Effective Keyword Research Strategies 4 SEO & Google Ads

Keywords are exceptionally popular words or phrases that Google users search for when seeking information, products or services. Keywords are used in on-page copy to summarise what subsequent information is about. Keywords are generally used in headings as semantic identifiers to encode leading ideas in a particular topic as important. Keywords are also dispersed throughout content as information is discussed, explained and listed. Google identifies instances of keyword scattering within website content in order to algorithmically decide where to index a page in search engine rank position (SERP) results for exclusive search terms.

Keyword research is the process of finding search phrases with, ideally, a high average monthly search volume in preparation for content updates or new content. Keywords are the building blocks of content marketing and their strategic placement plays a big impact in the success of the pages they’re hosted on in SERPs.

Keyword research is a fundamental part of any SEO strategy. A unique keyword has three key metrics: search volume, difficulty and cost. A keyword’s performance can also be evaluated in impressions, clicks and average position metrics: all components of SEO analyses. These metrics give extraordinarily insightful information about how many people saw a client’s website in Google SERPs, how many times they clicked it and how accessible it is.

I use Google Keyword Planner to identify a universe of search terms related to my clients’ products and services. The starting point is finding a handful of terms to plug into the search field in Google Keyword Planner (GKP). This can be done if Google Search Console is installed or via a SEMRush keyword analysis and result in a list of keywords a page is already ranking for. After the starting search terms have been retrieved and entered into GKP, GKP will find a scope of related keywords and related metrics that can be saved to a list. In addition to starting with existing ranking keywords, similar competitors’ pages can be analysed by AHREFs and keywords found that the client’s page is not ranking for.

What to do With All These Keywords?

After a list of keywords and their average monthly search volume has been pulled from Google Keyword Planner or SEMRush, they can be fed into content updates or new pages in order to improve the SERP placement of the pages they’re contained on. Keywords can also be used to update page metadata to achieve the same effect. It makes sense to include a tree of related keywords relevant to the topic of a page undergoing development in an attempt to rank for as wide of a range of search terms as possible. It also makes sense that search phrases with a high average monthly search volume are included in copy, however, if terms are so popular that the top SERPs are occupied by larger websites than your client, it may be worth finding alternatives with top SERPs listings whom operate online at a similar scale to your client.

If your website is failing to produce organic traffic contact Red SEO today to help you devise and implement a new content marketing strategy. We include keyword research and copywriting in all our SEO packages and can help your business website appear for more search terms each and every month. Reach out to us via our contact page to make an inquiry.