Before we explain the process of keyword research, let’s look at some the more important concepts behind it; Keyword research is the work you do to come up with a list of keywords you want to rank for. Keyword strategy is about the decisions you then make on the basis of that keyword research.
Key phrases are keywords containing multiple words. We use the word keyword almost all of the time, but we don’t necessarily mean it’s only one word, keywords usually consist of multiple words!
So, when we talk about keywords, we usually mean a phrase, rather than a single word.
Long tail keywords (Longer key phrases), are more specific and less common because they focus more on a smaller audience. The longer (and more specific) the search terms are, the easier it will be to rank well for the term.
A focus key phrase is the word or phrase you most want your page to be found for. You should put your focus key phrase into the meta description of your website.
Search intent is all about discovering what a searcher actually wants. These are not just keywords, but the underlying goals of what a searcher wants to know, do or buy.
Why is keyword research important?
Proper keyword research is important because helps you to understand which search terms your audience uses. Business’ often use one set of words when describing their products, while their target audience uses a completely different set of search words! As a result, many potential customers don’t find those websites, because of a mismatch in word use.
Sometimes a company or marketing department decides to give their products a certain name and, that can be a smart marketing decision. It can be a way to help make people remember your product. For example, you may choose not to rent out holiday homes, but holiday cottages to make them seem more attractive to your clients. However, be aware that very few people search for holiday cottages specifically. So, if you optimise your text for these terms, you’ll probably rank well for them, however, you won’t generate a lot of traffic with as you’ll miss a large part of your potential audience.
So, we are sure that you agree that it doesn’t make any sense to optimise for words that people don’t use! Good quality keyword research makes sure that you use the same words and phrases as your target audience, which makes the whole effort of optimising your website far more worthwhile. In addition, by looking at search intent, you can find out a lot about which questions your customers and potential customers have.
How to do keyword research
For us, there are four main steps to good keyword research. First, you write down the mission and goals of your business so that you exactly what you want to achieve. Next, you make a list of all the keywords you think want to be found for. Then you look at search intent and user patterns and finally, create landing pages for each of those keywords to help rank the site, and draw in the traffic.
In our next blog, we will produce an ultimate guide to take you through these steps in much more detail! Step by step, we’ll guide you through the entire keyword research process, and we’ll give you practical tips to easily start your own keyword research.
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