HOW TO DO KEYWORD RESEARCH
- Genevieve Lefort
- Nov 5, 2024
- 9 min read
Updated: Nov 13, 2024
Google’s search algorithm relies on more than 200 factors to rank websites. To make your site stand out in this digital jungle, it’s essential to carefully choose your keywords. Finding the right words that will capture your audience's attention is the key to creating an effective strategy that will boost both your search engine visibility and your organic traffic.
In this article, we will explore why keyword research is so important and show you how to identify the best keywords for your content while meeting your users’ expectations.
What are keywords ?
Keywords, sometimes called 'SEO keywords,' are the terms people use to search for products, services, or answers online. For a potential customer, these are the words they type into the search bar. For you, they’re the keywords you incorporate into your content to clearly signal to search engines what your pages offer, so they can rank and recommend your site effectively.
Keyword research helps you understand what your audience is searching for. By integrating these keywords into your articles, product descriptions, or blogs, you position your business where your future customers are looking for solutions, which enhances your visibility and performance.
Why is keyword research crucial ?
Keywords define what you do and what you sell, and their relevance directly influences where you’ll appear in Google’s search results (SERPs). The higher you rank, the more visible you are, which will significantly increase traffic to your site.
In fact, the first result on Google receives about 32% of the clicks! Even if you’re not at the very top, appearing among the first results makes all the difference. This organic traffic, naturally generated from search engines, can even surpass paid traffic results and continue to attract leads for years after your content is published.
Keyword research strategy: The basics
Types of keywords
Before diving into keyword research to improve your content, there are a few basics to know. First, it’s useful to understand the difference between target (primary) keywords, secondary keywords, and long-tail keywords.
Target keyword : This is the main term on which you’ll focus your strategy. It’s the word or phrase that you’ll include in the title, URL, meta description, and key sections to position yourself in search engines.
A keyword becomes primary when it :
Aligns with your main objectives : It attracts a large or relevant audience.
Has high conversion potential : It can generate actions like purchases or contact requests.
Has a good volume/competitiveness balance : It is significantly searched for while remaining achievable in terms of competition.
Aligns with offers and services : It accurately describes what you offer, like corporate food delivery for a food delivery service.
Secondary keyword : This is a term or phrase related to the main keyword of a piece of content or article. It complements the primary topic and helps broaden the content’s reach by attracting other relevant searches.
Here are some characteristics of secondary keywords :
Relevance : They should be related to the primary keyword and the general content of the page.
Variety : They can include synonyms, related phrases, or specific variations of the main keyword.
Usage : They can be incorporated into subheadings, paragraphs, and meta tags to enrich the content and improve its ranking in search engine results.
Long-tail keyword : Comprised of multiple words (usually three or more), it targets a very specific search. These keywords are less competitive than short words like 'shoes,' but they attract a qualified audience that knows exactly what they’re looking for.
Characteristics of long-tail keywords :
Specific and detailed : For example, 'men’s running shoes size 10.'
Low search volume : They are searched by a smaller number of people, but these searches are often highly targeted.
High conversion rate : Users searching for long terms are often closer to making a purchase or taking action because they know what they’re looking for.
Example: For a page dedicated to selling sportswear, a generic keyword could be 'sportswear,' while a long-tail keyword would be 'women’s sportswear for yoga and running.
Keyword difficulty
This is the measure of competition for a keyword. It takes into account several factors :
Number of competitors : The more sites targeting this keyword, the harder it is to rank.
Quality of competing sites : If well-ranked sites have good SEO (backlinks, optimized content, strong domain reputation), it will be more challenging to rank above them.
Search volume : Keywords with high volume attract more competitors.
Relevance and quality of content : Well-thought-out content that meets user needs has a better chance of ranking well, even for competitive keywords."
Identifying keyword intent
Search intent, or 'keyword intent,' represents the purpose behind a search. Knowing it is essential for optimizing your content and meeting visitor expectations. There are generally four types of search intent :
Informational intent : The user is looking for information or an answer, such as 'How to bake a cake.'
Navigational intent : The user wants to reach a specific site or page, like 'Facebook.'
Commercial intent : The user is considering a purchase but is still comparing, with searches like 'best smartphone 2024.'
Transactional intent : The user is ready to buy, for example, 'buy running shoes.'
Understanding the intent behind a keyword means getting into the mindset of your audience and grasping the purpose of their search. By tailoring your keywords to match your customers’ behaviors, you can improve your ranking. If you’re selling a product, think of transactional or commercial trigger terms like 'buy,' 'compare,' 'best.'
Search volume
Search volume refers to the number of times a keyword is searched for by users on search engines, typically over a month. This figure indicates the popularity of a keyword: the higher it is, the more people are searching for it.
For example, if the keyword 'running shoes' has a monthly search volume of 10,000, it means it is typed into a search engine like Google approximately 10,000 times per month.
Knowing the search volume of a keyword helps estimate the potential traffic it could bring to your site. Generally speaking :
A keyword with a high volume is often very competitive (many sites are trying to rank for it).
A keyword with a low volume attracts a smaller audience but may correspond to a very specific search intent, making it interesting for attracting qualified visitors.
Therefore, choosing a keyword should balance its search volume and its relevance to your target audience.
Step 1: Initial brainstorming
Now that you understand the importance of keyword research and are familiar with some of the key terms and concepts, you’re ready to take action. Follow these steps to identify the keywords to target in order to attract your desired audience and develop an effective keyword strategy."
Know your audience: Personas
To guide your keyword research, it’s important to have a good understanding of your target audience. Creating personas will help you better understand the motivations, needs, and search habits of your potential customers. Here are the steps to create personas :
Collect audience data : Analyze demographic data.
Study behaviors and search habits.
If you have access to information about your existing customers : Identify the main segments. Who buys most often? Who returns regularly?
Determine needs and search intents : For each persona, list the problems they are trying to solve and the questions they might ask online.
Integrating personas into your keyword strategy will allow you to better target the searches of your potential visitors and make your content more relevant and engaging for them. Use the specific needs of each persona to guide your keyword research. Long-tail keywords, in particular, often better reflect the search intent of personas.
Suggested tools:
Define your goals
In this step, create a table of general categories or keyword groups you want to rank for. These can correspond to product ranges or topics that are likely to interest your target audience. Write a short and simple list, with a maximum of 5 to 10 topics.
Identify the main themes of your site, such as the products, services, or information you offer. For example, for an online sportswear store, the main categories could include :
Men’s sportswear
Women’s sportswear
Sports accessories
Develop each topic
Once you have defined your main categories, identify the words and phrases that your potential customers might enter into a search bar to find information, products, or services.
This list of keywords is just a starting point. It represents an opportunity to brainstorm to refine your data and make your research more targeted and effective.
To continue with our example of an online sportswear store, within the category 'Men’s sportswear,' you might include ideas such as :
Best men's sports shorts
Training t-shirts
Men's running apparel
Men's sports shoes
Men's winter sports outfits
Create a list under each main category and add it to your spreadsheet. Feel free to solicit ideas from your collaborators, especially those in direct contact with customers."
Step 2: Find related search terms
Enrich your keyword lists using several approaches :
Google searches : Start by searching for a keyword phrase on Google and scroll down the page: you’ll find a list of related searches, with bolded words. To go further, click on one of these related searches and check the Google suggestions at the bottom of this new page.
Frequently asked questions: The site AnswerThePublic also offers up to three free searches per day, providing a chart of questions and phrases searched by users related to your topic.
Trend analysis : Google Trends is an online tool offered by Google that allows you to analyze the interest and popularity of search terms over time.
Suggested tools:
Step 3: Analyze the strength of your keywords
To progress in this step, using tools like Keyword Planner, or paid keyword research tools such as Ahrefs, Semrush, Wordtracker, and Ubersuggest is highly recommended. Wordtracker and Ubersuggest also offer free versions to help you get started.
Here are the factors to consider when analyzing your keywords :
What is the exact search term ? Ensure that the keyword phrase matches precisely what users are searching for.
What is the search volume ? If the phrase is not searched for often, it won’t be relevant to your strategy. Aim for high search volume.
What is the competition ? Paid tools distinguish between competition for paid ads and that for organic searches. Ideally, you want a significant search volume combined with low competition in organic search.
Explore related terms. Identify other potential keywords you might have overlooked, but which could also show good search volume and low competition.
Suggested tools:
Step 4: Analyze the competition
Analyzing the competition is essential for understanding how to position yourself in the market. Here are the steps to follow to conduct this analysis :
Identify your main competitors : Start by determining who your primary competitors are in your niche.
Evaluate their content strategy : Examine the blogs, articles, and other content that your competitors publish. What topics do they cover? What type of content generates the most engagement (comments, shares)?
Analyze their keywords : Use SEO tools like SEMrush or Ahrefs to see which keywords your competitors are targeting. Identify those with high search volume and low competition.
By thoroughly understanding what your competitors are doing, you can identify opportunities and gaps in your own approach, which will help you stand out in your market.
Suggested tools:
Step 5: Analyze search intent
When consumers search on Google, they are looking for specific information, and each query requires a relevant response.
To understand your customers' expectations well, enter your keywords into the search engine. What pages rank well for this phrase, and what do they offer?
If a user is looking for information and you are trying to sell them a product or service instead, they might click on your link, but they are likely to leave quickly to find what they are looking for, resulting in a high bounce rate that will harm your ranking. On the other hand, if a visitor is ready to buy and you present them with a product page, they will be more inclined to complete their purchase.
Don't forget to note the search intent in your spreadsheet for each keyword group, or encourage your team to check the intent of keywords before creating content based on them.
Suggested tools:
Step 6: Select relevant keywords
Choose keywords based on their relevance, search volume, and level of competition. It can be helpful to categorize the keywords into different groups :
Primary keywords (main search terms).
Secondary keywords (related search terms).
Long-tail keywords (more specific and less competitive phrases).
Wrap up
A keyword search allows you to identify trends, spot weaknesses, and better understand user expectations.
Remember that keyword research is only the first step in your SEO strategy. To truly stand out, each blog post, article, and product description must provide more information, be more accessible, and more comprehensive than those of your competitors. Pay particular attention to the layout and on-page optimization of each content piece, while ensuring that your site is easy to navigate and mobile-friendly.
Keep in mind that organic SEO takes time. Even if you can quickly achieve good rankings for certain terms, most businesses gradually rise in the search engine results pages.
