COMPLETE GUIDE – HOW TO DO KEYWORD RESEARCH FOR SEO in 2021

Looking for the best keyword research for SEO right way? Want to learn how to find the perfect keywords to target? Not sure how to start and from where?

Well, there are plenty of questions related to keyword research, as it has an important role play in the SEO process. Not only that, it is more challenging as well.

As per the trend, the search process and techniques change continuously. So, the question now, is how do you create a secure and strong Keyword research process?

We completely understand this issue and that’s the reason, we bring you this How to do Keyword research – A complete guide to answering all the questions.

Well, the basic needs remain the same for the keyword research. But the techniques of doing is not the same.  So exactly,  how to do it?

We have covered some important topics and bring you the best tips and tricks as to how to do keyword research for SEO.

We have covered the following steps in this article:

  • What is Keyword Research
  • Why Keyword Research is important

How to Research Keywords for Your SEO Strategy

  • How to Find and select the perfect Keywords for Your Website
  • Advanced keyword research tips
  • Lots more

Therefore, if you want to increase your website ranking, then you will definitely love this guide.

Before moving on to the main topic let’s discuss something about Keyword research! like What is Keyword and Why it is important?

What Is Keyword Research?

Keyword research is the method of finding and analyzing the search phrases that are used by the people in the search engines with the aim of using them for a specific purpose in the process of search engine optimization(SEO).

Keyword research can display the queries to target, their rankings, and the popularity of these specific queries.

Why is Keyword Research Important?

Keyword research is very crucial as it helps you in better understanding the queries that your target audience actually searching on the Google search engine. After getting the basic idea and understanding of the queries you can start with the actual search terms. These search terms can help in the content strategy and the content strategy and the larger marketing strategy as well.

However, if you think that the keywords alone may be important for SEO. It’s actually not like that.

You all may have noticed that SEO has evolved in the last 10 years and some of the unimportant keywords have proved to rank well for the searches people do every day.

And to some extent, this is absolutely correct. In front of an SEO professional, it is no longer important to use the keywords that exactly match with the phrases people searching for.  Instead, the main thing is the intent behind that keyword. 

But, due to this, you may be thinking that keyword research is an outdated process. No, it’s not.

Let us explain:

There are many roles played by Keyword research. It tells about the specific topic people looking for, and with the assumption of implementing the right SEO tool from your side, it tells you whether these topics are relating to your audience.

The main operative term here is topics. By doing proper research of keywords that are getting a high ranking per month, you will be able to identify and sort out your content into required topics that you want to add as your content. Finally, you can use these particular topics to dictate which keywords you are targeting or looking for.

What are the steps to be followed regarding the Keywords Research for Your SEO Strategy?

We are here to lay out the proper keyword research process that can be helpful for you to follow and come up with the list that you have to target. In this way, you will be able to achieve and implement a powerful keyword strategy to help you in being found for the search terms that you are actually caring for.

Here are the steps to be followed for perfect Keyword Research:

Step 1: First thing is to make a list of the most relevant and important topics related to your business.
To kick-start, your strategy, find out the main topics that you actually want to rank as per the generic buckets. Now, you will have about 5-10 topics that are important as per your business requirements.

Then, these topics in your lists have to come up with specific keywords later on in your keyword research process.
In fact, for a regular blogger, these are probably the hot topics to be covered frequently. These topics are also included in most of the sales conversations as well.

Now, put yourself in the place of your buyers. Think about the topic you would add that your target audience may search for and your business to be found for?

You may cover some of the following general topics in your bucket lists:

● “inbound marketing” (20K)
● “blogging” (21K)
● “email marketing” (20K)
● “lead generation” (19K)
● “SEO” (200K)
● “social media marketing” (75K)
● “marketing analytics” (6K)
● “marketing automation” (8.2K)

The number you are seeing in the parenthesis is their monthly search volume. That’s their monthly search volume. This data allows you to display how these topics are important for the audience.

Along with this, you might also look for different sub-topics that can be helpful in creating content that becomes successful with that keyword.

Let’s move on to Step-2 to learn more about these sub-topics…

Step 2: Follow by filling these topics with certain keywords

Now, when you have the list of topics in your bucket that you need to focus on, it’s the right time to identify certain keywords that is to be filled up into those buckets.

These are usually the keyword phrases, that can be important for your business website to rank in SERPs (search engine results pages), as your target audience may search for those specific terms to find your site.

For instance, if we talk about the last topic bucket for an inbound marketing software company “marketing automation”, then we would definitely brainstorm some keyword phrases that we think people would type in related to that topic.

Those might include:

● Automation tools for marketing
● Lead nurturing
● Email marketing automation
● Top automation tools
● What is marketing automation?
● How to use marketing automation software?
● How to say, whether Marketing automation software is important for me or not?

The main aim of adding this step is not like coming to the conclusion of finalizing the list of keyword phrases. It is just to come up with the set of phrases that might be the keywords used by the potential customers to search for the content regarding the topics mentioned above.

We will be mentioning the list later in this article,k so that you will not face any kind of difficulty in keyword research for SEO.

Even though there are a large number of keywords that are encrypted by Google every day. There is another smart way to achieve the keyword ideas, is to find out which are the specific keywords for which your website is getting found.

You need a website analytics software like Google Analytics in order to achieve it.  Next, you can work on the website traffic sources and your website’s traffic sources, and refine the organic search with the help of the search traffic bucket so that you can identify the keywords that are most searched by the people.

Continue this process repeatedly for each topic you have on your list. Just to remind you if any issue bothers you while the relevant keyword searches to your customer-facing colleagues, who come from Sales or Service.

You can even communicate with them regarding what types of terms their customers and candidates are using or any such common questions. These are usually the perfect starting points for successful keyword research for SEO. 

Step 3: Analysing the effects of Intent in keyword research

We have already mentioned in the previous section that, user intent is one of the most important factors capable of ranking your website higher on the search engines like Google and other such websites.

Nowadays, it is necessary that your webs page addresses the issue that a searcher aims to solve, rather than simply carrying the keyword used by the searcher.

So, wondering how this affects the keyword research you perform? 

It’s simple and easy to get the hold of keywords for face value and unfortunately, keywords can have It’s easy to take keywords for face value, and unfortunately, keywords can have many other reasons below the surface.

For example, you are researching the keyword “ how to write a blog” for your article that you want to start with. Now, here “Blog” can have more than one meaning like blog website or blog post.

Moreover, the intent is important as the searcher’s intent is the thing that matters the most and influences the direction of your blog or article.  It can be anything like, “what does the searcher wants to learn about writing an individual blog post? Or else they just want to know about launching a new website domain for blogging purposes?

If your content strategy is like targeting the people interested for the latter purpose, you need to have an idea of the keyword’s intent before moving forward.

In order to verify the user’s intent in the keyword research, It will be better to simply enter this keyword into the search engine by yourself, and looking forward to the results.

You must remember one thing that the type of content that is related to Google and to what you would intent for creating the keyword that matches with Google.

Step 4: Research related search terms.

This is the most creative step you might already wish to include regarding keyword research. And nothing like that, then it is the best way to fill out the above lists.
If you facing any problem in getting more keywords that people might search about a particular topic, then you need to go through the related search terms while plugin the keyword in the Google search engine.

You will come to notice some suggestions for the particular searches related that you have originally used when you type any term and scroll down in the Google results. These keywords can be helpful in providing ideas for other keywords that you wish to take into consideration.

Step 5: Use keyword research tools in your favor

You can find various keyword research and SEO tools like SEMrush, Ubersuggest, and Ahrefs that can help you in providing better ideas regarding Keyword research.

Usually, these are based on the keywords and phrases that exactly match the basis of the ideas generated at this point. This process can offer you various alternatives that you might never consider.

How to Find and select the perfect Keywords for Your Website

Now, when you have an idea of keywords that you need to rank your website, it’s the correct time to filter your list based on the best strategy for keyword research for SEO.

Here are the steps that you can follow:

Step 1. Understand the three main factors to select the right keywords

Make sure to organize keywords for the following three things before picking the right keywords for your content to rank your website in SERPs:

1. Relevance

Well, Google usually ranks the content for relevance and this is exactly the concept from where the search intent comes in. Your content can only rank for a keyword if it fulfills the needs of the searcher.

Along with this, your content should be the best resource for the query out there. After all, why would Google even rank your website content higher if ‘s value is not more than the other content that exists on the internet?

2. Authority

Google provides more importance and priority to the sources that are authoritative. It means that you must follow certain things that can make you an authoritative source by enhancing your site with useful and informative content, which can be used later to earn backlinks and social links.

This will eventually result in ranking your content high in the search engines. It is very important to be seen as authoritative in the space, as to compete with heavy sources like Forbes and many more when a keyword’s SERPs are loaded with the heavy sources and you have less opportunity to rank high unless your content is exceptional.

3. Volume

You might get a high ranking on the first page for a particular keyword, but until no one is searching then, it cannot result in generating traffic to your site. It is something like setting up a shop in a ghost town where no one visits.

Volume is usually measured by MSV (monthly search volume), which refers to the number of times the particular keyword is being searched per month among all the audiences.

Step 2: Check for a combination of head terms and long-tail keywords

If you don’t have any idea what are exactly these long-tail keywords and head terms are, let us explain. Head terms are basically the keyword phrases that are very short and more generic and comprise one to three words maximum in length, according to whom you talk to.

On the other hand, Long-tail keywords are long keyword phrases that normally contain more than three words.

It’s very necessary to check that you have the combination of both the head terms and long-tail keywords, as it will help you in offering the perfect keyword research SEO strategy that is well-planned to win over long and short-term goals.

The reason behind this is, head terms are usually searched frequently making them quite competitive(not always but sometimes) and a little bit tough to rank high in the search engines than long-tail keywords.

 Just Think about it:

Which of the following terms according to you can be harder to rank without considering the search volume or any kind of difficulty will arise?

  1. How to write an attractive blog post?
  2. Blogging

If you think about the 2nd point ie, Blogging, then you are absolutely correct. But, no need to be disappointed. While head terms normally brag the most search volume, which means having the maximum capability in generating traffic, the main traffic you will achieve from the term “ How to start writing a blog post that seems more desirable”.

Why?

Here’s the reason!

Because someone who is searching for something that may be specifically more qualified for your service or product (assuming you are in the blogging area) than those who are searching for something more generic.

As the long-tail keywords are usually more specific and are even easier to inform about the people who are looking for those keywords, that are genuinely searching them.

For example, a person searching for the head term “blogging,” and at the same time might be searching it for, or a whole host of reasons that are not related to your business.

Therefore, look into your keyword lists to make sure you have the perfect combination of head terms and long-tail keywords. You might surely want to take the advantage that is offered by long-tail keywords,  but you should also try for a bit of more difficult head terms than that of the long one.

Step 3: Look for how competitors are ranking for these keywords.

It is really not mandatory to do because your competitors are doing it. Exactly the same is applicable for the keywords as well. A particular keyword that is important for your competitor may not be useful for you.

Although ruling out all these things, having a proper idea of which keywords your competitors are trying to rank is the best way to help you in making the lists of keywords. 

For certain keywords that you already have in your lists and your competitor is ranking well, then you must definitely improve the work progress to rank high for them as well. 

Moreover, do not ignore the keywords that seem unimportant to your competitors or they don’t care about. This can be a wonderful opportunity to rule the market industry on important terms as well.

Normally, having a better understanding of the terms that might be a little bit tough due to competition, than those terms which are more realistic, will surely help you in maintaining the balance between the combination of long-tail and head terms allow for.

Never forget that your main aim is to finalize the list of keywords that offer the benefits to help you make progress towards the bigger challenge of SEO strategy goals.

Now, you may be thinking of how to figure out what keywords your competitors are ranking for?

Apart from manually looking for the keywords in browser like incognito and find out the positions of your competitors are, SEO tool like Ahrefs allows you to run various free reports that can be helpful to show the top keywords for the specific domain you have entered.

This is the fastest way to have a proper idea of the terms that your competitors are ranking for.

Step 4: Make use of Google’s Keyword Planner to reduce your keyword list.

Now, that you have achieved a perfect mix of both the head terms and long-tail keywords, it’s time to cut down your keyword lists, with some more quantitative data. You can find various types of tools and methods to help you in this regard, but let us share with you some of our methodologies. 

We like to combine both Google Trends and Google’s Keyword Planner (you‘ll have to set up an Ads account to continue this, but before you pay for this, you can turn off your example ad ).

And in the case of Keyword Planner, you can achieve the search volume and estimated traffic for the keywords that you have considered. After that, grab all the information that you have gained through Keyword Planner and use Google Trends to fill the remaining space.

Once you are done with this method, use the keyword planner to indicate any of the terms on your list which have too much or too little search volume.  But one thing is for sure that, it does not help in maintaining a good combination as we have already mentioned before in this article.

But make sure to check out their history which is trending and projections in the Google trends, before deleting anything. You can also have a look at whether to invest in the keywords having low search volume which can be used later for other benefits.

Or else, besides this you are simply searching for particular lists of terms that are too tough and you need to cut it down to some extent. With the help of Google Trends, you can easily determine which are trending terms and are worth more to focus on.

Best Keywords for SEO

Well, it’s simple to understand that, there are no “best” keywords, which you might think are highly searched by your audience.  Now, keeping this in mind, you may design the best keyword strategy to help you rank high in search engines and drive more traffic.

The best keywords for your SEO strategy will have certain factors that are taken into accounts such as authority, account relevance, and volume. You need to find highly searched keywords in order to compete with reasonable terms and on the basis of the following :

  • The competition level that you are against. 
  • Your potential to provide content that is exceeding the quality and even ranking currently in the search engine.

And… You’re done!

Finally, after all your efforts you have achieved the list of keywords that is useful to focus on the correct topics for your business with the benefits of long-term and short-term gains.

You must re-evaluate these keywords in the interval of every few months, and, once a quarter is a good benchmark. But there are some businesses who wish to do it even more often.

The more you gain authority in the SERPs, you’ll come to know that you can add more keywords to your lists. It can lead to handling your work progress in maintaining your current position and taking to the top in new areas.

Let’s wrap up  everything

All the above-mentioned strategies are more than enough to understand the basic concepts of better keyword research for SEO and plan your content strategy accordingly.

If you want to know more about the online marketing strategies that can be effective for your business growth, then check our website and go through all the useful guides.  

Hope this article helps you to clear all your doubts and give a better and deeper understanding of the tools and metrics for keyword research for SEO available and how to use them.

For your valuable suggestions and advice feel free to contact us.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Partnership