The first step in creating a successful SEO campaign is keyword research. It’s the bread and butter of online digital marketing and must be included at the top of your priority list.

There’s no doubt that keyword research is something you’ve read about a lot if you’re learning SEO and digital marketing and I am sure you always want to know about that what is keyword research, what are its importance, history and process . Your content cannot survive in this huge online market without proper keyword research, because every time someone searches on Google, Bing etc, they are using keywords. In this first section of our SEO guide we will explain you that what is keyword Research and why they need your full attention.

What is Keyword Research?

Finding out which terms and phrases your target audience uses to look for websites and answers to questions on search engines is a process known as keyword research. A keyword might be a single word or can be a phrase, but it can also be a question or a full statement. For Example:-

Here “Best Computer” keyword is short word

And here, “Best computer to buy in 2022” is a long phrase keyword

Finding common words and phrases users enter into search engines is a vital SEO chore that entails learning how to undertake keyword research. You can tailor your content to such extent where you will start getting huge traffic. This is only possible when you are aware of what people look for. Keyword research gives marketers a better idea of ​​how much demand there is for certain keywords and how difficult it would be to compete for those searched keyword in organic search results.

Why Keyword Research is so important?

Now you understand that what is keyword research, so you have to gain some knowledge about its importance also. Keyword research is very effective in providing a valuable insight into the, problems, solutions and questions your target audience is searching for. Successful SEO means targeting the right keyword by utilizing his most effective research.

You can achieve organic traffic to your website by optimizing your website and by creating content for the right keywords. Most of the traffic will be ready to convert because they searched for your specific keyword and your effective keyword research improved the ranking of your website in search engines, which in return encourage them to visit your website because your website suited their needs.

SEO is most vital branch of marketing because it helps in connecting the targeted audience to your site. As we discussed earlier, organic searches are the only channel which can bring consistent and reliable long term traffic.

There are many benefits of conducting keyword research, the most popular of which are:

The history of keyword research

In 2005, SEOs began performing keyword research for algorithms. Since then, keyword research has evolved significantly. Search engines now prioritize well-written content aligned with search intent when ranking content. Keyword density is no longer the most important factor in SEO. In response to ever-changing search engine algorithms, keyword research tactics have adopted.

Usually, keyword research is the initial stage of any campaigns and helpful in providing a base for future projects, content and campaigns. If you are writing new content, naming your product features or optimizing your website, keyword research can help you come up with ideas.

Keyword research strategies differ from small business to enterprise, but we’ll cover all types of best practices to help you find the right keywords for your audience at the right time.

After getting the answer of what is keyword research and its vital role with history now lets understand what are the process of doing keyword research?

Process of keyword research

Now that you have an understanding of keyword research, its history and familiarized yourself with some of its most important concepts and terms. You are now ready to begin identifying the keywords you should be targeting for increasing your website audience.

 

1. Create a list of wide topics related to your topic

In the very first step, you generally have to note down the collection of keywords in spreadsheet on which you wish to rank for. In case you blog regularly, you may already have some regular topics that relate to product categories or whatever you believe your target audience would be interested in.

Try to make this list short and simple, with 6 to 12 topics at most. While making a list imagine yourself as a buyer or user looking for a service or product.

A website that sells fitness and health products might include keyword:

• Gym Products
• Healthy lifestyle
• Fitness technique
• Pure health supplement
• Healthy food
• Athlete instruments

2. Now expand each one of your selected topic into a phrase

Now, it’s time to identify the phrases and terms which your target audience might type into the search engine to locate products, Information and services.

Consider the organic search traffic bucket in your website analytics software, such as Google analytics to identify keywords that consumers are already using to find your website. The purpose of this list is not to provide a definitive list of keywords, but to brainstorm for data points to help you focus your research more efficiently and effectively.

Similar examples like above discussed category of “fitness and health” niche. You might list:

• 100% pure health supplement
• Muscle building exercise
• FDA approved organic health products.
• How to get rid of body extra fat.
• Healthy food recipe for 6 month old baby

Add a list of phrase keyword under each general category to your spreadsheet and ask your co-worker or employees for ideas, especially those who deal with customers.

3. Understanding what is Keyword Research and its similar search terms.

There are lots of creative ways from where you can find similar keyword searches.

• In Google, search a keyword phrase and scroll to the bottom to see related search phrases.
• You can dive deeper by clicking on one of the related searches and trying the suggested searches at the bottom of that page.
• Using AnswerTHEPublic, you can conduct up to three free searches per day. It shows a list of phrases related to your topic that people are searching for.
• In addition to Google Keyword Planner, you can use one of the paid tools listed below to find out what other relevant terms people use with your keyword phrase.

4. Check the strength of your keyword

In order to accomplish this next step, you’ll need keyword planner or a premium keyword research tool. Semrush, ahrefs, wordtracker and ubersuggest are among the top. Ubersuggest and wordtracker had limited free versions you can use to start.

You should analyze your keywords based on these factors:

• Make sure your keyword phrase matches the exact search term people use.
• When it comes to keyword phrases, it’s important to pay attention to the volume of searches. If no one uses the phrase, it’s pointless to build a strategy around it.
• Using the paid tools, you can compare the competition for paid ads versus organic search. You want a high search volume with low organic search competition.
• Consider related terms with low organic search competition and high search volume that you may have missed.

Marketing Trend Insight

Gaining knowledge about what is keyword research alone is not sufficient without knowing marketing trend insight. In addition to providing insights into current marketing trends, effective keyword research can help you center your content on relevant topics and keywords your audience is searching for. Only Google Trends offers insights based on actual Google search data.

For creating keyword strategies for promoting websites, these seven tips on how to use Google Trends will help you extract accurate keyword trends.

Uncover hidden insights and keyword volume data using Google Trends.

Value of Google Trends and how to use if for SEO

Even though Google Trends is accurate, it does not show the actual amount of traffic.

Despite the fact that paid SEO tools provide keyword search volume estimates, those numbers are extrapolated from data sources.

The data presented by Google Trends is based on actual search query volumes, not estimates of keyword traffic provided by paid SEO tools.

Even so, Google Trends shouldn’t be regarded as superior to paid keyword tools. Paid keyword tools can be used in combination with Google Trends to determine how popular a particular keyword really is.  Let’s see how Google Trends Work.

• Comparing Keywords can give you accurate data

The Google Trends tool provides a visual representation of traffic on a scale from 0 to 100.

The graph is on a relative scale so it is impossible to know if the trend represents hundreds or thousands of keyword searches. This is mainly useful if you know the amount of audience traffic from another keyword phrase.

• Identify audience insights by comparing keywords over time

Keyword data can be analyzed in two ways: over longer and shorter periods of time. Long period trends are most important so we will discuss here about only long period trend.

In Google Trends, you can view traffic trends stretching back to 2004, which is useful for identifying audience trends.

Long-Term Trends Upward: It means trends line is moving upward and this is perfect keyword and time to focus on creating content.

Long-Term Trends Downward: It means trends lines are going downward and it is indication that audience are consuming content differently.

• Massive traffic can be generated by short-term trends

For capitalizing on rapidly changing search trends, it is useful to examine keyword trends on a short-term basis, such as 90-day or even 30- day views.

In Google Discover as well as Google News, there is a lot of traffic. While Google Discover is less sensitive to trending topics than Google News, being on top of current interests is super helpful for grabbing a huge amount of traffic right now through Google Discover and Google News.

If you know what days of the week the interest spikes on a given topic, you can plan when to publish certain topics so the content is right there when the audience searches

• Keywords by Category

Using Google Trends, you can narrow down your keywords according to categories for more accurate results. By using the categories tab, you can refine your keyword research to the right context.

If the keyword context for your keyword is automobiles, then you should refine Google Trends to display only the data relevant to automobiles.

Google Trends data can be narrowed by category to find more accurate information related to the topics you are researching.

• What is Keyword Research data by Geography

It is possible to tailor content to specific regions by using the keyword information from Google Trends by geographic location.

When certain kinds of products are popular in Washington D.C. and Texas, it makes sense to target localized content and promotional activity.

The information about keyword popularity by region is useful for link building, content promotion, content creation and pay-per-click campaigns.

Including geographic nuance in your content can help it rank for the most people, since Google ranks pages according to who they are most relevant for. Particularly if they promote your content on blogs, social media and podcast.