Best SEO Keyword Research Strategies that Increase Website Organic Search Traffic and Visibility
Best SEO Keyword Research Strategies that Increase Website Organic Search Traffic and Visibility
The 2023 Complete Beginner's Guide for Businesses and Content Creators
Table of Contents
“Does my business have a market online and who is searching for my product, service, or content?” Great question. Let’s do some keyword research.
SEO keyword research can uncover what phrases your customers use to look for businesses similar to yours in search engines. A higher ranking of relevant keywords creates a better probability of your website appearing in customers’ search results.
What is SEO Keyword Research
Keyword research is the core of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and an integral part of digital marketing success. It is an essential strategy that drives organic traffic along with SEO content marketing.
How Does SEO Keyword Research Improve Search Engine Optimization?
Keyword research increases the visibility of a website, and it paints an accurate picture of what potential customers are looking for online that relates to your business. If your website captures more of this search traffic, you can gain more opportunities to convert potential leads into sales.
Top 3 Benefits of SEO Keyword Research
- Reveals valuable data about market demands and trends.
- Uncover how many people are looking for your products and services through keyword search volume.
- Identifies winning phrases to optimize website content for better SEO ranking.
How to Pick the Right Keywords to Improve SEO
The objective of keyword research is to identify the most profitable keywords with the highest conversion rate and lowest cost of acquisition. Use keyword research tools to uncover lucrative keywords in opportunistic niche markets that help your website win search rankings.
SEO Keyword Value and Analytics Data
Not every keyword has equal value in terms of boosting SEO efforts. There can be keywords that are unique to your business that a generic search does not account for.
Example of SEO Keyword Value
For instance, an industry-specific long-tail keyword like “espresso coffee machine with bean grinder” may generate more engagement than a keyword like “coffee machine.” Even though the keyword “coffee machine” can have significantly more search volume than the long-tail phrase “espresso coffee machine with bean grinder.”
How to Uncover SEO Long Tail Keywords
Generic Keywords are a good starting point to refine keyword research and help you discover more opportunistic long-tail keywords.
Example of How to Uncover SEO Long Tail Keywords from Generic Keywords
Continuing from the example above, you can uncover industry-specific long-tail keywords by starting with highly search generic keywords:
- Coffee machine.
- Espresso coffee machine.
- Espresso coffee machine with bean grinder.
- All-in-one espresso coffee machine with bean grinder and milk frother.
The Importance of Analytic Based SEO Keyword Research
Keyword research tools can tell you each key term’s search volume, rank its competitiveness, and identify similar phrases. However, it cannot determine the relevancy of each keyword specific to your business and your customer’s search query.
This is when your website’s analytics data come to play. Keyword research should always be based on analytics to yield the most accurate results tailored to your unique business needs and be effective in scaling revenue long term.
Improve Search Engine Optimization with SEO Keyword Research Strategy
There’s no one-size-fits-all solution to keyword research because every business is different. It takes time and the right approach to develop a list of high-search volume keywords that work specifically for your target audience and business needs.
Here let’s discuss in detail proper keyword research in five easy-to-follow steps.
How to Do SEO Keyword Research in 5 Steps
Step #1: Brainstorm SEO Keyword List
This is probably one of the oldest tricks in the book, but it works. Start your search by making the most educated guesses on phrases best describe your products and services. Come up with broader categories first. Then fill in each category with appropriate keywords that are most relevant to your webpage content.
Check Google Related Keywords for New Ideas
Use Google related keywords section to get ideas when you are stuck. Check the related keywords section at the footer of every Google search result page. It tells you what other suggested keywords are related to a particular search query. For more keyword ideas, click on each suggested phrase Google provides and look for their related terms.
Also, look for keyword data from Google Search Console. It effectively identifies the keywords prospects or customers use to look up your products or services.
Step #2: Investigate Competitor Keyword Rankings with SEO Keyword Research Tool
Once you curate a workable keyword list, it’s time to assess where you stand against the competition. Use advanced keyword research tools like Semrush to check your keywords’ ranking against similar websites in the same niche.
Semrush
Best for SEO Marketing-
Discover all the best keywords to target and bring traffic to a website through Semrush keyword research tool.
-
Audit webpages and suggest ideas to improve landing page health and SEO performance.
-
Optimize a website for local searches to increase local customer traffic.
-
Track daily changes of keywords important to marketing.
-
Find unexploited opportunities to strengthen website backlink profile.
-
Uncover all the keywords and content in competitors' SEO strategies.
Uncover New Market Shares with Competitor SEO Keyword Mining
SEO keyword research tools reveal a website’s top competitors, their best keywords, and website visibility changes. They also highlight strengths and weaknesses in your organic search, paid search, and backlinks compared to similar websites. Results are presented in visual charts to help you better understand and identify the areas where your website needs improvement.
This is an effective strategy to gauge keyword competitiveness and determine your ranking within the industry. At the same time, it identifies keywords you are missing out on that the competitors are ranking for. Use this information to reevaluate current keyword strategy and capture new market shares with unexplored long-tail keywords to open up more opportunities.
Step #3: Evaluate SEO Head Terms Versus SEO Long Tail Keywords
A healthy keyword strategy involves both head terms and long-tail keywords. Let’s take a look at their differences.
SEO Head Terms Versus SEO Long Tail Keywords
- Head terms refer to popular or the most searched keywords.
- Long-tail keywords are extended phrases that typically yield lower search volume but provide a more precise intent behind the searched term.
What are Head Terms
Head terms are usually broad and generic terms used in search and are typically highly competitive. They tend to have higher frequencies of being searched and are traditionally more challenging to rank.
Example of an SEO Head Term
Try searching for the word “car” in Google. There are about 12 billion webpages that want to rank for the keyword “car”.
How to Incorporate SEO Head Terms in Content
While the competition is intense, you don’t need to avoid head terms altogether. Instead, incorporate head terms into long-tail key phrases, and make these trophy terms part of your long-term ranking goal.
As your website grows in authority, ranking for these head terms becomes more manageable and can benefit long-term SEO efforts.
What are Long Tail Keywords
Long-tail keywords are longer phrases containing keywords that provide a more precise intent behind the search. They may have lower search volume but can yield a higher conversion rate and provide better opportunities for higher ranking in niche markets.
Example of an SEO Long Tail Keyword
Going back to the “car” example, there are so many car-related terms, it is almost impossible for search engines to find exact matches from the overwhelming 12 billion results.
Instead, try expanding the search term from “car” to “affordable 2022 electric car sedan” as an example.
How to Incorporate SEO Head Terms in Content
As visitors search phrases similar to the long-tail keywords your website ranks for, there is a higher probability of conversion. Especially when the long-tail keyword closely matches the user’s intent behind a search query.
Long-tail keywords can be lucrative search gold mines that improve click-through rate and increases organic traffic in the long run. So take the time to research them in your niche.
Step #4: Refine the SEO Keyword List
Once you have a preliminary group of keywords to work with, narrow that list down with keyword research tool to a more finite group. Focus on keywords relevant to your business that drive sales or leads, adding value to the overall SEO strategy.
Keep this in mind as you work through the keyword list. Long-tail keywords may have lower search volume but can be more lucrative by having apparent intent behind the search words. Broader head terms may be competitive but are necessary for long-term keyword ranking goals.
A good tip is to assign a value to each keyword and continue testing until you have identified a list of the most relevant keywords that brings the most organic traffic to your website.
Step #5: Strategize SEO Keywords Around Content
In SEO, keyword research and content optimization go hand in hand. The purpose of creating a keyword strategy is to make content more searchable and to increase organic traffic.
Here are two strategies to naturally optimize content with the right amount of keywords that improve search ranking.
Top 2 SEO Keyword Strategies to Optimize Content
Strategy 1: Leverage Top-Trending SEO Keywords to Outline New Content
Leverage free tools like Google Trends to identify current trending keywords related to your business as the basis for new content. This strategy opens more opportunities to uncover new markets to which you yet have exposure to. Then use keyword research tools like Semrush to expand the list of keywords you can win relating to the trending topic.
Strategy 2: SEO Keyword Optimize Title, Headings, and ALT Tags
Place keywords in titles, paragraph headings, Meta descriptions, and image ALT tags allows keywords to flow in the content naturally. Learn more about using H headings, Meta descriptions, and ALT tags in our technical SEO lesson.
Example of SEO Keyword Optimization in Title, Headings, and ALT Tags
For example, create an image ALT tag with keywords in the image file name so that search engines can index it.
In addition, it is a good idea to optimize H1 (title heading) and H2 (paragraph) headings with keywords, or include them in the call-to-action elements.
Continue the Learning Journey with StatusFocus Digital Marketing Academy
Get the latest digital marketing strategy playbook to create practical, actionable, and programmatic marketing campaigns that drives positive business outcomes. You can tailor these effective strategies to boost brand authority, increase online visibility and generate quality demand for your business.
Master the fundamentals of digital marketing, including SEO, SEM, and social media marketing, for free with StatusFocus Digital Market Academy. Learn how to successfully drive long-term digital marketing campaigns and create predictable lead generation for your business website, e-commerce store, or content platform.
New to this? We can help! Our digital marketing lessons are built specifically for beginners with guiding real-world examples. Best of all, zero technical or marketing experience is required to get started.
Follow us on LinkedIn to stay updated on the latest digital marketing news, tips, and free content.
Join the StatusFocus Free Digital Marketing Academy Newsletter
Disclaimer: Statusfocus.com is committed to keeping its information transparent, accurate, and up-to-date. Sometimes, this information may be different than the information you find on the specific product or service provider’s website. All information, tools, products, and services on this website are presented without warranty. For more information, visit our Terms of Use. Statusfocus.com uses cookies. For more information, visit our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy.
Disclosure: Statusfocus.com may be compensated through third-party advertisers. However, the information on this website is based on our best knowledge and the most objective research and analysis. For more information, visit our Advertiser Disclosure.