Create Meaningful, In-Demand Content with Keyword Research
What is Keyword Research?
Constantly coming up with new blog ideas that you hope will get clicks is an extremely daunting task. If people visit your website and don’t immediately think your post will help them, they will quickly navigate away from your site. In order to appeal to your website visitors’ needs, you need to know what they’re searching for! Today, we are going to teach you how to do just that, by doing keyword research for your blog topics. Keep reading to find out how keyword research can help put your blog posts in front of your audience.
Why is Keyword Research Beneficial?
People use keywords every day to find answers to their questions online. By paying attention to the keywords your audience uses, you can use this knowledge to get in front of your audience as they search the web. According to the inbound methodology, we don’t create content around what we want to tell people; we should be creating content around what people want to discover. Keyword research allows us to do that.
Keyword research is an essential aspect of search engine optimization (SEO) because it helps businesses and website owners identify the specific keywords and phrases that potential customers are searching for when looking for their products or services. By understanding what people are searching for, businesses can create content that is more likely to appear in search engine results pages (SERPs) when users search for those keywords. This can help increase website traffic, improve search engine rankings, and assist you in creating blogs that please your audience and answers their questions.
Let’s dive into the different aspects of keyword research and what makes a good keyword:
Volume
When conducting keyword research for your website, an important thing to consider is volume. But… what does that even mean?
High-volume keywords generally indicate that many people are searching for that term, which means that there is potential for high website traffic if it ranks well for that keyword. It is important to remember, high-volume keywords are more competitive, making it more challenging to rank for them. On the other hand, low-volume keywords are less competitive, but they typically won’t generate as much website traffic. Therefore, it is essential to create a balance between volume and competition when choosing keywords for SEO.
Long vs Short-Tail Keywords
Similar to volume, considering the difference between long-tail and short-tail keywords is crucial to choosing effective keywords for SEO. Long-tail keywords and short-tail keywords are two different types of keyword phrases used in SEO. Short-tail keywords are usually one or two words and are general in nature, such as “SEO” or “digital marketing. ” Whereas long-tail keywords are more specific and usually consist of three or more words, such as “keyword research for SEO” or “digital marketing strategies for tourism marketing. ” While short-tail keywords are more competitive and have a higher search volume, long-tail keywords have less competition and a lower search volume. Long-tail keywords are also more likely to attract highly targeted traffic, which can result in higher conversion rates. Overall, the main difference between long and short-tail keywords is their specificity and search volume.
So, What Types of Keywords Should You Go After?
Now that we understand volume and short and long-tail keywords, we can decipher which keywords are most effective for SEO. To put it simply, you don’t want to necessarily go after super high volume because you’ll never rank well due to so much competition. It makes more sense to go after medium-low ranked keywords/phrases which you’re likely to be able to rank well for.
To further explain; the best approach to keyword research is to target a mix of high, medium, and low-competition keywords, as well as short-tail and long-tail keywords. Short-tail keywords are typically broader and more general, with a higher search volume but also higher competition, while long-tail keywords are more specific and less competitive but have lower search volumes. Ultimately, the best types of keywords to go after for SEO are those that are relevant to your website content and strike a balance between competition and specificity. Conducting thorough keyword research can help you to identify the best keywords to target your desired audience and provide them with the content they are looking for.
How To Get Started
If you’re looking to get started on conducting keyword research for SEO, the TwoSix Digital team has a couple of tools to get you started. To begin your understanding of keywords, a great first step is to conduct a simple Google search and navigate to the “People Also Ask” section. Here, you can start to understand which keywords/phrases rank highly for the topic you are researching.
If you are looking to dig deeper into your own website’s performance in Google search results, we recommend using Google Search Console. Google search console is a free tool provided by Google that allows website owners to monitor their website’s performance in Google search results. It can be a very valuable resource for keyword research.
Access the steps for using Google Search Console for keyword research here.
Another tool you can use to discover effective keywords for SEO is Ubersuggest. Ubersuggest is a popular keyword research tool that can help website owners and marketers identify high-performing keywords for their content.
Access the steps for using Ubersuggest for keyword research here.
If you have questions on Keyword Research for SEO, don’t hesitate to contact our team!
