There are many different ways in which to research keywords to use for your websites. Keyword research is one of the highest return SEO activities and in this day and age it is usually essential for a company or business’ marketing campaigns and websites to succeed. This is why it is such an important aspect of SEO to know if you are to succeed. Here is a guide on the best ways to find relevant keywords for you that will pull in your targeted audience.

Keyword Research Tools

There are plenty of keyword research tools out there that you can choose from. While most of them are useful, not all of them may work for you and with some of these tools, you may find that they are lacking in analytics or details. Nevertheless, here are a few keyword research tools we think you may find useful:

Google Trends

This is probably the first thing you might think of when thinking of doing keyword research. With Google being the most popular search engine by a longshot they naturally have a large selection of keyword analytics that you will be able to see and learn from. Google Trends uses charts to visualise how search trends change over time. If you enter a keyword you can see its popularity over the past 12 months in all regions of the world.

Keywords Everywhere

This tool is a free addon for Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox and is probably in use by almost every agency or individual who knows anything about SEO. What this nifty little tool does is add search volume, cost per click (CPC) and competition data to all your searches. Essentially, when you search something with this addon enabled a new bar will appear on the right of your screen which shows all the keywords used based on what you searched and its relevance to it with all the data stated earlier highlighted. It also displays search volume and estimated cost per click under the search box for the search term you just entered. Keywords everywhere has a bunch of options so definitely check it out

SECockpit

This tool works like any other keyword research tool as in you enter a keyword and it will give you a list of results. The difference between this and other similar tools is that it includes in-built features that allow you to get in-depth information on search trends, estimated traffic and competition. This tool is designed for people who know what they are doing when it comes to SEO and while it can be used and understood by most novices it is best to leave this one to the professionals. The downside to this tool is it is not free.

SEMrush

SEMrush is a very good platform that can be used for extensive keyword research as well as many other features that will help you along the way as a Digital Marketing:

• Social Media scheduling and posting
• Extensive Keyword Research
• Help with Advertisement wording
• Keyword and Backlink gap analysis
• White label reporting
• Backlink analysis
• Link building tracking
• Guest post tracking
• Brand Mention tracking
• Google Search Console integration
• SEO writing assistant which scans all top ranking URLs for a keywords and helps you create better content

SEMrush includes features such as extended information on the value for organic and paid research for each keyword. This means you will be given the CPC, volume, number of results, trend and any ad copies for the term you have searched. Using SEMrush will allow you to see your competitors and how they use each keyword. You’ll also be able to analyse the data for both desktop and mobile index. Although SEMrush does have options to see backlinks and even try claim some for yourself, it doesnt offer the best inbusiness as the links are sometimes outdated unlike AHrefs which is the best in this category. If you want anything else then SEMrush is by far the better tool.

Intent – Conversion Optimisation

The first thing you should do when researching keywords to use is to completely understand what your goals are and what services/products you will be providing to your customers. You need to do this to ensure that you have the best idea of what keywords would be useful and which will pull in your targeted audience and ensure that they have the best chance of receiving what they want from you. Put yourself in their shoes, think of possible things they might type in to the Internet and choose words from these sentences. This is because people usually type sentences or questions into the search bar depending on what they need. For example, somebody who is in need of a dentist will probably search something like “where to get wisdom teeth removed?” or somebody looking for clothes may type “cheap clothes for sale”. You could also include the name of your company or your location(s) so if anyone is looking for something in a specific area or is specifically searching you they will be directed to you faster. Once you understand exactly what you need and who your target audience is, it is a good idea to make a list of possible keywords that might be used by your customers and potential customers so that you can check through the list and choose the words that are the right fit for your business. This is where keyword tools can come in very handy as you can search and see the analytics.

After you have a clear idea of what you need and you have a list of keywords it is time for you to look into something called search intent. This is essentially what the main intent of your customers is when they are searching for a service or product. You need to understand what kind of content you are providing and thus you should think about the intent your customers will have when searching. There are four main types of intent which are:

• Informational intent – this is intent to find information on a specific topic.
• Navigational intent – this is intent to find a specific website or service.
• Commercial intent – this is intent to find a product/service and research about it before purchasing sometime soon.
• Transactional intent – this is intent that usually follows on from commercial intent where a customer will research about an item/service. This is the step where that research pays off and they then purchase the item/service.

Once you understand the intent and you have the right keywords in mind it is now time to start creating landing pages. Landing pages are usually a long-term strategy so don’t go creating loads at once, just pace yourself and make them as you go along and when you learn new places to implement them. The most important keywords you have will be used to lead to content you most want to rank for whereas the more specific your search term is, the further down in your site structure is where the landing page for that keyword belongs. To make sure this happens, you should make the content for this specific keyword as good as possible and you should be thorough and authoritative. Once you have completed your keyword research you should be clear on what terms people use and the terms you want the pages to be found for.

Now you should have everything you need to start your keyword research and pull in the audience you want for the searches you want to be found for. Remember, your website(s) should not rely on a single keyword and there should be plenty thrown into the mix as long as they are relevant and synonyms of each keyword should be included too because not everybody’s vocabulary will be the same. Also, keep adding to your keywords when you find out new information and new searches your customers are finding you for.