Keyword Research Made Easy: A Beginner's Guide To Increasing Website Traffic

Last Updated on January 14, 2023

Keyword research is one of the most important things you can do to improve your website’s performance in search engines and get more people to visit your site. It means figuring out what words and phrases your target audience is looking for and making sure that your website and content are optimized for those words and phrases. This helps search engines determine how relevant your site is to certain queries. As a result, your site will rank higher, and your brand will get more attention. But some business owners might find keyword research hard to understand and time-consuming.

To help, we’ve made a detailed guide explaining how to research keywords to learn about your target audience, develop ideas for keywords, look at metrics, learn about your competitors, and use keywords that bring in the most traffic and sales for your business. With this guide, you will have the tools to master the art of keyword research and improve your website’s search engine performance.

Key Takeaways (TL;DR)

Understanding your target audience and their search habits is crucial for identifying the keywords and phrases relevant to your niche.
Techniques for brainstorming and generating a list of potential keywords include using keyword research tools and looking into industry-specific terminology and phrases.
Analyzing keyword metrics such as search volume, CPC, and competition can help evaluate a keyword’s potential value.
Conducting competitor research can help understand their SEO strategies and identify opportunities to outrank them.
Organizing and prioritizing your keyword list by its relevance and potential value can help keep track and set goals.
Incorporating keywords into website content, meta tags, and other on-page SEO elements is an important step in implementing your keyword research.
Measuring your progress and tracking rankings is also essential to gauge the success of your research efforts.
Ongoing keyword research and optimization is highly recommended as search trends, and patterns change over time.
Additional resources, such as additional tools or blogs, can help improve your knowledge of the subject.

🌟 Understanding your audience and niche

The first step in keyword research is to know who your target audience is and what your niche is. This will help you figure out which keywords and phrases are most relevant to your business and which ones your target audience is most likely to search for. To identify your target audience, consider factors such as demographics, interests, and pain points. Using tools like Google Analytics can give you information about how people use your website and what they are like. You can also use surveys or focus groups to find out what current or potential customers think.

Once you have a good idea of who you want to reach, you can start looking for relevant keywords and phrases to your niche. One approach is to start with general terms and then narrow them down as you learn more about your audience. Another way is to focus on the words and phrases that people in your field are likely to use. Keyword research tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, and Ahrefs can be used to find the right words and phrases. These tools will give you an idea of the search volume and competition level for specific keywords. It can also be helpful to look at the keywords your competitors are focusing on and find holes in their strategies.

Other ways to find keywords are to look at your website’s analytics to see what terms people are already using to find you, research social media trends, and look at forums and communities that are specific to your industry. Also, coming up with different kinds of keywords, like long-tail keywords and latent semantic indexing (LSI) keywords, can help you find related terms and phrases that are relevant to your niche.

🌟 Brainstorming Keywords

After you know who your target audience is and what your niche is, the next step in keyword research is to make a list of possible keywords and phrases. This list is the basis for your keyword research and helps you figure out how to create and optimize content.

There are several methods to brainstorm keywords, such as:

Using keyword research tools: Tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, and Ahrefs can give you a list of relevant keywords with information about how often people search for them and how hard it is to rank for them.
Analyzing website analytics: Your website’s analytics can give insight into the terms and phrases people are already using to find your site, helping identify potential keywords you may not have considered.
Examining competitors: Looking at your competitors’ websites and how they use keywords can help you find holes in their strategies and new ways to do things.
Observing social media trends: Social media platforms can give an idea about what topics are trending and also identify potential keywords.
Considering industry-specific forums: Online communities and forums can be a valuable resource for identifying keywords and phrases specific to your niche.

After making a list of possible keywords, try to understand the different types of keywords, such as short-tail, long-tail, and latent semantic indexing (LSI) keywords.

Short-tail keywords: These are short and general keywords, typically composed of one or two words with high search volume but also a high competition level. Examples: “shoes,” “laptop.”
Long-tail keywords: Long-tail keywords are longer and more specific phrases, typically composed of three or more words with lower search volume but also a lower competition level. Examples: “men’s running shoes” and “best laptop for video editing.”
LSI keywords: Latent Semantic Indexing keywords are related terms and phrases that are semantically connected to the main keyword. They assist search engines in understanding the context and intent behind a search. Examples: “running,” “athletic shoes,” “sneakers.”

Short-tail keywords target a broad audience but are highly competitive. Long-tail keywords are more specific and target a smaller group of people who are more likely to convert. LSI keywords put the main keyword in context and help search engines figure out what you want to do.

By understanding and using different kinds of keywords, you can make a well-balanced keyword strategy that reaches a wide range of audiences and gets you the most traffic and sales. In conclusion, brainstorming and listing possible keywords and phrases are integral parts of keyword research. It’s also essential to consider the different keyword types and find the right mix for your strategy.

🌟 Analyzing Keyword Metrics

After making a list of possible keywords, the next step is to analyze their metrics to figure out how valuable they might be. This will help you put your keyword list in order of importance. Some of the metrics that can be used to analyze keywords are:

Search volume: This metric tells you how many times a keyword is searched for on a monthly basis. It gives an idea of the potential traffic that a keyword can drive to your website.

Cost per click (CPC): CPC is the amount of money an advertiser pays for a single click on their ad. It is a good indicator of the commercial value of a keyword, higher CPC usually indicates higher commercial intent or purchase intent.

Competition: This metric tells you the level of competition for a keyword. Knowing the competition level of a keyword can help you understand how difficult it will be to rank for that keyword.

Keyword research tools like Google’s Keyword Planner, SEMrush, and Ahrefs can be used to find out about CPC and competition.

By analyzing these metrics, you will have a better idea of a keyword’s potential value and how it fits into your overall strategy. For instance, a keyword with a high search volume but also high competition may be more difficult to rank for, while a keyword with a lower search volume but lower competition may be easier to rank for and still drive valuable traffic to your site.

When figuring out how valuable a keyword might be, you should look at how it relates to search volume, CPC, and competition. Additionally, you can use metrics such as click-through rate (CTR) or conversion rate (CR) to measure the performance of your website for that keyword.

You can prioritize your keyword list by organizing them into different categories such as “high-potential keywords,” “medium-potential keywords,” and “low-potential keywords.” This can help you focus your efforts on the keywords that are most likely to drive valuable traffic and conversions to your site.

🌟 Conducting Competitor Research

Researching your competitors is a key step to understanding the competition in your niche and finding ways to rank higher than them in search engine results. There are multiple methods you can use to research your competitors’ keywords and SEO strategies, such as:

Analyzing your competitors’ websites: If you look at your competitors’ websites, you can learn a lot about how they use keywords. Look at their title tags, meta descriptions, and body content, as well as the URLs of their pages, to identify their targeted keywords.

Examining their backlinks: Analyzing your competitors’ backlinks can provide insight into the quality and quantity of their inbound links and identify potential link-building opportunities.

Utilizing backlink analysis tools: Tools like Ahrefs, Majestic, or Moz provide detailed information on the backlinks of a website. This will help you understand which sites are linking to your competitors’ pages and allow you to replicate their link-building success.

Using keyword research tools: Tools like SEMrush and Ahrefs allow you to see which keywords your competitors are targeting, as well as their estimated search volume, CPC, and competition. These tools can also be used to analyze your competitors’ paid search campaigns.

Analyzing their social media presence: Look at how your competitors utilize social media and interact with their audience. Take note of the keywords they’re using in their posts and any trends they may be participating in.

By looking into your competitors’ keywords and SEO strategies, you can learn more about their strengths and weaknesses and find ways to rank higher than them. For example, if a competitor is ranking well for a keyword that you haven’t focused on, that could be a sign that you could focus on that keyword and possibly rank higher than them. Or, if a competitor has a lot of backlinks from a specific type of site, you may be able to replicate their success by getting links from similar sites.

🌟 Organizing and Prioritizing Your Keyword List

Once you have a list of potential keywords, the next step is to prioritize them based on their relevance and potential value. This will help you focus your efforts on the keywords that are most likely to drive valuable traffic and conversions to your site.

One way to prioritize your keywords is by organizing them into groups or categories based on their relevance and potential value. For example, you could create a “high-priority keywords” group for keywords that have high search volume, low competition, and a high CPC; a “medium-priority keywords” group for keywords that have moderate search volume, competition, and CPC; and a “low-priority keywords” group for keywords that have low search volume, high competition, and a low CPC.

Another method is to group keywords by theme or topic; this can help you organize your content creation efforts. So, you can write more in-depth content about a certain subject and include different keyword variations for that subject.

Once your keywords are organized and grouped, you should prioritize them based on your SEO and marketing goals. For example, if your goal is to drive more traffic to your website, you’ll want to prioritize keywords with high search volume. If your goal is to increase conversions, you’ll want to prioritize keywords with a high CPC. It’s important to keep in mind that a balance between different groups can help you reach different goals, and you should adjust your priorities accordingly. This means using your keywords in your website’s content, meta tags, and other on-page SEO elements to help search engines find your website.

Another technique to prioritize your keywords is to use a matrix like the Kano model. The Kano model helps you figure out how customer satisfaction and product features affect each other and, by extension, how a keyword affects your business goals.

🌟 Implementing Your Keyword Research

After you’ve done your keyword research and ranked your list, you should use them on your website and in your online marketing plans.

Here are some tips for incorporating your keywords into your website:

Use keywords in your title tags and meta descriptions: Title tags and meta descriptions are the snippets of text that appear in search engine results. Including keywords in these elements can help search engines understand the relevance of your site to specific queries, which can improve your click-through rate and rankings.

Use keywords in your content: Use your keywords throughout the body of your content, making sure to do so in a natural way that doesn’t compromise the readability of your content.

Use keywords in your URLs: Including keywords in your URLs can help search engines understand the relevance of the page to specific queries, which can improve your rankings.

Use keywords in your images: By adding descriptive file names and alt text that include keywords, you can help search engines understand the relevance of your images to specific queries.

Use internal linking: By linking relevant pages of your website using relevant keywords, you can help search engines understand the structure of your site and provide a better user experience.

Incorporating these keywords into your website will be better optimized and more likely to show up higher in the search engine results and attract more traffic.

🌟 Track your rankings

After putting your keywords to use on your website and in your online marketing plans, it’s time to keep track of your progress and figure out how well your keyword research worked. This will help you identify areas where you’re making progress and areas where you may need to make adjustments.

Here are some ways to monitor your progress and measure the success of your keyword research efforts:

Use a rank tracking tool: Tools such as SEMrush, Ahrefs, or SERPstat will allow you to track your rankings for specific keywords and identify areas where you’re making progress and areas where you may need to make adjustments.

Monitor your website’s traffic: Use tools like Google Analytics to monitor your website’s traffic, and pay attention to the keywords that are driving traffic to your site.

Monitor your conversion rates: Use tools like Google Analytics or other conversion tracking tools to monitor your conversion rates and identify areas where your keyword research is leading to improved conversion rates.

Monitor your backlink profile: Check your backlink profile regularly, so you can track any changes and identify any bad or spammy links affecting your website negatively.

It’s important to keep an eye on your progress because SEO and keyword performance are not fixed and are always changing. Measuring and tracking them will help you make the most of your efforts and improve your website’s visibility and conversions.

✍🏽 Conclusion

Keyword research is necessary if your website ranks higher in search engines and gets more visitors. The process involves figuring out what words and phrases your target audience is looking for and ensuring that your website and content are optimized for those keywords. This helps search engines figure out how important your site is, which leads to higher rankings and more exposure for your brand.

But remember that keyword research isn’t a one-time thing. Instead, it’s an ongoing process you should do from time to time to ensure you’re focusing on the right keywords. Also, analyzing metrics like search volume, CPC, and competition is an excellent way to evaluate a keyword’s potential value and prioritize it. Also, looking into your competitors’ keywords and SEO strategies can help you determine their strengths and weaknesses and find ways to rank higher than them. You can check out resources such as Moz, Ahrefs, and Search Engine Land to learn more about SEO and keyword research.