO and ultimately determines the type of content that the site publishes.
Seed keywords are the first step of keyword research. They are the starting point for discovering short and long-tail keywords to include on a webpage. When a blogger decides to start a blog, they perform topic research to determine the topics to cover.
These topics are then used to generate seed keywords, which are further expanded into long and short-tail keywords. In certain instances, seed keywords may double as short-tail keywords. For example, fitness, travel, cooking, and SEO are seed keywords that can be used as short-tail keywords.
A single seed keyword can be used to generate uncountable short and long-tail keywords, and it is typical for the entire content on a site to be based on a few seed keywords.
How to Find Seed Keywords
If you have performed topic research, then you should have a ready list of seed keywords to use for your keyword research. Topic research involves various methods, including brainstorming, using SEO tools, and accessing publicly available information from Google. We will list some of them below.
1 Brainstorm
Brainstorming is a standard method for generating seed keywords. You can start by listing all the words and phrases that come to mind when you think about your blog, business, product, or service.
Consider your customers’ problems, the solutions you offer, and the language they might use to describe them. This process helps you generate a broad list of seed keywords that can be further refined using other methods, such as SEO tools or competitor analysis.
For example, if you run a bakery, your brainstorming session might produce seed keywords like “custom cakes,” “gluten-free pastries,” and “wedding desserts.”
2 SEO Herramientas
Multiple SEO tools can uncover seed keywords for you based on your niche. Some only require you to enter your site or webpage URL, after which they will scan your content to determine the seed keywords relevant to your already published content.
SEO tools do not stop at providing the seed keywords. They also provide helpful metrics like search volume, cost-per-click (CPC), and keyword difficulty, which help you to identify the most valuable seed, short and long-tail keywords.
3 Competitor Analysis
You can find the keywords your competitors rank for and then uncover the seed keywords of those keywords. You can do this using keyword research tools or specialized competitor analysis tools that have options that allow you to uncover the keywords for which your competitor ranks.
Depending on the tool, they may also provide you with options to filter the keywords and uncover the seed keyword of your competitor. You can refer to this guide for the best competitor analysis tools to spy on your competition.
4 Google Search Results Pages
los La gente también pregunta field on the Google search results page is an excellent source of seed keywords that double as short-tail keywords. This field is typically located at the top of the search results page and shows you the queries that people who searched for your query also searched for.
In this case, enter a seed keyword you have already found on Google and head to the People Also Ask field. Google will likely not show you the exact seed keyword. Instead, you will review the keywords displayed and determine the seed keyword.
For example, the People Also Ask field for “artificial intelligence” includes words like AI technology, Siri, and iPhone AI. These are seed keywords.
You may also find seed and short-tail keywords using the Related Searches or People also searched for field at the bottom of the search results page. In this case, scroll down to the field at the bottom of the page to analyze the keywords available.
5 Customer Feedback
If you have run a blog or business for a while, you should have had some clients contact you with specific questions about your content or business. In the case of a business, you should have earned a few reviews.
So, check your content online reviews and comment sections to see what your audience says about your content, blog, or product. You can also check third-party review sites and online forums to see if they have discussed you there. The words or phrases they use in describing your blog or service are good sources of seed keywords.
Seed Keyword Best Practices
Seed keywords have a significant effect on your content strategy. Specifically, the seed keywords you select ultimately determine the type of content you publish and the audience you attract. So, to avoid errors and ensure you only create content relevant to your target audience, it is recommended to follow the seed keyword best practices listed below.
1 Start Broad and Narrow Down
Begin with broad seed keywords that capture the general topic or industry you are in. These keywords help identify high-level trends and opportunities. Once you have a general seed keyword, modify it by adding new words until it becomes a short and, ultimately, long-tail keyword.
2 Use Your Customer’s Language
Use terms and phrases your target audience uses when they search for your products or services. Analyze customer reviews, FAQs, and social media conversations to identify common language. This ensures your seed keywords align with user intent and improve relevance. It also helps bridge the gap between your branding and customer expectations.
3 Focus on the Search Intent
Choose seed keywords that align with your business goals and visitor’s search intent. Avoid overly generic terms that may attract irrelevant traffic. Prioritize keywords that reflect what your audience is searching for, how they phrase their queries, and the type of content they expect to see. This ensures higher-quality traffic and better conversion rates.
4 Research the Competition
Research competitors to identify seed keywords they are targeting. Tools like SEMrush or Ahrefs can reveal their top-performing keywords. This helps you uncover gaps in your strategy and discover new opportunities. However, ensure the keywords you adopt align with your unique value proposition and audience needs.
5 Group Keywords Into Clusters
Organize seed keywords into topic clusters based on relevance and intent. This helps create a structured content strategy and improves SEO performance. Grouping keywords also makes it easier to identify content gaps and opportunities. It ensures your content aligns with user needs, expectations, and search engine algorithms.
6 Don’t Over-Rely on Seed Keywords
Seed keywords sometimes double as short-tail keywords. However, unless you have been around for a while and have a high website authority, ranking for these keywords may be hard or even impossible. So, don’t over-rely on seed and short-tail keywords. Instead, expand them into long-tail keywords and optimize your content for such.