19 Mar How to Do Keyword Research
How to Do Keyword Research
Keyword Researching is Made Easier Using Online Tools
All Internet marketers recognize that despite the ongoing changes in algorithms by Google and other major search engines, keywords remain a vital part of Best SEO Practices. How keywords are researched and used has changed though.
Keyword stuffing is now considered a “black hat” practice, and publishers that use this technique will be severely downgraded or not indexed at all. Nevertheless, using the right research methods and tactics for keyword research will help publishers and writers immensely in maximizing SEO.
What is Keyword Research?
Keyword research is discovering which phrases and words people use on search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo and more) when they are searching for knowledge. Research on keywords generally takes in a summary for each keyword that includes the number of times people search for that keyword by volume and related competitiveness of the search terms.
Beginners Mistakes
Those new to keyword research are likely to make the same mistakes – only running one keyword search, failing to update and enlarge their keyword list for SEO, and using keywords that are way too competitive as they are too popular.
Internet marketers need to do ongoing keyword research to divest of keywords that are no longer capturing users, to learn what competitive keywords, known as “head” keywords can be replaced with – especially “long-tailed” keywords.
Long tailed keywords are more of a phrase or modified keyword. For example, imagine you sell comforters for beds. The keyword “comforter” is highly competitive, and though it may bring lots of people, very few will click through to an order. But, if you use a long-tail phrase such as hypoallergenic, hand-sewn luxury comforters at an affordable price, chances are that you will not attract as much traffic, but the traffic you do get are more likely to convert as you have exactly what they are looking for.
One other important thing, using long-tail keywords makes good financial sense as the cost per click is lower than that for more popular search words because there is less competition for the long-tail phrase.
How to Do Keyword Research
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Start your brainstorming by making a list of words and phrases and use a keyword worksheet where you record what you believe that people who want what you sell would use as a search term. This is an inexact science, most lists begin with what the company marketing team thinks are the right ones that customers for your company’s goods or services might use in a search. Nevertheless, brainstorming is important as a foundation even for the most sophisticated “optimizer.” Your list should use stems such as “How can I,” “How do I,’ and also use local modifiers such “Sacramento, CA” or “Folsom, CA.” Other words to consider are ‘Secret ways to,” “free” and “magic tips to.”
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This step requires a tool such as Google’s Keyword Planner or Keyword Tool. These and other similar free tools all work in a similar fashion. You enter a keyword and it tells you how popular it is as a search term. With long-tail words and phrases, Keyword Tool found 290 results for the search term “keyword research” many of them are used in this article. Certainly, not all of them are suited for your company’s use, but the phrase, “use a keyword worksheet” could work well with if included in Step 1 of this article section – wait it is right there above!
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Every keyword tool worth having gives you a long list, the Google tool calls this Keyword ideas. These ideas are the actual keyword, searchers looking for your goods and services used in their search. They are priceless in helping Internet marketers build and perfect your keyword list.
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The returns from the tools are so large they make you giddy. It is imperative that you always use keywords that accurately describe the content you provide. The keywords you use should be relevant to the content on your landing page.
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How often a particular keyword or keyword phrase was used in a search is important to your decision making about which keywords you choose. A keyword of a keyword phrase immediately tells you two things. First, it lets you know that the product or service is in high demand or that information about is eagerly sought. The second thing is that at the time you ran your keyword search these keywords and phrases are the exact search terms potential customers use to find additional information about the goods and services you provide.
One other tool to consider in your brainstorming session is the online thesaurus. It is free and quick. Remember, keyword research is research that takes time to do properly. Once the research is complete, optimize your landing pages to take advantage of keywords that will bring customers to your site. Keep your content unique, informative and relevant to the keywords. Check your stats, and if they are good, make the process monthly. If your site sees no improvement in traffic and conversion you may need help.
Contact Webociti
Need help for keyword research in order to get better results from your Internet marketing? Call Webociti at 678-892-7157. For other methods of reaching out visit our contact page.