Keyword research is the first step in the process of doing SEO and is an essential stage for any SEO strategy. Before you write the content of your website, you need to think about the target keyword phrase that you want to target. You have to put yourself in the shoes of the user, capture their intentions, and find out what kind of keyword users will use when searching. Then, you can include this phrase in your content to increase rankings on search results.
That’s the keyword research job and below is an ultimate guide to help you do this step by step.
- A nice search engine optimization illustration with a laptop and magnifying glass looking at your website in the rank 1 position.
WHAT IS A KEYWORD?
Before going into explaining the keyword research process, let’s shed some light on the most important concepts related to this job.
Keyword research can be defined as the job of listing (expanding) the keywords that you want to rank highly.
Keyword strategy is the topic of the decisions that you make on the basis of keyword research.
Key phrases (Keyphrases) are keywords that contain many words. We always tend to use keywords that are not necessarily just one word. [SEO Google] is a keyword, [Best SEO tool] is also a keyword. Keywords often include multiple words! So, in this tip, when I talk about keywords, it usually means a phrase, not a single word. A lot of SEOers are increasingly using keyword phrases and gradually replacing focus keywords with focus keyword phrases.
Long tail keywords are more specific and less popular because they focus more on a narrower range. The longer (and specific) the search keywords are, the easier it will be to rank highly for that keyword. Keywords that are more specific (and often longer) are called long tail keywords.
Focus keyphrase is the word or phrase you want your page to be searched for the most.
Search intent is all about discovering the user’s true intent behind the search query. It is not just the keywords, but the goals behind – things that searchers want to know, want to do or want to buy.
WHY IS RESEARCH KEYWORDS IMPORTANT?
Researching to find the right keywords is very important because it will shed light on the search terms that your audience often uses. It is not uncommon for websites to use a set of keywords to describe their products and services while their customers use completely different keywords. As a result, these websites do not reach potential customers because their keywords do not match customers’ search keywords.
Sometimes the marketing department decides to give their product a certain name. It can be a smart marketing decision. It can be a way to make people remember your product. For example, you do not rent a house, you [rent a suburb]. Please note that the number of people looking for [suburban rental] is a lot less than renting.
If you optimize your content well for these terms, you can get high rankings on the search results page. However, you will not get much traffic with these terms and you will also miss a large part of the potential audience.
Optimizing keywords makes no sense if people do not use them. Researching good keywords will ensure that you use the right keywords that your target audience is looking for. This makes your entire website optimization effort much more valuable. In addition, by looking at the purpose of the search, you will identify the questions that your customers want to know. Those questions will receive answers in the form of quality content.
HOW TO IMPROVE KEYWORDS
In my opinion, to conduct keyword research requires a minimum of four steps. First, you need to determine what your business mission is. Next, create a list of all the keywords you want to be found by the user. After that, consider the user’s search intent and. Finally, create a separate landing page for each of those keywords. The ultimate guide below will show you every step of the way.
SAGA.vn will guide you step by step through the entire keyword research process. In addition, I will give you some helpful tips to easily start your own keyword research process.
STEP 1. WHAT ARE YOUR MISSIONS?
Before starting anything, think about your mission. Think about the question: Who are you? What is your website? What makes you special? And what do you promise on your website?
A lot of people can’t give an effective answer to these questions in the first place. You have to figure out what makes you stand out from the crowd. So, take your time and write down your mission to paper, computer, iPad or wherever possible – as long as you have to write it down. Once you have detailed answers to these questions, you have already taken the first and the most important step in your keyword strategy.
STEP 2. CREATE KEYWORDS
The second step of the keyword research process is to create your own keyword list. Stick to your target mission and try to make a mark in the minds of potential customers. What will these subjects look for? What kind of search terms can they use when looking for your product or service? Ask yourself these questions and write down as many answers as possible.
If you can clearly identify your goals, you will have a clear view of your potential audience and unique selling point (USP) – the advantages that make you stand out. with others. This list will include the keywords you want to be found.
STEP 3. LOOK AT A SEARCH PURPOSE
Most SEO strategies today should revolve around answering user questions. Whenever a person types in the search toolbar, that means they are looking for an answer to a problem. Each type of question needs a specific answer.
The purpose of the search must be tied to why people perform a particular search. Why are they looking for? Are they searching because they have a question and want an answer to that question? Are they looking for a specific website? Or are they searching because they want to buy something?
Those are the questions you always have to ask yourself when planning your content. Consider the following 4 types of user search purposes:
- Purpose of information: True to its name, people may be seeking information on a particular topic.
- Navigation purpose: People want to visit a specific website by entering keywords into the search engine.
- Commercial purpose: People want to buy something and are researching it before buying.
- Purpose of transaction: People are seeking to buy something after having made a commercial search above.
Find out what search purpose your website can apply to and try to answer those goals by giving people what they want.
STEP 4. BUILDING THE DESTINATIONS
The next step towards a long-term keyword strategy is to create quality landing pages. In the past, every keyword you targeted had to have a separate landing page. Today, however, search engines have become much “smarter”. They primarily use the user’s search intent to provide the best answers. Websites that answer those questions will rank higher. Search engines also understand the slight differences between keywords, so you do not have to create landing pages for all keywords that are not too different. You can simply optimize one page for multiple keywords, synonyms and related keywords.
Create an overview
Your website should be built in the best possible structure. Using Support Tools like Excel or Google Docs / Sheets is a great way to do this. Create a table and add your keyword list. Using this table will force you to set up a clearly structured landing page and related keywords. Put the search term into the first column and add columns for different levels of your site structure.
Create a landing page (landing page)
Then you need to create landing pages for your search keywords. But you do not need to create all these pages right away – that could be a long-term plan.
The more specific your search keywords are, the deeper your site structure and the more keyword-related your landing pages. The most important keywords must lead to your focus posts. These are the keywords you want them to definitely rank for. To do this, create the best possible content about that keyword – valuable, reliable and comprehensive, like the ultimate guide you are reading here. All of your backend posts will link to this central content. This is an important part of the internal link strategy that you should have.
After completing keyword research for SEO, you should have a clear overview of the keywords that people use and the keywords you want the pages on your website to be found. This overview will give you the direction to write content on the website.
LONG-TERM KEYWORD STRATEGIES
Any website should not rely on a single word or keyword phrase to attract traffic. You should use your goals as a starting point, then take the three steps I came up to carry out proper keyword research and work towards a solid foundation: a keyword strategy. In this ultimate tip, the following I will explain why having a long-term keyword strategy is important.
HOW MANY KEYWORDS?
I can’t give you the exact number of keywords you should have, but I can tell you that you need as many keywords – as much as you can. (Of course, more than 1000 keywords are a bit too much!)
Even if you run a small business, you should still use up to a few hundred keywords. But there is no need to create separate pages for all these words immediately. The great thing about having a Content Management System (CMS) like WordPress is that you can add content little by little. Think about which keywords you want to rank right now and which ones are not so important right now. Get your keywords prioritized and start building your content.
THE TEMPORARY KEYWORD RESEARCH STRATEGY
In an ideal world, you just need to do keyword research, create a keyword table and create landing pages for each word. Your website structure is perfect. You will blog and write every day. Your website will rank higher and higher in Google results. Unfortunately, in the real world, everything is not so simple like that.
Of course, your keyword research will not always need to be too broad. And some posts or articles do not need to be written in depth. You can just write simple content, but the content you write must be a new or hot topic, or something that inspires you to write it. That is how short-term strategies work. But this is not a problem.
If you are writing something that does not fit your strategy completely, this does not mean you should not try to rank it. You can still use it to rank for related keywords in your strategic keyword list. Use tools like Google Trends to choose the keywords you want to rank. At least take the time to think about how to fit your blog or blog into a strategy. After all, if what you write is valuable content, you will get high rankings on search engines!
THE IMPORTANCE OF STRATEGIC KEY WORDS (LONG TAIL KEYWORD)
Focusing on long keywords is definitely an important part of the long-term keyword research strategy that you should have. Long keywords are words or keyword phrases that are more specific (and often longer) than other popular keywords – often called head keywords. Long keywords receive less search traffic, but will often have higher conversion value, because they focus more on a specific product or topic.
Read more: Long Tail Keyword: Research How to Use the Long Tail Pro Tool
How intense is your competition level?
Whether you are trying to rank for long keywords or popular keywords, it all depends on the intensity of your competition. If your competitor is ranking high in a narrow audience, you will have difficulty ranking the competitive keyword. Conversely, if you have less competition, you can even rank first for your keywords. So, how do you identify your competitors? What should you look for? There will be two strategies:
- Use Google and analyze your competitors
- Test, evaluate and try again.
GOOGLE AND COMPETITION ANALYSIS
Try Google keywords that are outside your keyword research list. First start with popular keywords. Use the most common. Check the search engine results page (SERP). These are the sites you will be competing against when you optimize your content for such a keyword. To check if you can compete with sites on that results page, analyze the following:
- Are these professional websites? Is the website of a company or not? Ask yourself if you are “on par” with these companies. Is your website “submerged” between these websites? Does your company have the size and impact they have in your target market?
- Does SERP display popular brands? Competing with strong brand sites will make it harder for you to rank. If those brands are popular on television, your chances of ranking are even smaller.
- What about the content on these websites? Will the content be quality and well optimized? How long will the articles last on the website? If your competitors’ content is poor quality, you will have a greater chance to improve your rankings!
- Are the terms you are targeting being advertised in Google? What is the cost per click in Google Adwords? Search keywords with high cost-per-click advertising are often harder to rank for in organic search results.
A SIMPLE QUESTION
All of the above questions highlight a single question: How to increase search rankings compared to other websites in the SERP? If you have the same size and marketing budget as others: be confident and focus on popular keywords. If not: try longer and more detailed keywords.
The next step is to do the same analysis but for slightly longer keywords. Longer and more specific search keywords will generate less traffic, but ranking on those terms will be much easier. Focusing on a bunch of long keywords already combined can attract a lot of traffic. Once you have ranked for these long keywords, targeting popular keywords will be somewhat easier.
TESTING, RATING AND RETRYING
After you’ve carefully analyzed the opportunities to rank for a particular keyword, the next step is to write a great article and optimize that keyword accordingly. Make sure you attract some good backlinks. And wait, wait a minute. Please check your rankings. Is your article standing out? Is it in the first page of Google search results pages? Or is it being hidden on page 2 or 3? Make sure you rate your article in the SERP. Self-Google keywords that you have optimized in your posts. Check to see if your SEO work is effective or not!
If you can’t rank on the first page, try writing another article, focusing on longer keywords. Make your keywords more specific, more detailed. And see the result. Reevaluate again. Continue this process until you appear on the first page of search results!
COPYRIGHT AND RELATED KEYWORDS
Synonyms are direct replacements for your keywords, while related keywords are words and concepts that are not direct replacements but rather expand and deepen the concept of your focus keywords. By using synonyms and related keywords in your content, you get a complete picture of the key words in your article. Remember, do not use your focus keyword multiple times.
KEY WORDS: LESS OR MORE?
Should you target the singular or plural keywords? This depends on the query. Because Google has changed to capture the purpose of users to search for queries, better guess what you are looking for. For example, if you search for “books”, the results you get will be a little different than “books.” It seems that Google thinks in the first case you are looking for a definition or some stories. In the latter case, Google believes you are looking for a book to buy. So, make sure you know what you are offering on your site and make sure it matches users’ queries and the results that Google provides for those queries.
CONCLUSION OF KEYWORDS FOR SEO
Keyword research should be the first step for any sustainable SEO strategy. The result of this process will be a long list of keywords you want to target. But the hardest part is still ahead: writing content for all those keywords. You should write articles for each keyword you want to be found. That is really a challenge!