If you are looking to improve your website’s ranking on search engine result pages (SERPs), then SEO keyword research is a critical first step. Keyword research helps you identify the search terms and phrases that people use to find information related to your business. By optimizing your website content around these keywords, you can improve your visibility on search engines and attract more organic traffic to your site.
In this comprehensive guide, we will walk you through the process of conducting SEO keyword research, from identifying relevant keywords to using those keywords to optimize your website content.
Identifying Relevant Keywords
The first step in SEO keyword research is to identify relevant keywords. These are the search terms and phrases that your target audience is using to find information related to your business. To identify relevant keywords, follow these steps:
Identify your target audience
Before you can identify relevant keywords, you need to know who your target audience is. Ask yourself: Who are my ideal customers? What are their demographics, interests, and behaviors? By understanding your target audience, you can better anticipate the search terms and phrases they are using to find information related to your business.
Brainstorm seed keywords: Once you have identified your target audience, brainstorm a list of seed keywords. These are the general terms and phrases that are related to your business. For example, if you run a yoga studio, your seed keywords might include “yoga,” “yoga classes,” “yoga studio,” and “yoga for beginners.”
Expand your list with keyword research tools:
To expand your list of keywords, use keyword research tools such as Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, SEMrush, and Moz Keyword Explorer. These tools can help you identify additional keywords that are related to your seed keywords and provide data on the search volume, competition, and CPC (cost per click) for each keyword.
Analyze your competitors:
Finally, analyze your competitors to see what keywords they are ranking for. This can provide valuable insights into the keywords that are driving traffic to their websites and can help you identify potential keyword opportunities for your own website.
Evaluating Keyword Difficulty
Once you have identified a list of potential keywords, the next step is to evaluate the keyword difficulty. Keyword difficulty refers to how difficult it is to rank for a particular keyword on search engine result pages (SERPs). To evaluate keyword difficulty, follow these steps:
Use keyword research tools:
Keyword research tools such as Ahrefs, SEMrush, and Moz Keyword Explorer provide a keyword difficulty score for each keyword. This score is based on factors such as the number of backlinks, domain authority. And page authority of the top-ranking pages for that keyword.
Analyze the top-ranking pages
Another way to evaluate keyword difficulty is to analyze the top-ranking pages for that keyword. Look at factors such as the quality and relevance of their content. The number of backlinks they have, and their domain and page authority. If the top-ranking pages have high-quality content and a large number of backlinks,. Then it may be difficult to rank for that keyword.
Consider your own website’s authority Finally, consider your own website’s authority. If your website has a low domain authority and page authority, then it may be difficult to rank for high-difficulty keywords. Instead, focus on targeting lower-difficulty keywords that are still relevant to your business.
