How to do Keyword Research?
Abdul Basith
Senior Instructional Designer | SaaS & CRM Documentation | Training Manuals & Technical Writing
Struggling with keyword research? Check our proven strategies to find high-value keywords that drive traffic and boost your website ranking.
Effective keyword research is the foundation of a winning SEO strategy. Choosing the right keyword helps you attract qualified organic traffic, improve rankings, and boost conversions.
Our detailed guide will walk you through the latest tips, tools, and techniques for optimising your keyword research and leveraging it to dominate search results.
Importance of Keyword Research in SEO
In today’s increasingly competitive digital landscape, keyword research is more crucial than ever for SEO success. 83% of organic clicks go to the top 5 search results, so appearing on that first page for your target keywords is important.?
Websites ranking at the top have likely conducted extensive keyword research and optimised their pages accordingly. Thorough keyword research provides insights that allow you to:
Step-by-Step Keyword Research Process
Follow this comprehensive process to extract maximum value from your keyword research:
Identify Seed Keywords Start by coming up with a list of core “seed keywords” that are relevant to your business. These should be 2-3 word keyword phrases that summarise your main offerings, products or services. For example, a dog food company may have these seed keywords:
Seed keywords serve as the basis for discovering longer-tail variations using keyword research tools.
Perform Competitive Analysis Leverage keyword research tools like Ahrefs and Semrush to analyse what keywords your competitors rank for. Start by identifying their top-ranking pages in organic search and the terms those pages target.
Look for keyword gaps – opportunities where they don’t fully rank for all relevant long tail variations. You can then create content focusing on those open gaps where you can outrank competitors.
Generate Long Tail Keyword Ideas Use the seed keywords you gathered to find longer, more specific long tail versions that are easier to rank for. For example, long tail keywords for “dog food” could be:
Long tail keywords typically have:
Prioritise long tail keywords with at least 500 monthly searches and under 80 Keyword Difficulty in your toolset.
Analyse Keyword Metrics Dig into essential keyword metrics before deciding which ones to target:
Filter for keywords with sufficient search volume and manageable difficulty. Give priority to ones with higher CPC.
Analyse Search Intent Figure out the search intent for your keywords using tools like Ubersuggest. Intent can be:
Match your keywords to pages that satisfy user search intent. For example, use transactional keywords on product or pricing pages.
Organise Keywords into Topic Clusters Group related keywords into logical topic clusters or pillars. This forms the outline for your site’s information architecture. For example, the dog food company could have these clusters:
Creating organised keyword clusters also helps search engines better understand your overall site structure.
Track Keyword Performance Continuously track how your target keywords perform after you optimise for them. Tools like Semrush Rank Tracking and Google Search Console provide data on:
Leveraging Long-Tail Keywords for SEO Success
Long-tail keywords are more specific, multi-word phrases like “healthy homemade dog treats“.
They offer huge Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) benefits compared to short, generic keywords:
Follow these tips to maximise your usage of long tail keywords:
For local SEO, don’t just focus on broad keywords like “London plumber“. Target longer, localised long tails too.
Benefits of local long-tail keywords:
? Hyper-targeted relevance – connect with local searchers specific intents
? Lower competition – rank locally for niche long tails competitors miss
? Increase rankings potential – more opportunities to rank different keywords
? Geo-modified optimisation – tailor pages for different cities, zips, neighbourhoods
For example as a London plumber target:
Mine keyword tools for these localised long tail gems hiding in plain sight that will draw targeted, converting traffic.
How to do Keyword Research?
Optimising for keyword intent, clusters, and long-tails arms you with the latest tactics to win search rankings and traffic. But creativity and insight separate SEO experts from amateurs.
Simply put, keyword research is step one for any successful SEO campaign. It provides the data-driven insights you need to optimise your pages and win the search rankings battle.
Step 1 - Keyword Research Tools: Your Keys to SEO Insights
The best place to start your keyword research journey is equipping yourself with the right set of tools.?
Here are the top 3 keyword research tools we recommend based on in-depth testing and client results over the years:
1. Ahrefs
Ahrefs offers one of the largest databases of keywords thanks to its incredibly vast crawl of the web. Some standout features include:
Ahrefs is our top choice for in-depth organic keyword research and tracking competition.
2. Semrush
Semrush is another robust keyword research platform we often utilise. Key features include:
Semrush excels at providing strategic keyword data tailored to different stages of the SEO process.
3. Google Keyword Planner
While not as powerful as paid tools, Google’s free Keyword Planner deserves a spot in every SEO specialist’s toolkit. Benefits include:
Use Keyword Planner for initial research before diving deeper with paid tools. The data directly from Google provides helpful insights.
Armed with a combination of these keyword research tools, you can extract the rich insights needed to build an effective SEO strategy.
Real-World Example: Keyword Research for an Plumbing Company
Here’s an example of how we utilised keyword research tools for a client – an plumbing company providing plumbing and heating services around the United Kingdom.
The process above yielded hundreds of highly relevant, low competition keywords that became the foundation of the client’s SEO strategy and content calendar for the year. Traffic and revenue increased as we used this keyword research to optimise their site and go after previously untapped terms. How about a free consultation call to help your website rank at the top?
Now let’s move onto the next critical phase – analysing the competitiveness of your keyword list.
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Step 2 - Assessing Keyword Competitiveness
Whole point of ranking #1 in Google is to attract visitors more effectively than the pages currently ranking on the first page.
That’s why analysing the existing keyword competition is crucial.
Here are 3 tips for gauging competitiveness:
Research the existing top 10 results for each keyword
Evaluate the authority and quality of current top ranking domains. Ask:
Use Metrics like Keyword Difficulty and Search Volume
Tools like Semrush and Ahrefs calculate unique difficulty and search volume metrics.
Check Google Keyword Planner for Competition Levels
Filter Google Keyword Planner results by low, medium or high competition to identify “easy wins“.
Pro Tip: Don’t just look at 1st page results – also analyse pages ranking in positions 11-30. Getting onto page 1 only requires outranking enough of those sites.
Real-World Example: Competitor Analysis for a Law Firm
We recently conducted an SEO competitor analysis for a law firm trying to rank for keywords like “personal injury attorney” in their city.
Here were the key findings:
Based on this competitiveness analysis, we determined strong potential to grab the top spots with an optimisation strategy tailored to ranking intent and search volume. Do you want to grow your website traffic as well? Then Contact Us Now for free consultation.
Doing this analysis will allow you to set realistic expectations for potential keyword rankings. Now let’s look at an advanced tactic – analysing search intent.
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Step 3 - Digging Into Searcher Intent
SEO ultimately comes down to one key factor: Does your content satisfy the users search intent for a given keyword?
That’s why making search intent analysis an integral part of your keyword research process is crucial.
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Start by categorising your keywords by the four key types of search intent:
Informational Keywords
The searcher wants to discover information about something.
Examples: “how to lose weight“, “keto diet explained“
Optimise for EAT by creating comprehensive, well-researched guides. Include statistics, expert perspectives, studies etc.
Navigational Keywords
The searcher wants to find a specific website, brand or product.
Examples: “amazon.com“, “coca cola website“
Focus on technical SEO and brand-building to become the authority site searchers think of.
Commercial Keywords
The searcher intends to purchase something.
Examples: “buy laptop online“, “men’s running shoes“
Tailor the content to each stage of the purchase funnel – awareness, consideration, decision.
Transactional Keywords
The searcher wants to complete an online transaction.
Examples: “order pizza online“, “book airline tickets“
Make conversion easy by optimising pages with online ordering capabilities and clear calls-to-action.
Analysing search intent will clarify the type of content you need to create and optimise for each keyword.
You can leverage tools like Google itself to infer searcher intent. Pay attention to:
Armed with search intent insights, you can craft content that aligns with each keyword’s unique intent to effectively satisfy searcher needs.
Moving forward, we need to discuss the crucial tactic of analysing the SERPs themselves…
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Step 4 - SERP Analysis for Keyword Opportunities
One of the most powerful yet underutilised areas of keyword research is analysing the pages currently ranking in search results.
Specifically, conducting an in-depth analysis of:
We recommend thoroughly analysing at least the top 5-10 results for your target keywords.
Use a spreadsheet to capture key factors like:
Look for common patterns across the top-ranking pages for a keyword:
Identify any major gaps where you could create niche content and optimise it to surpass the current results. For example, creating a comprehensive step-by-step guide for an “how to” search if top results only have short articles.
The insights gained from SERP analysis inform practical optimisation decisions for your own pages to help them outrank current results.
Now let’s move onto our last step – tracking keyword performance.
Step 5 - Continual Keyword Performance Tracking
The work doesn’t stop once you identify your initial list of keyword targets. Ongoing monitoring of your keyword performance is crucial for staying ahead of the constant fluctuations in SEO. Here are 3 key metrics to track for each target keyword:
Ranking Positions
Monitor your current ranking position in search engines on a weekly basis.
Click Volume
Estimate how much search traffic and clicks each keyword drives.
Conversion Rate
For transactional keywords, analyse the conversion rate from organic traffic.
Regularly revisiting these metrics will guide investment of resources into the keywords driving the most impact.
Actionable Tips for Leveraging Keyword Optimisation
Now that you’ve conducted thorough keyword research, it’s time to optimise your pages for those high-value target keywords.
Here are actionable tips and strategies for effective keyword optimisation:
Your title tag and H1 header should contain your primary keyword. Use primary and secondary keywords in H2 and H3 headers to reinforce relevance.
?? DO use your target phrase in the page title.
? AVOID over-optimisation with multiple forced keyword mentions.
Seamlessly weave target keywords into your content in a natural, conversational way. Aim for a 1-2% keyword density.
?? DO use keywords where relevant without forcing them unnaturally.
? AVOID excessive repetition like a keyword stuffing robot.
Include keywords in image file names, alt text, title tags, captions, and surrounding content.
?? DO ensure images include main and supporting keywords where logical.
? AVOID keyword stuffing image attributes just for SEO purposes.
If possible, include keywords in your page URL slugs. This signals relevance to search engines.
?? DO incorporate highly relevant keywords in URLs.
? AVOID long, convoluted URLs with multiple keywords.
Meta descriptions don’t impact rankings but optimise them with keywords to improve click-through-rates.
?? DO feature primary and secondary keywords in meta description.
? AVOID just copying and pasting keywords without good meta copy.
Incorporate relevant long-tail keyword variations in content for increased semantic value.
?? DO strategically use long-tail keywords where appropriate.
? AVOID excessive long-tail keyword density that reads unnaturally.
This structured optimisation helps search engines grasp your content’s relevance for each keyword, while creating value for users.
Monitor keyword rankings regularly and re-optimise pages as needed based on the latest search results data.
How to Conduct Competitor Keyword Research
One of the best ways to find profitable, easy-to-rank-for SEO keywords is researching what your competitors target.
Analysing competitors’ keywords reveals:
? Gaps in their keyword targeting – optimise for those opportunities they miss.
? Over-optimised pages – outperform pages they’ve over-optimised.
? Keyword targeting patterns – emulate what works well for them.
Key Role of PPC Keyword Research
While SEO and PPC pursue different goals, PPC keyword research provides useful insights for SEO as well.
Benefits of analysing PPC keyword data for SEO include:
In short, incorporating PPC keyword data gives a more well-rounded view of your SEO opportunities.
While this guide covers keyword research comprehensively, there are always new tactics emerging. To stay ahead:
With these steps, your SEO-driven business will reap the benefits of thoroughly researching and targeting the most valuable keywords over the long term.
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