The first thing you need to do is preliminary keyword research. This involves using keyword research tools to find a large number of keywords that you would potentially want to target for your niche. By now, you should have already chosen a niche. You just need to gather a list of keywords that you can use to get traffic from various sources such as search engines or pay-per-click marketing.
Let’s say you have chosen the niche of acne. You are targeting people who have acne and want to get rid of it desperately. You would probably want to start with basic keywords like “acne” and “pimples”.
You will get keywords like:
Get rid of acne
How to make acne disappear
Get rid of a pimple
I use Google’s keyword research tool for this:
http://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
This tool is free and returns result directly from Google’s internal database of searches conducted by internet users. While no keyword research tool is 100% accurate, Google’s data is probably the most accurate you will find.
Google will give you about 100 keywords. You can then dig deeper by taking some of the keywords it returns and using them as starting keywords to find more. If you are creating a small niche site, you can focus on a handful of keywords. In this case, the 100 keywords you originally found may be enough. If you want to create a large authority site, you will potentially need thousands of keywords. To do this, you will need to keep digging, using some of the keywords you found as additional seeds. Once you have a list of keywords, you need to analyze them. Not all keywords are necessarily the ones you want to focus on for SEO purposes. Some of them do not have enough traffic to be worth it, and others have too much competition to give you a reasonable chance of ranking.
In the next section, you will learn how to analyze your keywords to determine which ones you should focus on.
Evaluating Keyword Research
You should never tackle a list of keywords without first analyzing the traffic and competition. It is a waste of time and resources to focus on keywords that are too competitive or that are not searched enough.
There is a specific “formula” that I use to determine which keywords I want to focus on:
At least 1,000 monthly searches
No more than 30,000 pages in Google “in quotes”.
No more than 10,000 results for “allintitle”.
When you get your list of keywords from the Google Keyword Research Tool, it roughly tells you how many searches are made each month for each phrase. Generally, I do not use keywords that receive less than 1,000 searches per month because they usually do not bring enough traffic to justify the effort.
Next, you need to evaluate the competition. You need to make sure you are targeting phrases that you have a good chance of ranking for, otherwise you are wasting your time as you probably won’t be able to rank on the first page if the competition is too strong. Evaluating the competition is a two-step process. First, you need to determine how many people are using each keyword phrase on their pages. To do this, enter the keyword phrase into Google in quotes. This will tell you how many other pages contain that exact phrase. As you can see in the image above, the phrase “keyword in quotes” is used on about 6,090 other pages. This means you will have a hard time ranking on the first page for this phrase.
Next, you need to see how strong those other competitors are. Google and other search engines generally give a lot of weight to words that appear in the HTML document title. So, you need to see how many of those pages also use the phrase in their title.
To do this, simply enter the following command in Google: allintitle:”keyword in quotes”.
As you can see in this image, only 3 pages have the phrase “keyword in quotes” in their title. This is good news if you want to rank for this phrase, as it means you will almost certainly be able to rank on the first page for this phrase if you use it in your title. After using all the keyword phrases that you have found and that meet the main criteria, you can expand and use other keywords. Stick to those that meet the criteria at the beginning, as you will quickly get better rankings, which will allow you to start seeing traffic and revenue faster.
There are automated tools that make keyword research easier, but you will need to invest some money if you want to use them. For example, Market Samurai makes finding and evaluating keywords very fast and easy, but it is expensive.
Keyword research is a critical step in developing an effective digital marketing strategy. By understanding what keywords your target audience is searching for, you can optimize your website, content, and advertising campaigns to reach those users and drive traffic to your site.
To begin your keyword research, start by selecting a niche or topic that you want to target. Once you have your niche, use keyword research tools such as Google’s Keyword Planner or SEMrush to identify potential keywords that you could target.
It’s important to look for keywords with a good balance of search volume and competition. Generally, you should aim for keywords that have a high search volume but low competition. However, it’s also essential to consider the intent behind each keyword and make sure that it aligns with the goals of your website or campaign.
Once you have a list of potential keywords, it’s time to evaluate them further. Look at the search volume and competition for each keyword, as well as the relevance to your niche and the user intent behind the search. Eliminate any keywords that don’t meet your criteria, and focus on the ones that have the most potential.
Finally, it’s worth noting that there are automated tools that can make keyword research easier, such as Market Samurai, but these tools often come with a price tag. However, investing in these tools can save you time and effort in the long run, and help you find the most effective keywords to target.
