How to Do Keyword Research for Small Businesses in 7 Steps
As a small business owner, you've likely heard how important it is to rank well in search engines like Google for relevant keywords related to your products or services. But how do you actually find those valuable keywords to target? The process is called keyword research, and it's a critical first step for any effective SEO strategy.
Thorough keyword research allows you to understand exactly how your prospective customers are searching, so you can optimize your website and content to show up when they're looking online. It provides a foundational roadmap for your SEO efforts.
Without proper keyword research, you'll likely be shooting in the dark and wasting time optimizing for the wrong terms that no one is actually searching for. Miss out on those prime keyword opportunities and you're missing out on free organic traffic and sales.
To help you get started, here are 7 steps for conducting comprehensive keyword research tailored for small businesses:
Step 1: Define Your Products/Services
Before you start looking for keywords, make sure you clearly define what you offer. Pinpoint your core products/services and start brainstorming lists of relevant terms customers might use when searching.
Step 2: Understand Search Intent
When searching, customers exhibit different types of intent behind their keywords. Some searches are informational (e.g. "how to start a business"), while others have more commercial intent (e.g. "small business loan providers").
Identifying the intent is crucial, because you'll want to target different keyword types throughout the marketing funnel based on the searcher's intent.
Step 3: Use Keyword Research Tools
There are a number of useful tools, both free and paid, for generating extensive keyword ideas and estimates around search volumes and competition levels. Some of the most popular include:
Start plugging your preliminary lists into these tools to see actual search data and discover new keyword variations you may be missing.
Step 4: Study Related Search Terms
Pay close attention to the "related" keywords that are suggested based on your initial seed terms. These can provide great additional long-tail keyword opportunities that are highly-relevant and laser-focused for your specific offerings.
Step 5: Analyze the Competition
Part of good keyword research is understanding the competitive landscape. Look at the strength of the pages and domains currently ranking for your target keywords so you can gauge difficulty. You may find some opportunities where the competition is beatable with the right optimizations.
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Step 6: Prioritize with Metrics
At this point, you'll likely have a hefty list of potential keyword targets. To prioritize where to start, look at factors like:
Weigh all these factors to determine your initial list of focus keywords to go after.
Step 7: Monitor and Adapt
Keyword research isn't a set-it-and-forget-it thing. Search behaviors are constantly shifting, so you'll need to continuously monitor performance and search trends. Adjust your target keywords accordingly and start building out new content to maintain relevance.
Small Business Keyword Research in Action To illustrate this process, let's say you own a painting company that specializes in interior and exterior residential painting in Richmond, Virginia.
Some of your initial seed keyword lists might include general terms like:
But those keywords alone are quite broad, so your keyword research tools will help you identify longer-tail opportunities like:
You'll notice those phrases are much more specific to your geographic area and highly-targeted painting services. Ranking for these long-tail terms will result in more qualified leads for your local painting business.
Moving Forward with Focused SEO Once you've conducted thorough keyword research like this and have a prioritized list of targets, the next step is to methodically build out your website and content strategy around those terms.
This includes things like:
Each of those individual tactics is its own can of worms related to SEO best practices. But they'll all be far more impactful when you have a solid keyword research foundation in place first.
The bottom line is — keyword research isn't just a nice-to-have, it's an essential requirement for driving SEO success as a small business. You have to truly understand how people are searching for your products or services online.
By investing the time upfront into this process, you'll be able to ensure all your ongoing optimizations are targeting terms that will reach the right audience. In turn, you'll amplify your online visibility and ability to generate new leads and sales through organic search.
So don't skip over this critical step! Follow the 7 steps above to conduct your own thorough keyword research tailored specifically for your small business's offerings.
Empowering advice! ?? Remember, aligning keywords with user intent opens the door to discovery. As Confucius once suggested, our greatest glory isn't in never falling, but in rising every time we fall. Keep refining that #SEOstrategy for continuous growth! #smallbusinessgrowth ??
SEO Analyst | WordPress Developer | SEO Coach | Local SEO Expert
1 年Spot on! Keyword research is the foundation of any strong SEO strategy. Love your breakdown of the 7-step process, especially the emphasis on understanding search intent.