Keyword research is an essential part of any successful SEO strategy. It’s one of the first steps in implementing SEO and is done in what we would call the foundational stage at R&Co Communications.
You must be aware of the terms and topics your audience is searching for in relation to your website. Therefore, we have put together the complete keyword research guide.
Read on to find out what keyword research is, how to succeed at keyword research and the best keyword research tools on the market.
Why are SERP features important?
Keyword research is identifying topics of words and phrases that people use to find things via search engines such as Google and Bing. Once you know what your audience is searching for, it will allow you to focus your content creation on these key topics.
The main aims of keyword research
The main aims of keyword research are:
- To understand what your target market or audience is searching for.
- To find out how much search demand there is for your industry topics.
- To find out what format searchers want the information you can provide delivered to them.
Types of keywords
SEOs often create groupings or naming conventions for different types of keywords. Some of these are widely used within the SEO community and others are specific to individual SEOs. Our SEO experts like to keep the types of keywords they use as simple as possible, so people at all levels of SEO knowledge can understand. There are three main types of keywords:
- Branded keywords – These are search terms that include your company name. They are important in SEO, particularly for building brand awareness and trust. For example, for ourselves a branded keyword would be R&Co.
- Short-tail keywords – Short-tail keywords are usually broad phrases that contain one to three words. They aren’t usually too specific but often as a rule of thumb have a high search volume. For example, for ourselves a short-tail keyword would be public relations.
- Long-tail keywords – The name of these keywords speaks for itself. Long-tail keywords often have less search volume but are more specifically related to your products or services. Capitalising on long-tail keywords has the potential to increase your conversion rates as they attract users who are further down the funnel. For example, for ourselves a long-tail keyword would be digital marketing agency in Leamington Spa.
If you want to learn more about keyword types or have a question regarding keyword research, then contact us.
Successful keyword research for SEO
There are many different techniques and ways to carry out keyword research and, as long as they bring you or your client success, then there aren’t necessarily any approaches that are wrong or not best practice.
So, what is our process and how does it work for you? Our goal is to increase the visibility of your online store or services by presenting it to potential customers on search engines and persuading them to visit your site.
First of all, our SEO experts will take time to understand:
- Your business and your business goals
- Your particular niche and target market
- The competition within your industry
Once these have been established, it’s then time to conduct the actual research itself. We use SEO tools to undertake comprehensive keyword research which, once applied, will ensure pages on your site are targeting the right words, phrases and ideas to garner the best results.
Our rationale is to then research the keywords, topic by topic. Whether that be for your services or product categories. The best way, in our expert opinion, is to start off broad, with short-tail keywords then dig deeper and deeper into the topic you are researching, all the way down to the long-tail keywords for that topic.
The best keyword research tools
When it comes to keyword research tools the market spans far and wide. There are thousands of different tools, plugins, apps and software that exist for keyword research. All these tools have different quirks which will draw SEOs to them. We have listed below our top three keyword research tools, which include both free and paid options.
SEMrush
SEMrush is an all-in-one software that helps to improve online visibility. There are lots of different things that SEMrush can be used for: link monitoring, competitor analysis, site audits and much more. SEMrush also has a dedicated section for keyword research and in our opinion, this is the best tool on the market for keyword research. The keyword magic tool section is great for browsing different keyword topics and easily creating a list of all the phrases you want to group.
Ahrefs
Ahrefs is very similar to SEMrush where it has multiple different sections within its tool to help improve online visibility. Ahrefs does have a free version although this is very limited in what it can offer but is a good option for a start-up. Similar to SEMrush, Ahrefs has a keyword research section which allows you to search for keywords within topics and create a list. This tool does everything you need it to although our SEO experts prefer SEMrush just for its ease of use.
Google Keyword Planner
Google Keyword Planner is a tool that is predominantly used for the creation of Google Ads. Although this tool is a free tool that helps you find relevant keywords for your business and plan your marketing strategy. It is a cost-effective option for keyword research and a good option for regional keyword research.
In summary, keyword research is an essential part of any successful SEO strategy. It should be done at the start of the SEO journey and all keyword types should be explored to ensure you reach potential customers at all parts of the conversion journey.
If you would like help with your keyword research or would like to discuss SEO further then contact our SEO experts.
