If you are building a niche website, you need to do keyword research effectively. There are so many different keyword research tools, that it can be difficult to know which one you should use. Personally, I love Google Keyword Planner for SEO and Google Ads keyword research.
Once you have a tool you want to use, you will also need a specific niche for your website. For example, “dogs” would not be considered a niche, but “dog breeds” is a niche. Once you have that, you need to build a list of keywords. In the past, I would create a keyword list with thousands and thousands of keywords. My current strategy involves choosing a topic within my niche and building keywords based on that topic. For example, a topic within the niche of educational toys would be Montessori toys. Montessori Toys would be considered our short-tail keyword, our pillar, and our topic. Once we have a topic, we are ready to start building our keyword list. Focus on one topic at a time and focus on creating high-quality content for each long-tail keyword.
Niche Keyword Research Video Tutorial
You can watch my video on this topic below or on my YouTube channel. I go over a step-by-step process to show you how to find keywords for your niche website with ease.
1. Choosing Your Niche
To begin, let’s imagine you’re starting a brand-new niche website. If you have no idea what niche to choose, first write down a list of interests. Blogging can be boring for something you aren’t interested in. For example, I purchased a website about Floor Jacks and I abandoned it because I had no interest in writing about the topic.
Another great way to find inspiration is to explore websites for sale on platforms like Flippa. You can also look for websites that are using Mediavine by searching BuiltWith. These sites are dedicated to specific niches and they are usually driving traffic and revenue. If you’re interested in a specific topic, you can explore related websites for sale to get ideas.
Let’s imagine one of your interests is sewing – That’s the example we will use throughout this blog post.
2. Accessing the Google Keyword Planner
Now that you have your niche, your second step is to access the Google Keyword Planner, a tool that can help you find valuable keywords for free. You just need a Google Ads account to access it. Create a Google Ads account if you haven’t already. Once your account is set up, head to “Tools and Settings,” and under “Planning,” you’ll find the Keyword Planner. You can also search Google for the Google Keyword Planner and it will show up in the search results.
3. Selecting Your Initial Keywords
Let’s say you’ve decided on a sewing niche for your website. Your next step is to select some main keywords closely related to what you want to offer. Start broad with keywords like “sewing,” “embroidery,” “sewing machines,” and “embroidery machines.” These keywords will serve as your topics. What you can do is just start with a keyword like “sewing” for your initial keyword list.
4. Expanding Your Keyword List
Click “Get Results” to see what the Keyword Planner suggests for other relevant keywords. You will get a ton of ideas, but we need to narrow them down. In our sewing example, where I just entered the keyword “sewing” there are over 1,500 long-tail keyword ideas.
The other thing you want to look at is the search volume for your main keyword along with the historic search volume chart in Google Keyword Planner. The keyword “Sewing” shows over 2.5 million monthly searches for all of the keywords listed and over 60,000 searches per month for “sewing” alone. That means there is plenty of search volume.
5. Understanding Keyword Intent
As you look through each keyword, you need to understand search intent. Not every keyword will be a topical keyword or something you should target. For example, you may not want to target keywords that mention specific brands or stores. In addition, “seamstress” may be more about finding local services, but you can still create content around the topic if it’s an area of expertise for you.
6. Building Your Keyword List
Start by selecting some of the top keywords and gradually add more to your list. Focus on every relevant keyword that can become a topic for a helpful blog post. Make sure they align with your content strategy. Keep in mind, that you need to be able to create helpful content for any of the keywords you are targeting.
One thing that I will do is use a filter so I can stick to keywords based on my topic. You can use a filter that only shows keyword ideas related to your main topic, such as sewing. That will remove a lot of the unrelated long-tail keywords. You can also refine keywords to remove brand keywords and store keywords.
7. Excluding Irrelevant Keywords
While expanding your list, do not add any irrelevant keywords. For instance, “Embroidery Library” is a huge website, so it’s not a keyword you want to target. I mentioned it earlier, but you should avoid specific brands or businesses when you are creating your keyword list. Unless you are writing reviews about specific products, avoid those keywords altogether. Focus on keywords that line up with your niche and the types of content you will create.
8. Creating Content Around Keywords
With your keyword list in hand, it’s time to start creating content. You need to have a good understanding of what is currently ranking on Google for your chosen keywords. Analyze competitor pages and learn from them. Your goal is to provide the most valuable content that matches search intent. If someone is searching for “Sewing kits for adults” then you need to write about what comes in a sewing kit, how to find high-quality kits, and list the best sewing kits for adults for sale.
9. Using Filters for High-Value Keywords
To further refine your list, use filters to identify high-value keywords. Look for keywords with high top-of-page bids, as these are often linked to valuable, revenue-driving content. It can also show that those keywords are very competitive, so they may be more difficult to rank for immediately.
10. Use “People Also Ask” Questions and AnswerThePublic
Explore the “People Also Ask” section on Google for more keyword ideas. These questions can give you a lot of great ideas for content creation. Copy and paste relevant questions into your keyword list. Use the “People Also Ask” section as you are writing blog posts to find the keywords that people are searching for.
You can also utilize a tool like AnswerThePublic to find all sorts of long-tail keywords for a topic. For example, you can enter “sewing” and it will give you all of the most popular questions related to sewing.
11. Analyzing Competitor Websites
You should also research your competitor’s websites for keyword and content ideas. If a page is already ranking well for your target keywords, take note. You can also use the URL of competitor pages to discover related keywords in Google Keyword Planner.
12. Organizing Your Keyword Plan
Once you’ve selected all of the relevant keywords you want to target, add them to your keyword plan. Sometimes I will start with 100 keywords, but you can start with more than that. Organize your plan by grouping similar keywords together. This will be your list for content creation and topics.
13. Creating High-Quality Content
Creating quality and helpful content for your niche website is key. You need to spend a lot of time on the content you are creating if you want it to be high-quality. Use your keyword list as a guide to develop informative, engaging articles that cater to your audience’s needs. Each keyword can represent a topic, you need to understand the search intent for that topic and dominate it with a great piece of content.
14. Monitoring and Adapting Using Google Search Console
Keep an eye on your website’s performance in the search results. Understand what pages are driving the most traffic to your website and learn how you can replicate them for other topics. Monitor rankings and traffic for the keywords you are targeting. As you create more content and optimize existing pages, you’ll likely see improvements over time.
Conclusion
Niche keyword research is a crucial aspect of building a successful niche website. By following this strategy, you’ll be well-equipped to uncover valuable keywords and create content that resonates with your target audience. So, get started with your niche, create a relevant list of keywords using keyword research, build your website, and start creating content.
