My 7 Best Keyword Research Tips Ever

Finding the right keywords for your website can be a tedious process. Keyword research takes time, but it doesn’t have to a ‘dreaded’ task. The main point to remember when researching keywords is to ask and answer the following questions:

1. Who is the target audience?
2. What is the main focus of my website?

If you don’t know who the target audience is then you’ll have a difficult time finding keywords and phrases for your website. Keep it simple – don’t make keyword research a complicated process when it doesn’t have to be.

My 7 Best Keyword Research Tips Ever

Keyword Research Panel at the Niche Affiliate Marketing System (NAMS) Workshop 4 (Photo credit: rogercarr)

1. Use Google AdWords Keyword Tool. This free tool is used by millions of people. You can conduct keyword research by entering your company’s website and or specific keywords. 

Google AdWords gives you the opportunity to sort keywords by high, low, or medium competition. This is important when you create Google AdWords advertisements.

2. Think about your target audience. Do you know who your target audience is? It’s important to know who your target market is before you begin conducting keyword research.  

3. Choose focused and descriptive words for your website. Stop worrying about the competition for one second and choose keywords specifically for your website. If you keep focusing on the competition, you won’t have a keyword list. Looking at your competitors keywords can be helpful because you can learn what they’re not ranking for. However, if you spend countless hours looking at your competitors, you won’t have a keyword list of your own.

4. Use Google Insights for Search and Google Trend. Use these tools to research trends in your industry. Type in a short and long tail keywords and review the data. You’ll be able to spot trends within your industry which can help you with your keyword research.

5. Review and remove negative keywords. If you own a floral shop, Google will more than likely suggest ‘flowers’ as a keyword. It may suggest related terms such as ‘silk flowers.’ This would be considered a ‘negative keyword’ if you don’t use silk flowers. You want to be aware of ‘negative keywords’ because you can disregard them when you create a Google AdWords advertisement. If you don’t, your ad will show up when customers search for ‘silk flowers.’

6. How many keywords do you want to optimize? How many products and services are you selling? If you only have one product then 5-10 keywords could work for you. However, if you’re selling more than one product and or service, you’ll want to expand your keyword list.

7. Analyze your website to see what it’s ranking for and make adjustments. You may not have to start over with a new keyword list; however, you want to make sure your current keywords are a priority. Analyzing what your website’s ranking for can lead you to keywords that were overlooked.

8. Assign a percentage to your keywords. If you’re a local travel company in Columbus, Ohio, you may not rank for a ‘general’ keyword term such as travel agency. Your company would be 100% relevant for ‘Columbus Travel Agency.’ Travel agency could get 10%, while ‘Columbus Caribbean Travel Agency’ could return 30-50% if you specialize in Caribbean vacations.

Tip: Google AdWords Keyword Tool provides analytics such as competition, local market, etc. Use these numbers and other analytics when conducting keyword research.

9. Select the final keyword list, for now. Let’s face it; markets change as do technologies. Keywords that worked for you yesterday may become obsolete today. It’s important to ‘keep your finger on the pulse’ of changes within customer buying trends and your industry. Periodically, review your keyword list and ‘tweak’ it when necessary.

Related articles

• Find New Keywords: Simplifying Keyword Research (seomoz.org)
• Researching and choosing long-tail keywords (marketing.yell.com)
• What tools can assist with keyword research for search optimisation? (marketing.yell.com)