When you get started with Search Engine Optimization, Google Ads, PPC Advertising, and Content Marketing, you can’t get started without keyword research. In the following article, you will learn everything you need to know about keyword research for SEO.
Keyword Research Tip: Always get started with keyword research for SEO. You should optimize your website for organic search and you can use the same pages as landing pages for Google Ads and other Paid Advertising Platforms.
Browse Our Keyword Research Tutorial:
- Keyword Research Video Tutorial
- How to do Keyword Research For SEO
- 10 Best Keyword Research Tools
- How to do Keyword Research for Google Ads
- How to do YouTube Keyword Research
- How to do Keyword Research For Blog Posts
- How to do Free Competitor Keyword Research
- How to Use ChatGPT for Keyword Research
- Common Keyword Research Questions
- Keyword Research Video Tutorial
- How to Do Keyword Research For SEO
- Find relevant keywords for your business and build a keyword list using keyword research tools.
- Use The Google Keyword Planner and Discover New Keywords
- Enter Your Top 10 Keywords
- Enter Your Website or a Competitors Website
- Download Keywords from Google Keyword Planner using Your Top 10 Keywords
- Download Keywords from Google Keyword Planner using a Website
- Combine Keyword Lists and Remove Duplicates
- Use Keywords Everywhere and Soovle to Find More Keywords
- Organize your keyword list into topics & subtopics that you can focus on.
- Understand search intent for your keywords & topics so you can solve for keyword search intent.
- Create & consistently improve website pages that solve search intent.
- Start with the most relevant keywords for your products and services.
- Use the most relevant keywords to find similar ideas.
- Understand how keywords can be linked to cover topics & suptopics comprehensively.
- Optimize your website’s content for your most relevant keywords.
- Focus on long-tail keywords because they are easier to rank for.
- 10 Best Keyword Research Tools
- Google Keyword Planner
- Keywords Everywhere
- Soovle
- Keyword Surfer
- SEMRush
- SpyFu
- Microsoft Advertising Keyword Planner
- Wordtracker
- KeywordTool.io
- UberSuggest
- How to do Keyword Research for Google Ads
- How to do YouTube Keyword Research
- How to do Keyword Research For Blog Posts
- How to do Free Competitor Keyword Research
- How to Use ChatGPT for Keyword Research
- Common Keyword Research Questions
Below, you will find our complete guide to keyword research, how it works, why it’s important, and how to get started. Whether you just created your new website, or you want to expand an existing website, researching keywords is vital to any business.
You can also watch the video directly on YouTube here.
What is Keyword Research?
Keyword research is the process of finding, organizing, and targeting the most important keywords for your business. Every time someone searches for something using a search engine like Google, they are entering a phrase, which is also known as a “Keyword” in Marketing. Keyword research involves finding what keywords people look up the most.
Generally, marketers use free and paid tools in order to find their top keywords.
Below, I listed a keyword search and some additional long-tail keywords by the free tool Keywords Everywhere.
What is Keyword Research Video Explanation
What are Marketing Keywords?
Marketing keywords or SEO keywords refer to a word or a phrase that people type into search engines like Google, YouTube, Bing, Yahoo and DuckDuckGo. Since people are searching using specific words, phrases, and sentences, they are referred to as keywords. Your potential customers are using search engines to find products, services, information, reviews, and even solutions to their problems. Marketers need to optimize their websites for the keywords that will drive them more business.
Below, I listed a picture of a keyword search in Google and some related keywords that Google gave me based on the search.
SEO keyword research is the process of identifying the most popular phrases and terms that people use to find your products or services. You can get started by listing the products you offer, the services you offer, and relevant topics for your business. Then, you can use free tools or paid tools to find even more targeted keywords, search volume, and even competition levels. Ultimately, you want to find high search volume keywords with low competition, and you want to optimize your website for those keywords. In addition, you need to cover topics and sub-topics related to your business comprehensively if you want to rank high in search engines.
Below, I will detail a simple keyword research strategy and process that anyone can use for their business.
My 4-Step SEO Keyword Research Strategy
Below, I will detail my 4-step process for building an SEO keyword list. My strategy involves finding my businesses top keywords & topics and using them to find long-tail keywords and sub-topics. Next, I research search intent for my keywords and plan my content using my keyword list.
My Keyword Research Strategy in 2023
One of the main keys to a successful search engine optimization strategy is keyword research. You need to come up with content ideas for your business, and by finding keywords you can create content around the keywords that people search the most often. My process is to find a huge list of keywords and put them all into Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel. Then, use the Unique function in Google Sheets or the Remove Duplicates function in excel. That will leave you with a unique list of popular keywords.
The tool to start with is the Google Ads Keyword Planner. You can watch our video tutorial for the Keyword Planner here.
Note: You can only see exact search volume data in the Keyword Planner when you are running an active Google Ads campaign.
In the Google Keyword Planner, you want to start by entering your top keywords to find the most relevant keywords for your business. You can create filters to make sure you only see the top keywords by average monthly searches and the most relevant and targeted search engine keywords for your business. You can start by entering up to 10 of your top keywords.
You can also start or expand your keyword list by entering a URL. Sometimes, I will start with a competitor’s URL to see their top keywords.
Next, you can Download Keyword Ideas at the top to get a CSV file of the keywords listed. Those keywords represent the search terms that people use most when they are looking for products and services that you sell.
After that, you can go back to the Keyword Planner and enter some competitor websites. If you do not know your competitors, search your top keywords in the Google search engine and find the most relevant competitors with niche websites that are similar to yours. Perform the search for their entire website, download keyword ideas again, and build a spreadsheet of keywords and average monthly search volume for each keyword.
Once you have downloaded multiple keyword lists, you are going to have duplicate keywords. I would recommend putting all of your keywords in Column A in excel or Google Sheets. Then, you can use Remove Duplicates in excel or the Unique function in Google Sheets.
Two additional free tools I love are Keywords Everywhere and Soovle. Below, I have an image from Keywords Everywhere showing some long-tail keywords and related searches, which show on Google when you install their free extension.
Once you have a list of keywords, you want to turn those keywords into topics and content ideas. For example, a keyword like “PPC Advertising Platforms” can be used to write an article titled “Top 10 PPC Advertising Platforms for 2023.”
Group Together Keywords into Topics and Subtopics
To continue on our previous example, I would use the initial keywords we downloaded to come up with a list of topics and subtopics. For example, a keyword like ‘WordPress blog’ can be turned into a content topic where you cover how to start your first WordPress blog. We will cover keyword search intent in the next step.
A keyword doesn’t tell the full story unless you understand search intent. What exactly is the searcher seeking when they type that particular keyword into a search engine? By searching for your top keywords, you can see what is currently ranking as well.
Search Your Keywords Using Google to See Which Pages are Ranking
First, let’s do a search for ‘WordPress Website’ and look at some of the results. You can see that the official WordPress website is ranking high and then pages with tutorials.
Additionally, there are video results on the first page. Therefore, you should create a guide on your website and publish a YouTube video if you want to rank high for this topic.
Last but not least, the whole point of keyword research is to create content that will rank for your particular keywords. You need to create content that targets your keywords so you can rank higher and drive traffic to your website.
If we look up the best WordPress themes, we are going to get updated articles in the search results.
5 SEO Keyword Research Tips
The keyword research tips below can help you get started with your strategy. Your keyword strategy can vary for SEO and PPC, but ultimately you want to optimize your websites for the keywords that will drive your business revenue.
Short-Tail Keywords vs. Long-Tail Keywords
The first thing I want to go over is short-tail keywords vs. long-tail keywords. Both types of keywords are important when you want to rank or when you want to bid on them with your Search Engine Marketing campaigns.
Short-Tail Keywords
A short-tail keyword is generally frequently searched but also very broad and represents a large topic. For example, ‘fire pits’ and ‘Google Ads’ would be considered short-tail keywords. Short-tail keywords generally have more search volume and more competition than short-tail.
Long-Tail Keywords
A long-tail keyword is usually not as popular as short-tail variations and represent a subtopic. For example, ‘metal propane fire pits’ and ‘Google Ads keyword research’ would be considered long-tail keywords. Long-tail keywords generally have less search volume and less competition than long-tail.
Long-Tail Keyword Research for SEO Video Tutorial
Tools are a vital aspect of researching keywords for your business. There are a lot of free and premium tools that can be used to do everything from finding new key terms to tracking your rankings in search engines for particular keywords. The key is to use the top-rated keyword research tools and find the tools that work best for you.
There is a list below of some of the most popular and top-rated keyword research tools.
My preferred free keyword tool is the Google Keyword Planner. All you need is a Google Ads account to get started with it.
Use The Google Keyword Planner to Find Keywords
If I were to start a new blog about WordPress, I would enter ‘WordPress’ into the Google Keyword Planner. Then, I can download the keyword ideas from Keyword Planner.
You can watch our Google Keyword Planner Tutorial below or watch it on YouTube.
Keywords Everywhere is a free Google Chrome and Firefox extension. When you search using search engines like Google, Amazon, Pinterest, Bing, YouTube, and more. When it comes to finding long-tail keywords, this is my favorite free keyword research tool.
Soovle will expand any keyword you enter and show you search terms for Google, Bing, Yahoo, Amazon, YouTube, Answers.com, and Wikipedia. It is completely free and it is the perfect tool when you are working on specific topics.
Keyword Surfer is a free Google Ads keyword research tool because it shows you estimated monthly search volume and estimated bids. In addition, you can find new keyword ideas and learn competition in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). Lastly, there are content ideas and you can even generate a free article outline.
SEMRush is a premium tool that can assist your entire Digital Marketing strategy. If you are looking for the most powerful keyword research tool on the market, SEMRush is the one to choose. You can also take advantage of their competitive research and on page SEO resources.
SpyFu is a premium tool that allows you to do SEO keyword research, PPC keyword research, and competitive keyword research. You can use rank tracker to track your keyword rankings, find backlink ideas, and get additional keyword suggestions.
The Microsoft Keyword Planner is the Microsoft Advertising keyword research tool. The tool is completely free to use through your Microsoft Advertising account. It is very similar to Google’s tool, but it gives search volume data for the Microsoft Search Network. You can use it to create Ad Groups for a campaign or to find SEO keywords.
Wordtracker is a freemium tool that gives you several free searches every day and it is a great tool for finding long-tail keywords. In addition, you can search for Google, Amazon, YouTube, and eBay keywords. With the free version, you will find 50 of the top keywords related to your initial search.
Keyword Tool is a freemium tool that uses autocomplete to find long-tail variations of your seed keyword. You can also search using Google, YouTube, Bing, Amazon, eBay, Play Store, Instagram, and Twitter autocomplete.
UberSuggest is a freemium tool that will give you keyword ideas and content ideas. One of the benefits of UberSuggest is that you can also enter a website to find information specific to the website you enter. It also shows additional information such as backlinks and social shares for specific webpages.
Best Free Keyword Research Tools
In addition, you can find our guide to free keyword research tools here. And, we also have a corresponding video below that can be helpful.
Watch My Free Keyword Research Tools Video
You can find our complete Google Ads Keyword Research Strategy here.
When you get started with Google Ads search campaigns, you want to start with keyword research. The best way to do that is with the Google Keyword Planner. In the video below, you can follow my step-by-step guide for finding keywords to target in your Google Ads campaigns.
Watch My Google Ads Keyword Research Video
You can watch the video embedded below or watch it on YouTube.
PPC Keyword Research
Your keyword research strategy is different for PPC Advertising campaigns compared to SEO. When it comes to PPC Advertising keyword research, you need to focus on the terms that drive value to your business.
PPC Keyword Bids and ROAS
It’s important to pay attention to your competition for keywords and average bids. If your average profit for each sale is $25 and your website conversion rate is 4%, then you can’t bid higher than $1 in order to run profitable campaigns. Using the same scenario, if I drive clicks for $0.50 from a PPC network, then I will spend $50 for every 100 clicks and drive 4 sales that lead to $100 in profit. In that case, it’s worth bidding on the keywords that drive you a 200% Return on Ad Spend (ROAS).
Since YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine in the world, it makes sense that we would focus on the key terms that people type in there. If you have a YouTube channel or if you want to reach more people on YouTube, then you should perform YouTube keyword research. It is the main strategy that has helped me gain over 200,000 YouTube subscribers.
Watch My YouTube Keyword Research Video
You can watch my video below or directly on YouTube for more information.
Discover some best practices when you are writing blog posts and optimizing them for search engines. Your blog post SEO and on-page SEO is vital if you want to rank high for your keywords. In addition to finding keywords for blog post content ideas
Watch My Keyword Research for Blog Posts Video
You can watch my video below or directly on YouTube for more information.
Your competitors are doing keyword research and creating content. They are ranking for keywords you aren’t targeting yet and ranking higher than you for certain keywords. That’s why I put together a video tutorial for how to research your competitor’s keywords for free. While you can use paid tools like SEMRush, Ahrefs, and SpyFu, there are plenty of free tools to try as well. You need to find keyword gaps between your website and your competitor’s website.
Watch My Competitor Keyword Research Video
You can watch my video below or directly on YouTube for more information.
ChatGPT is a great tool when you are trying to learn about any topic. It can be very useful when you are trying to find popular keywords, long-tail keywords, and relevant topics for a business. I came up with 5 very simple prompts that you can use to do keyword research with ChatGPT. In under 10 minutes, you can literally come up with hundreds of keywords and even content ideas for your business.
Watch My ChatGPT for Keyword Research Video
You can watch my video below or directly on YouTube for more information.
You will see some FAQs related to finding keywords in the following section. If you have any additional questions, feel free to leave them in the comments section.
What is an Example of a Keyword?
A keyword is something that your potential customer would type into a search engine like Google. For example, a golf company would optimize for keywords such as ‘Golf Clubs,’ ‘Golf Drivers,’ and ‘Golf Instruction.’ For another example, a company that files taxes for customers would optimize for the keyword ‘Tax Preparation Services.’
If you market anything, whether a product, service or combination of the two, your main objective is to sell those products and services using every tool at your disposal. One of the best tools available today is keyword research, specifically for Search Engine Optimization or SEO.
Why You Need to Do Keyword Research For SEO
When someone searches for something online, they type in certain phrases and words to find it. Words and phrases like ‘pizza’, ‘shoes’, ‘plumber’, ‘furniture’, ‘wicker furniture’, and millions more are used every single day to find millions of different products and services. You need to find the top keywords that people use to find your products and/or services so you can target them with your content.
For example, if someone is searching the phrase “best stocks to invest in 2023” then I can write an article detailing the 20 of the best long-term stocks that people should consider investing in throughout 2023 and beyond.
How do you Start Keyword Research?
You can start the process of keyword research by utilizing keyword research tools like the Google Keyword Planner, Keywords Everywhere, Google Trends, Ubersuggest, SEMRush, Google Search Console, Moz, and more. Ultimately, you want to start by finding keywords that will drive more sales and leads for your business.
If you use a tool like Google Keyword Planner, you can enter your products or services in the tool and it will give you hundreds or thousands of relevant keywords.
Why Keyword Research is Important For Businesses
When you get started with Digital Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, and PPC Advertising, you learn about the importance of keyword research. Search engines like Google, Bing, YouTube, and Yahoo handle billions of keyword searches every single day. As a business, you want your website to appear in search results to drive targeted traffic back to your website. Targeted and relevant traffic leads to sales, clients, and ultimately revenue for your business.
Example: If you offer Small Business Checking Accounts to customers, you want to rank high for a keyword like ‘Small business checking’ when potential customers type it into search engines.
If you can rank for the most popular keywords related to your products and services, you will drive more revenue for your business.
Can I Do Keyword Research For Free?
Yes, you can find plenty of free keyword research tools like the Google Keyword Planner, Soovle, the Microsoft Advertising Keyword Planner tool, Keyworddit, Google Trends, Keywords Everywhere, Google Search Console, and Keyword Surfer. Free SEO keyword research is very easy using a combination of these free tools. View our blog post about the best free keyword research tools today.
Below, you can see an example of keywords provided by a free keyword tool like Soovle.
In Summary
We hope you enjoyed this blog post and our corresponding videos on how to you use keyword research to find the best organic search keywords for your business. Finding the top keywords for your products and services is vital to the success of your online marketing strategy in today’s business world. In addition, you can optimize your Google Ads and paid advertising campaigns by understanding what people are searching to find your business. If you have more questions or need help with your keyword research, please leave a comment in the space below and we’ll get back to you ASAP.
