What keywords will get the best results? And how do I find them?

Keyword research is one most important steps in a B2B SEO campaign.

And to be honest…

It’s useful for any B2B marketing campaign or activity.

Imagine being able to see all of the phrases potential customers are searching for to cure their pain points and find companies like yours.

Not only that…

To be able to see the average number of times those phrases have been searched on Google each month.

Amazing insights! And that is what keyword research tells you.

But search volume is only one aspect, what actually makes a good keyword to target?

In this article, I explain what the best keywords to target are. And then show you three ways to find them.

But first, keyword topics over keywords

Let’s take a step back. And stop thinking of individual keywords but keyword topics.

When you look at one individual keyword, for example:

• carbon offset scheme (100 searches a month)

You miss the overall opportunity of the topic:

• carbon offset scheme? (100 searches)
• carbon offset schemes? (100 searches)
• carbon offsetting scheme? (100 searches)
• carbon offsetting schemes? (100 searches)
• offsetting carbon scheme? (100 searches)
• offsetting carbon schemes? (100 searches)
• carbon offset scheme UK? (100 searches)
• carbon offset schemes UK? (100 searches)

= a total of 800 searches a month.

If the search intent behind the keyword is the same, group keywords into topics. The above example could be grouped as one, “carbon offset scheme”, for a UK-based company.

So, what makes a good keyword topic?

In short, the dream situation would be…

• High search volume (or a known customer pain point)
• Highly relevant (to your business and goals)
• Low difficulty (low competition in search results)

That would be a dream keyword topic!

But it rarely ever happens like this. The second best would be:

• High search volume (or a known customer pain point)
• Highly relevant (to your business and goals)

The keyword topic may be competitive and hard to rank for, but it is still worth the investment in the long run to target it.

Two words of warning…

Firstly, what makes a keyword good for one business, doesn’t make it good for another.

Your ICP (or personas), and your offering, will influence what makes a “good” keyword for you.

Secondly, think twice before you write off a keyword for low search volume.

Check out this amazing video on the topic of zero-volume keywords to see why you shouldn’t ignore them:

How to find keywords... for your product/services

In this section, we’ll run through how to find keywords for your product or service.

These are bottom-of-the-funnel keywords, to target product-aware users. In short, people who are looking to buy.

Method 01. Keyword-first

This method works for broader topics that you dig down into. You add a keyword directly to a tool and then go down the rabbit hole!

In this video, I run through it in more detail:

1. Take a broad keyword topic from your seed list (e.g. “cybersecurity”)
2. Add it directly to the Keyword Explorer tool in Ahrefs
3. Explore sub-topics related to you (e.g. “cybersecurity for banks”)
4. Add this subtopic to your seed list and explore it further

Method 02. Search results

This works best with specific topics. In short, put a keyword into Google and then find all of the keywords the topic ranking URL ranks for.

In this video, I run through it in more detail:

1. Take a keyword topic from your seed list
2. Type it into Google
3. Copy the top result’s URL (not the featured snippet)
4. Paste this URL into Ahrefs (in video) or SEMrush

How to find keywords... for your content

This step will let you find keywords to then produce content for your website. This is an essential step for B2B companies.

How would I do this? Steal your competitor’s keywords, of course!

I’d recommend all B2B companies do this research. It’s a great way to uncover the keywords your competitors are ranking for.

You can then use this information to inform your own content strategy. However, don’t just follow it blindly. Some of the topics they rank for may not be relevant to your target user.

In this video, I run through how to steal your competitor’s content keywords:

In summary

Keywords are one of the most important ingredients of the B2B SEO recipe. And targeting the wrong keywords will lead you down the wrong path.

Follow the above steps to keep you on the right track. It will help you find out what the best keywords to target are and how to find them.

And remember, a good keyword topic will be:

• High search volume (or a known customer pain point)
• Highly relevant (to your business and goals)
• Low difficulty (low competition in search results)

Any questions, leave a comment below.

---

Pssst... want more B2B marketing goodness?

For those of you that don't know me, I'm Steve and I run a B2B marketing agency.

Optimising websites for B2B companies so they can attract high-value customers.

If that sounds like something you want, here are two ways I can help you:

(1) Daily tips

Connect with me on LinkedIn, where I post daily tips for B2B marketers. And you can subscribe to this newsletter where I go in-depth on a different topic every two weeks. We also have a weekly live show as well.

(2) Book a free B2B Website Quality Audit

Looking to move faster?

You can book a B2B Website Quality Audit with me using the link below.

It's quick, free, and I'll help you figure out what's restricting your website from generating more leads and show you what's possible in the next 90 days.

You can book that here.

And finally, if you have any questions for me, please send me a DM and I'll get back to you asap.

Thanks for being part of the journey!

Steve