Keyword research for SEO beginners
Good keyword research is one of the cornerstones of your SEO strategy. It will help you:
Identify what search words and phrases your potential clients or customers are using
Decide which keywords to target, based on search volume, competition and intent
Understand the level of demand for your product or service
Structure a content strategy that will help you maximise traffic to your site from organic search
What is keyword research, why should you do it and where do you even start?
Every single online search starts with a keyword, question or phrase typed into a search bar. If you want more of the right people on your website, you need to get inside the minds of your customers and figure out what they are searching for and why. This will help you:
Target the right audience
Raise awareness of your brand, service or product
Increase relevant traffic to your website
Grow your business
Step 1: Create a list of topics
Step one of your keyword research is to think about some general topics that you would like to write about and be found for. If you are a nutritional therapist, there’s no point in getting found by people who are looking for a car mechanic (duh). In case it’s not obvious, your topics should be:
Broadly aligned to your business
Relate to problems you know or suspect are common among your potential clients
Areas in which you have expertise to share that is valuable
For example, because I build websites and help business owners to optimise their website for search traffic, my topic list looks something like this:
Web design
Squarespace
SEO
Step 2: Make a list of keywords relevant to each topic
For each of your topics, make a list of keywords you think your clients might use if they are interested in that specific topic. To use one of mine as an example, keywords and phrases for the Squarespace topic might include:
Squarespace vs WordPress
Squarespace and SEO
Squarespace for ecommerce
What Squarespace plan do I need
How to do XYZ in Squarespace
These are all potentially valuable keywords for me to target because:
I can write substantial, useful, and helpful content that would answer questions or solve a problem for users searching for these key phrases
The content would match by business goals – one of which is to sell Squarespace websites
Need help coming up with your initial list of keywords?
Open a new Google window, type in one of your search topics, and pay attention to the predictive suggestions Google brings up as you type
Look at the ‘people also asked’ section – which will show you some common long-tail keywords
Use tools like the Google Keyword Planner, Google Trends and Answer the Public
Step 3. Evaluate and prioritise your keywords
Once you have a list for each of your topics, you can start to evaluate and prioritise the ones you most want to rank for (i.e. the ones that are most likely to deliver value to your business).
There are three keys ways to evaluate and prioritise:
Intent
Check searcher intent, to make sure that the content you might create for these search words will satisfy the needs of the searcher (if it doesn’t, you simply won’t rank well). Google’s goal is to show users the most relevant results for their search query, and understanding the ‘intent’ of their search query is how they do this. For example, a search that includes words like ‘buy’ or ‘deal’ would indicate a desire to purchase, or commercial intent. A search query starting with the phrases ‘how to’ indicates a desire to learn something or acquire a specific piece of information. A search with the phrase ‘near me’ indicates the searcher wants a local service, which could be a shop, a restaurant, a massage therapist, anything with a physical location. Here’s the key thing to know - Google’s algorithm is REALLY GOOD at showing searchers the most relevant content related to their query and intent. So for any keyword or phrase you are thinking of targeting – do a search for that phrase in Google and look at what results are on the first page. If you search for ‘Mexican food’ and all the results are restaurants, then Google has figured out that people searching for ‘Mexican food’ are looking for restaurants – and there’s very little point in you targeting that term if your plan is to write about the history of Mexican cuisine, or provide a load of recipes for Mexican dishes.
Competition
Find out how much competition your chosen keywords and phrases have, and how strong that competition is - and therefore how likely it is that you will be able to rank. Keyword research tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush and Ubersuggest will help you evaluate this – most include something like a ‘difficulty score’ or ‘difficulty rating’ that indicates how easy or hard it will be for the keywords in your list.
Search Volume
Look at search volume - how many people are actually using your chosen search terms (in other words, how big the demand and traffic potential is). The same tools mentioned above will show you how many searches are carried out on a specific keyword every month – so you can prioritise accordingly. But one important point to have in mind here… generic or broad keywords will usually have a much higher search volume than specific, or long-tail keywords. However, the latter may be a better option to go for because they will typically have less competition, AND because they are so specific they generally convert better. Consider a searcher looking for a ‘nutrition therapist’ vs one looking for a ‘nutrition therapist specialising in weight loss’. Fewer people may be searching for the latter, but those people are clearer on what they actually want, and therefore much more likely to book an appointment.
You’re ready to go!
I hope this has demystified the world of keyword research for you! To summarise, the best keywords for you to target will take into account your audience, how relevant the keywords are, the competition and the volume of search. The sweet spot you are aiming for is relevant keywords with a decent volume and for which you have a solid chance of ranking. More often than not, long-tail keywords will sit right in that sweet spot.
And don’t forget – you can revisit and tweak your list over time. As your site gains more authority, your ability to rank for more difficult terms will improve.
