Boost Your SEO: 7 Keyword Research Tips You Can Apply Today

Keyword research is a crucial part of any SEO or digital marketing strategy.

It helps businesses understand what their target audience is searching for along with how to optimise their website and content to rank well in search engines.

However, keyword research can be a time-consuming and overwhelming task. That’s why we’ve compiled a list of 7 keyword research tips that you can apply today to improve your website’s visibility and drive more traffic.

These tips will help you to identify the most relevant and profitable keywords for your business and start making a real impact on your search engine rankings.

Whether you’re just starting out or if you have a general idea of SEO, these Keyword Research tips are sure to provide you with a golden nugget or two that you can apply to your keyword research efforts.

What is Keyword Research?

Before getting into things, it’s important to establish what Keyword research is.

Keyword research is the process of identifying words and phrases that potential customers use to search for products or services that you offer.

It’s an essential step in any SEO or digital marketing strategy as…

1. It helps businesses to understand the language and terminology used by their target audience
2. It helps businesses to create content that is more relevant and useful.

It’s a vital step in optimising website pages for better visibility in search engine results.

Why is keyword research so important in Digital Marketing?

Releasing content takes time and can be expensive. Rather than guessing what your audience is searching for, why not find out and then build content around it? This, is Keyword research.

Keyword research is important in SEO because it helps businesses to understand the language and terminology used by their target audience.

By identifying the words and phrases that potential customers use to search for products or services, businesses can create content that addresses their needs and interests, and optimise their website pages for better visibility in search engine results.

To give you an example, let’s say you run an online store that sells handmade soaps.

Through keyword research, you discover that many of your potential customers are searching for “organic soap” and “vegan soap” rather than just “handmade soap”.

By incorporating these keywords into your website, you can improve your visibility for those specific search terms and attract more customers who are specifically looking for organic and vegan soap options.

Additionally, by using those keywords in your website’s content, you can demonstrate to search engines that your site is relevant to those terms and therefore rank higher in search results.

As a result, you will be able to drive more targeted traffic to your website and increase conversions and sales.

7 Keyword research tips for small businesses

Now that we know what keyword research is and why it’s important for Digital Marketing – let’s jump into 7 SEO Keyword research tips that you can start using today.

For this post we’re going to focus on the most cost effective way you can conduct keyword research. It’s worth bearing in mind that there are tools available which can give you a much better understanding, perhaps we’ll cover them in a future post.

Tip #1. Brainstorm a list of potential keywords that are relevant to your business and products or services

This is the first step of keyword research, it involves generating a list of keywords that are relevant to your business, products or services and customer’s search queries.

To generate this list, you can start with your products or services and think about the different ways that potential customers might search for them.

For example, if you are selling handmade soaps (sticking with the earlier example), some of the keywords you might consider are “organic soap”, “vegan soap”, “natural soap”, “handmade soap”, “organic skincare”, “vegan skincare”, “organic body wash” and so on.

Tip #2. Use keyword research tools to identify the most popular and relevant keywords for your business

Once you have a list of potential keywords, the next step is to use keyword research tools to determine which keywords are most popular and relevant for your business.

These tools allow you to see important data such as search volume, CPC (cost per click) and competition for a specific keyword.

Here are 8 Tools you can use for keyword research;

1. 1. Utilise Google’s autocomplete feature: When you start typing a keyword in Google’s search bar, it will show you a list of suggestions based on what other people are searching for. These suggestions can be a great way to generate a list of potential keywords
      

      Keyword research tips suggested tools

   2. Use Google Search Console: Google Search Console can give you an idea of the keywords that people are using to find your website. Navigate to “Seach Results” > Queries to see what you are already generating impressions for.
   3. Ask your customers: Seems like a no brainer but simply asking your existing customers what they would search for to find your products or services can result in fruitful yields which you might not have considered.
   4. Google Keyword Planner: This is a free tool from Google that allows you to see the search volume, CPC, and competition for a specific keyword. You can also see related keywords and their data.
   5. SEMrush: SEMrush is a paid tool that provides in-depth data on keywords, including search volume, CPC, and competition. It also provides data on your competitors’ keywords and backlinks. It makes the list as you can sign up to a free account – though limited, it provides useful data.
   6. Ahrefs: Ahrefs Keyword Generator is a paid tool that provides data on keywords, including search volume, CPC, and competition. It also provides data on your competitors’ keywords and backlinks.
   7. Answer the Public: Answerthepublic.com is a free and paid tool that provides data on keywords by generating questions, prepositions and comparisons based on the keyword you enter.
   8. Google’s “People Also Ask” feature: This isn’t necessarily a Keyword research tool, but is a helpful area when Googling which provides you with a list of related questions that people tend to search. These questions can then be added to your articles or pages.

Keyword research tips suggested tools

Tip #3. Understand the competition

Understand your digital competition is an essential tip. By doing this, it’ll help you determine how difficult it will be to rank for those keywords, and whether or not it’s worth targeting them.

By understanding the competition for your target keywords, you can make more informed decisions about which keywords to target along with how to optimise your website to ensure it ranks for those keywords.

Tip #4. Analyse & prioritise the list of relevant keywords

The next tip is to analyse and prioritise your list of keywords based on search volume, relevance, & competition.

By analysing and prioritising your list of keywords this way, you can make more informed decisions about which keywords to target and how to optimise your website for those keywords. This will help you increase your visibility in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Page) and drive more traffic to your website.

To put this in layman’s terms – we’re effectively targeting the “low hanging fruit” of keywords.

Tip #5. Don’t rule out low volume keywords

When it comes to keyword research, it’s easy to get caught up in focusing solely on high-volume keywords. However, it’s important to remember that low-volume keywords can also drive valuable traffic to your website.

These keywords may have lower search volume, but they can also have lower competition, which makes it easier to rank for them.

Additionally, low-volume keywords can also be more specific and targeted, making them more likely to convert into sales or leads.

To give you an example… if your business sells handmade leather shoes, a high-volume keyword like “shoes” may drive a lot of traffic to your website, but it may not be as targeted or likely to convert into sales.

On the other hand, a low-volume keyword like “handmade leather shoes” may have less search volume, but it is more specific and targeted to your business and products, making it more likely to convert into sales or leads.

So, while it’s important to target high-volume keywords, don’t overlook the potential value of low-volume keywords in your keyword research strategy.

Tip #6. Utilise long tail keywords

Another key tip is to ensure you are utilising long-tail keywords.

Long-tail keywords are longer, more specific phrases that are often less competitive and more targeted than shorter, more general keywords – Think “Search Engine Optimisation Specialist for carpenters” rather than “SEO Company”.

These types of keywords can be used to target a specific niche of your audience and can help drive more targeted traffic to your website.

Additionally, long-tail keywords, like low volume keywords, often have less competition and can be easier to rank for in search engine results.

Tip #7. Make sure you are using your blog

The final tip for keyword research is to use your blog!

Blogging is a great way to create valuable and informative content for your target audience, and it can also be used to target specific keywords.

By creating blog posts that focus on specific keywords, you can increase your visibility in search engine results and drive more targeted traffic to your website.

Additionally, by regularly updating your blog with new content, you can keep your website fresh and relevant, which can be good for SEO.

Keep in mind that you should write your blog post for your audience first and not just the keywords – It’s important to create valuable and informative content that will engage and retain your audience.

This again will help to improve your search engine rankings and drive more targeted traffic to your website.

Final thoughts on the tips for keyword research

In conclusion, keyword research is a crucial aspect of SEO and digital marketing as a whole.

By following the keyword research tips outlined above, you can improve your visibility in search engine results, drive more targeted traffic to your website, and ultimately increase conversion rates.

However, keyword research is only one piece of the puzzle when it comes to digital marketing. There are other important elements that should be taken into consideration when creating a comprehensive digital marketing strategy.

For example, if your blog layout isn’t great, you’ll encounter a number of problems even if you apply all these keyword research tips. Likewise, if you’re not maintaining your website, then sending through all this traffic could be meaningless if a contact form isn’t working.

Know that keyword research is a continuous process, and you need to keep monitoring your website’s performance and making changes as needed.

By taking a holistic approach to digital marketing (and of course applying these keyword research tips), you can improve your online visibility, drive more targeted traffic to your website and ultimately increase your conversion rates.