How can you learn what your target audience wants with keyword research?

1 Choose your keyword research tool

There are many keyword research tools available online, but not all of them are equally useful or reliable. Some of the most popular and trusted ones are Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, Moz, and Ahrefs. These tools can help you generate keyword ideas, analyze the search volume, difficulty, and competition for each keyword, and find related keywords and questions that your audience is asking. Depending on your budget and goals, you can choose the tool that suits you best.

2 Start with a seed keyword

A seed keyword is a broad and general term that describes your niche, industry, or topic. For example, if you are writing about web design, your seed keyword could be "web design". You can enter your seed keyword into your keyword research tool and see what results it shows. You will get a list of keywords that are related to your seed keyword, along with their metrics. You can also filter the results by location, language, device, and other criteria.

3 Narrow down your keyword list

The next step is to narrow down your keyword list and focus on the ones that are most relevant and profitable for your content. You can do this by looking at factors such as search intent, search volume, keyword difficulty, and keyword opportunity. Search intent refers to the goal or purpose behind a search query, and should match the intent of your target audience. Search volume indicates the average number of times a keyword is searched for per month, with too high meaning that it is very competitive and difficult to rank for, and too low meaning that it is not popular or relevant enough. Keyword difficulty is a score that indicates how hard it is to rank for a keyword on the first page of Google, while keyword opportunity is a score that indicates how much potential traffic you can get from a keyword if you rank on the first page of Google. Thus, you should aim to choose keywords with low to medium difficulty and high opportunity in order to drive traffic to your content.

4 Find long-tail keywords

Long-tail keywords are more specific and detailed phrases that contain three or more words. For example, "web design trends 2021" is a long-tail keyword, while "web design" is a short-tail keyword. Long-tail keywords are usually less competitive and more targeted than short-tail keywords. They can help you rank for niche topics, answer specific questions, and capture the attention of qualified leads. You can find long-tail keywords by using your keyword research tool, or by looking at the suggestions from Google autocomplete, related searches, and people also ask sections.

5 Analyze your competitors

Another way to learn what your target audience wants is to analyze your competitors' content and keywords. You can use your keyword research tool to find out what keywords they are ranking for, how much traffic they are getting, and what gaps or opportunities they are missing. You can also visit their websites and blogs and see what topics they are covering, what tone and style they are using, and what feedback they are getting from their audience. You can use this information to improve your own content, differentiate yourself from your competitors, and address the needs and pain points of your audience better.

6 Test and optimize your keywords

The final step is to test and optimize your keywords and content based on the results and feedback you get. You can use tools such as Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and Google Trends to monitor your traffic, rankings, conversions, and trends. You can also use tools such as Grammarly, Hemingway, and Yoast to check and improve your writing, readability, and SEO. You can also ask your audience for their opinions, suggestions, and questions through surveys, polls, comments, and social media. By testing and optimizing your keywords and content, you can learn what your target audience wants and deliver it to them.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?