5 Tips for Successful SEO Keyword Research
SEO keyword research is vital to the overall visibility and experience of a website. Choosing target keywords on a page level can direct the users to the most enjoyable experience and answer any questions they have throughout the way. Understanding search intent can help you decide which keywords to target and what content users are looking for.
The following tips will help you complete a successful SEO keyword research project: find what keywords you are currently ranking for; What current search queries you are missing; find more variations of our search terms; learn how to check search engine results pages (SERPs) for relevance and intent; and how to position your identified keywords throughout your content. These tips will guide you to a successful SEO keyword research project.
1. Checking your website for current ranking keywords
Checking the current ranking is important to avoid potentially harming the current traffic of the website. You could be ranking for a keyword either intentionally or unintentionally. Knowing this is important and could even show some weaknesses and strengths you were unaware of.
A handful of tools can check your ranking on a keyword and page-level breakdown. I would recommend using Google Search Console to find out which current search terms are currently bringing traffic to your website. In Search Console, you can check both which terms bring people to your website, but also which pages Google is displaying to the users when searching the term.
2. Check competitor sites for potential content gaps
Competitors are a great tool for getting ideas of what other terms you could be targeting. Competitors can also help you gauge content by seeing what currently ranks for the target keyword. Checking search engine results page (SERP) for search terms you rank for or would like to rank for can give you an idea of what content is currently successful and give you a good outline of what the users are looking for. Google ranks the content it believes is the most relevant to each user’s search. This makes the current (SERP) a great resource to know exactly what Google is looking for.
3. Find root keywords to pair with long-tail Keywords
Root keywords represent a topic or a market as a whole. Root keywords typically are going to hold more search volume versus long-tailed keywords target a more specific audience. Also, these long-tailed keywords can potentially target multiple root keywords if phrased correctly. Long titles can greatly benefit rankings especially if the content still brings value to the users.
4. Check for variations
Google has over 3 billion searches every day. It is important to check into all the different ways people can search to find your website. If it is a service having a blog around common issues causing the need for your service, or if it is a product the SKUs or other types of words people could use to try and find your product.
5. Check the search engine results pages (SERPs) for relevance
SERPs results have a massive impact on choosing Keywords. SEMrush defines 4 different types of results informational, transactional, commercial, and Navigational. Understanding this separation is a big part of the type of content users are looking for when searching that keyword. SERPs results can also show you other competitors in the space that might not be direct competitors but attempting to rank for the same keyword.
Conclusion
SEO is a long process that is very beneficial to driving website traffic. Keyword research is the first step in a successful SEO strategy. Keyword research helps identify the overall target of the content and helps you identify what keywords you’re targeting, and which page is targeting which keyword. Once the SEO keyword research is completed you should have identified each page on our website and what the overall goal is of each page. Then the next step is optimizing each page toward its goal and tracking the results.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
TJ Bissener
TJ graduated from the University of Minnesota Duluth with a degree in marketing. His interest in marketing grows from a design background in both computer drafting and hands on fabrication. He was part of an AMA (American Marketing Association) completion where his team won most creative marketing strategy. In his free time, he enjoys weight training, outdoor sporting activities, and following sports with the Minnesota Twins beings his favorite.