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What is Keyword Research?

Keyword research is often a straightforward process, insofar as you can identify topics relevant to your niche and have access to good keyword research tools to uncover the best keywords to rank for. Here is how to do it. 

1 Select a Seed Keyword

The first step is to identify a seed keyword relevant to your niche. A seed keyword is a one or two-word-long summary of the content you want to create.

You will do some brainstorming to decide which seed keywords are relevant to your site and target audience. You should also consider the words that your target audience will use to search for your product, brand, or business.

After uncovering your seed keywords, enter them into Google and review the top results. If the top-ranking sites are not in your niche, modify the seed keyword until it returns with content from sites in your niche.

For example, if your site focuses on educating visitors about yoga, then yoga, yoga exercises, and yoga poses are possible seed keywords to consider.

2 Expand the Keyword

Now, you will expand the keyword list to uncover long and short-tail keywords relevant to your niche. While expanding the keyword list, you should pay attention to several metrics, especially their:

• Search volume — This is the number of times visitors searched for the keyword
• Keyword difficulty — This is how difficult it would be to rank for that keyword
• Cost per click (CPC) — This is how much advertisers pay to have their ads appear for the keyword

You can expand your seed keywords by entering them into a keyword research tool. You can refer to this guide for free keyword research tools.

You can also add modifiers to the seed keyword until you arrive at short and long-tail keywords relevant to your site. For example, the seed keyword, yoga exercises can be expanded into yoga exercises for beginners ja yoga exercises for weight loss.

You should also enter your seed keyword into long-tail keyword generator tools.

Most keyword research tools will typically provide you with the metrics of your keywords. In the case of the keywords you generate using modifiers and long-tail keyword generators, you will want to enter them into the keyword research tool to uncover their metrics.

3 Analyze the Keyword Metrics

Now, compare the search volume and keyword difficulty of the keywords you have discovered.

Unless you already have a high-authoritative site with strong E-E-A-T signals, you will want to aim for keywords with high search volume and low or medium difficulty.

Different SEO tools use different methods to calculate the keyword difficulty. So, the keyword difficulty will typically differ, depending on the tool. In this case, you should review the tool’s documentation to understand how it calculates the keyword difficulty.

4 Uncover the Search Intent of the Keyword

The next step is to determine the hakutarkoitus of the keywords you want to target.

You want to review whether the keyword is navigational, informational, commercial, or transactional. You will also want to know the type of content your target audience expects to find when they search for the keyword.

Some keyword research tools offer options for uncovering a keyword’s search intent. Optionally, search for the keyword on Google and analyze the top results Google returns for the query. You should create content in the same format as the top-ranking content. 

5 Select Your Focus Keyword

At this point, you should have a group of keywords you will want to rank for. One of those keywords will be the focus keyword while the rest will be secondary keywords. 

You will select the keyword that best matches the search intent and has a high search volume but mid to low keyword difficulty. So, review the keyword’s search volume. It should have enough monthly searches to drive meaningful traffic to your site.

Next, assess its keyword difficulty and select the keyword with a manageable level of competition. Additionally, analyze how relevant the keyword is to the content you publish on your site. You should also ensure that the keyword aligns with the type of content you plan to create.

Finally, review the potential cost per click of the keyword. A higher cost per click is likely to attract visitors who are ready to buy. Once you have done this, you can create new content or optimize an existing one with the keywords.