Keyword research is the first and foremost step in writing SEO-friendly content. Before you proceed with the content that the audience would like to click on, you must know what they want and which words or phrases they use to search for what they want. If you do keyword searches and fit them naturally in your content, people will easily find your pages by searching with those keywords, and your website will get much more organic traffic.
5 ways to get the high-performing keywords
To achieve high search engine rankings, you have to investigate keywords. Your targets may have a different mental image of the problem they are trying to solve from the solution you offer. This discrepancy makes investigating potential keywords essential. So, follow the tips below to get only the high-performing keywords.
Think critically
It is standard practice first to write down your hypotheses when conducting research using the scientific method. Then, think critically about the keywords, phrases, and questions you believe people use to find your business and services. These could be phrases associated with what you sell, your location, or questions about your expertise.
Suppose you’re a lawyer working in Texas. You must ask yourself, “what do people search for when they need a lawyer?” They may want to ask, “How do I challenge an unlawful arrest?” Another tactic they could use is conducting a location-targeted search for “lawyer near me.”
If you work with a team, you can put them to work by making them brainstorm on potential keywords. Teamwork enables variation of opinion. Having various perspectives and ideas makes keyword research more effective.
Make Google your partner
You must go beyond your and your team’s perspective by using Google. By paying keen attention to suggestions from Google, you can get a feel for how people use the search engine.
With Google, you will discover fascinating or unexpected suggestions. Furthermore, if you want a quick and easy way to see a specific search term’s popularity, Google Trends is your best bet.
You can monitor users’ behavior, compare and validate search volumes for various queries, and track a topic’s popularity cycle through the data from this tool. The resource is accessible, up-to-date, and without cost.
Using Google Trends is a breeze. When you search by keywords, you will get a graph with digits from 0 to 100. A score of 0 indicates zero search data, signifying a low search volume, and a score of 100 demonstrates the topic’s popularity. A higher score indicates a greater search volume for a keyword. Therefore, it is critical to pay attention to search terms that rank in the top 100.
Narrow down your findings
You need to narrow your options now that you have a good list of prospective terms. There should be about five main phrases and ten long-tail keywords. It’s important to use strategy while deciding on the primary keywords. On the other hand, there’s no need to make them excessively specific or too broad, as both would make ranking for the respective terms in search engines more challenging.
The focus of long-tail keywords is on context and meaning. Someone who searches for “Texas lawyer” on Google is probably not the same person who searches for “how to illegal arrest?” The second form of search, with a defined goal and issue, is the one you should aim for with long-tail keywords.
Make use of Google’s Keyword Tool
To further refine your list of search terms, you could input them into Google’s Keyword Planner. Check the popularity of the terms on your list and discover new phrases you hadn’t thought of. You may need to return to the drawing board if one of the phrases on your list is competitive.
Keyword research, however, is something that is constantly changing. So when you have settled on your final keywords, check back in with Google Search Console once a month to monitor their progress. If one of your keywords continues to underperform, you should switch it out for another.
Merge keywords with content
The chosen keywords should reflect in the content on your page. In a broader sense, you should ensure that the content you are putting out effectively reflects your keyword strategy.
Furthermore, like with any other aspect of marketing, there’s more to keyword research than simply choosing some search phrases. An efficient method will factor in your company’s long-term strategic goals and aid in achieving your organization’s overarching objectives.
If you take a systematic approach to keyword research, you’ll be able to discover the terms that will provide your business with the best chance of ranking.