Jump to:
About Keyword Research
What are Keywords?
Keywords are the words and phrases that users type or speak into any kind of search system to help them find more information, answer questions, or overcome pain points. They might relate to a specific product, general research on a need, or information to help them make a decision.
Searchers can use keywords in all sorts of different ways: through a typed Google search, a voice search, social media browsing, or an AI chatbot conversation.
Despite its name, a keyword doesn’t have to be a single word: it can also be a phrase (and usually is).
What is Keyword Research?
Keyword research helps businesses understand which keywords their target audiences are using. Through this, you, as a business owner, can better understand user behaviour, needs and wants. And, when you understand all this, you can provide better, more helpful content for your customers, therefore guiding them towards a conversion.
Why is Keyword Research Important for SEO?
When a user carries out a search – however they do it – the system they use reviews billions of pieces of content. The user is then presented with what the search system considers the most helpful, relevant, and trustworthy information.
If a business has done effective keyword research and created content that both answers the current question and anticipates follow-up questions, they have a better chance of showing up in search results. By showing up more regularly and effectively, businesses draw more traffic to their website and have more chances of making a conversion.
SEO has a lot to do with providing a positive user experience, and knowing what your customers need through keyword research can help you provide that.
Keyword Research, Step-By-Step
1. Start With Your Product or Service
When researching keywords, you need somewhere to begin. This could be the products or services that you sell.
Start with general terms rather than specific product names. You can get more specific further down the line if needed but for now you don’t want to limit your research too much.
Let’s imagine an online store specialising in gifts. Keywords you might start with include letterbox flowers, gifts for men or mothers day presents.
If you sell specific products from well-known brands, you could include keywords such as Jo Malone candles or Dolce & Gabbana perfume, but try not to go any more specific than this.
If you have lots of products, pick out a few key items to focus on initially. This could be the most popular pieces, the most lucrative, or the ones you want to push. You can look at more in the future, but don’t overwhelm yourself by starting with too many.
2. Make Use of Free Keyword Tools
There is a huge supply of tools available to help with keyword research. Many of them require a subscription, but there are plenty that are free and still incredibly helpful.
Tools you can use for free include:
- Google Search Console
- Google Ads Keyword Planner
- Microsoft Advertising Keyword Planner
- Also Asked (paid version also available)
- Answer the Public (paid version also available)
- Semrush (paid version also available)
Type your starter keyword into one or more of these tools. Many of them use similar data sources, so you may get matching results, but it’s worth experimenting with each one as they all provide slightly different information. The Ads Planners, for example, will show you how popular each search term is, which is information that many of the others don’t include.
Make a note of all of the keywords you discover. Most of the above platforms will allow you to export or download the lists for easy filtering later on.
3. Use Search Platforms for Keyword Research
Search engines and other search-like platforms can also be used for keyword research.
Navigate to Google Search (or your chosen search engine) and type your starter keyword into the search bar. Google will show a drop down list with a number of related keywords. Take a look through these and make a note of any that are relevant to your business or customers.
Once you’ve collected the suggested keywords, run the search by hitting enter. Here you have several opportunities for further keyword research.
People also ask
Google search results will often include a section called People also ask. This will show you common questions that are related to your starter keyword. You can answer these questions on your own page to make the content more useful.
The Also Asked site, mentioned above, uses this data to populate its results.
Related searches
At the bottom of each search page, Google encourages further searches by suggesting related search terms. These are even more keywords that you can collect for your research.
Answer the Public, above, uses this data.
More search platforms
You can use a similar technique to the above on other sites such as YouTube and TikTok, particularly if you have a lot of video content or if these are the sort of platforms where your customers spend time.
4. Filter Keywords
By now, you will probably have a large list of keywords and you’ll want to narrow it down.
There will undoubtedly be some keywords that aren’t relevant to your business. Go through your list and get rid of all of them first. They could include mentions of products you don’t sell, competitor keywords (such as reviews of a particular company), or location searches in areas you don’t cover.
Read my in-depth guide on choosing the right keywords for your business.
5. Create Keyword Clusters
Despite filtering irrelevant keywords, you’ll probably still have hundreds and hundreds to choose from. What you’ll find is that many of these remaining keywords are closely related. They could include similar phrases such as housewarming gifts and new home gifts where users are ultimately looking for the same thing.
Keyword clustering is the process of grouping these related keywords together into topics that you can then build your page content around. It means you target a specific topic rather than a specific keyword, giving you scope to rank better for multiple related searches.
Go through your remaining keywords and start grouping together those that are similar, both in phrasing and intention (i.e. searchers are looking for the same thing). Avoid using the same keyword in multiple clusters.
When you have several clusters, assign each to a page that already exists on your site, or consider creating a new one if the topic is distinct enough. There should only be one page per cluster, though you could use multiple clusters on a single page.
You don’t have to assign every keyword cluster to a page at this stage. Similarly, you may find that not every keyword fits into a cluster. Keep the information for a later date when you may want to expand your website.
6. Select Focus Keywords
You may not end up using every single keyword from your keyword cluster so it’s useful to pick out one or two of the most relevant phrases. Look for those that are used a lot but that aren’t too competitive. Google Ads Keyword Planner will tell you approximately how many monthly searches a keyword receives.
When you have some focus keywords, search them on Google (or similar) and look at the top listings (ignoring paid ads). Who are your competitors for this keyword? If you’re looking at big players like Amazon, Not on the High Street, and Etsy, then you’ll find it difficult to get into the top results. Instead, look for more niche keywords that speak more to your USP. These kinds of keywords won’t get as much search traffic, but when they do, customers are more likely to click on your site.
7. Check User Intention
Intention also plays an important part in your selected keywords. You don’t want to spend time writing content around a particular phrase only to find out that you’re attracting completely the wrong people to your website.
Check intention by typing a keyword into Google (or other search platform) and seeing what results you get. Do they align with your own content? If not, you may have to rethink your keywords.
Looking back at our gift store example, a keyword that might have come up in research is pretty flower gifts. That sounds like the perfect phrase to target! However, by running a quick search on Google, you see that there is a company called Pretty Flower Gifts. Anyone searching that phrase is likely to be looking for this specific company, so the intention behind the search isn’t relevant to your business.
8. Write Content
After all the research, it’s time to create content. This might be text, or it may be other formats such as videos, social posts or podcasts. Keyword research is relevant to it all.
If you have already created content and can naturally incorporate your newly researched keywords, you can do so. If you’re creating from scratch, use your primary keywords to guide the structure and content.
Keywords should fit naturally into the content and be prominent without being excessive. You may want to get support from a professional content creator if this kind of work is not your strength.
When writing, add keywords to your headers where possible, but don’t include excessive repetitions of the same phrase or very similar phrases – this is called keyword stuffing and can negatively affect your SEO.
Read my longer guide to writing good website copy.
9. Monitor Progress
It’s important to monitor progress from the moment you publish, though keep in mind that it can take up to several months for search platforms to find your new content. When they do, effective monitoring will help you track how your work is affecting site traffic.
Google Search Console will tell you how your website ranks for each keyword via the performance report. On other platforms you can use other analytical information such as impressions, views and engagement.
10. Continue Working on Your SEO
As for all elements of SEO, keyword research and improvement is an ongoing process. If one keyword isn’t working for you, perhaps another one will do better. Though remember to allow plenty of time – at least 6 months – for changes to take effect before you swap things up.
Trends also change, and the phrases users searched 5 years ago may not be the same as they use now. Google Algorithm changes and user behaviour also affect how well your pages rank, so regular keyword maintenance is important if you want to stay on top.
Summary
With a little time and understanding, you can gain really useful information about customers and behaviour by undertaking keyword research and incorporating it into the content on your website, socials and other platforms. Consider search volume and competition, search intention, and how keywords relate to your business’s unique selling points.