Complete Beginner’s Guide to Keyword Research for 2024

Doing keyword research but unsure where to start or how it impacts SEO? 

Cut through the confusion with our step-by-step guide as we teach you how to uncover the keywords that will drive the most traffic to your site and position your content to align with what your audience is searching for.

Keyword research is a crucial part of SEO. It enables content creation that matches user search behavior and improves search rankings by identifying and utilizing terms that resonate with the target audience.

A balance of long-tail keywords (specific, less competitive, high conversion) and short-tail keywords (broad, highly competitive) is essential for immediate visibility and fulfilling long-term SEO goals.

But first, let’s understand what is keyword research.

What is Keyword Research?

Keyword research involves investigating and analyzing search terms that users enter into search engines like Google. It’s stepping into your audience’s shoes, understanding their search behavior, and aligning your content to their needs, ensuring its relevance and efficiency.

It’s not just about finding the most popular keywords. It’s about understanding your audience’s needs to deliver the right content.

To conduct keyword research effectively, you should focus on:

• Decode the language used by your target audience
• Understanding how they search for your services
• Identifying the words they use
• Optimizing your content strategies
• Steering clear of irrelevant content
• Driving idea generation through insight into popular topics and competition levels
• Learning how to perform keyword research to enhance your overall SEO strategy

This process helps you create content that resonates with your audience and improves search engine rankings. That’s because, according to Google Helpful Update, the more valuable content you create, the more Google will prioritize it.

Remember, your target keywords could range from commercial to informational phrases depending on what your potential customers will likely search for online. This is where keyword research and integrating the relevant terms in your content helps search engines and users find your website.

Why is Keyword Research Important for SEO?

Keyword research is the backbone of SEO and draws organic traffic, which is a crucial factor for search engine ranking.

Keywords, rather than mere SEO jargon, link a website’s content and prospective audience. They allow you to discover the queries your target audience searches for on Google, informing your content and wider marketing strategies.

When your website content uses the same terms that your potential customers enter into search engines, the odds of your website appearing in search results are significantly higher.

This is where relevant keywords align with the content of your post and match what people would search for on Google. Considering specific terms in keyword research can improve search engine results’ visibility and attract potential customers.

Choosing the right keyword for a blog post is essential, as it is a crucial part of content optimization for search engines. At the same time, it’s equally important to discard keywords that no longer resonate with your target audience or aren’t relevant to your industry.

Type of Keywords in SEO

There are 3 primary types of keywords in SEO.

1. Short-tail keywords
2. Long-tail keywords
3. Latent Semantic Indexing or LSI keywords

We’d advise incorporating a mix of all 3 types in your strategy to help achieve a balance between short-term visibility and meeting long-term SEO goals.

For your better understanding, we’ve explained all 3 below:

1. Short-tail Keywords

Short-tail keywords are also known as head terms. These are typically one to two words long and have a high search volume.

However, they’re usually very competitive and might be more difficult to rank for.

Despite this, they play a crucial role in getting your content noticed by a broader audience.

2. Long-tail Keywords

These are more specific search terms, usually with lower search volume but higher conversion rates.

Do you know why?

Because they’re less competitive and provide clear indications of searcher intent, leading to better results.

So, while long-tail keywords might bring less traffic, they attract more quality leads, contributing to better conversion rates.

3. LSI Keywords

LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) Keywords are terms or phrases closely related to the main keyword or topic of a piece of content, helping search engines understand the context and relevance of the content.

For instance, if the main keyword is “content marketing,” LSI keywords could include “digital marketing strategy,” “content creation tips,” “SEO optimization,” or “social media engagement.”

Notice how these terms are semantically linked to the main keyword and provide additional context about the content’s subject matter.

By incorporating LSI keywords naturally into your content, you can improve its relevance and increase its chances of ranking higher in search engine results pages.

How to do Keyword Research for Your SEO Strategy?

Here’s a step-by-step guide to conducting keyword research to prepare your long-term SEO strategy.

1. Analyzing Search Volume and Competition

Search volume, which indicates the average monthly searches a keyword attracts, mirrors its demand and potential to generate traffic. This metric helps gauge a keyword’s popularity and the traffic that can be attracted if targeted effectively.

Conversely, there is the aspect of keyword competition. Assessing the difficulty and competition for keywords is crucial to determine whether ranking for them is feasible and to identify which keywords are worth investing resources in.

For instance, optimizing for popular keywords with lower competition can significantly boost the chances of ranking in search results, thereby increasing organic traffic more effectively.

2. Brainstorming Seed Keywords

You should always start with brainstorming seed keywords. These are your starting points, representing broad terms relevant to your business niche.

For example, if you want to target content marketers, your seed keywords might include:

1. Content marketing strategies
2. SEO optimization
3. Digital marketing trends

Understanding your target audience is key at this stage.

What terms would they likely use to discover your content or services?

By aligning these industry-specific keywords, you can better align your content with the interests and needs of your audience, boosting your overall SEO performance and content relevance.

3. Identifying Long-Tail and Location-Based Keywords

Long-tail keywords, typically longer and more specific phrases, are vital in content marketing or SEO strategies.

For example, instead of targeting a broad term like ‘content marketing,’ a long-tail keyword could be ‘content marketing strategies for small businesses.’

These long-tail keywords are easier to rank for and attract highly relevant traffic, improving conversion rates.

Similarly, incorporating location-based keywords can benefit local businesses looking to attract nearby customers.

For instance, if you’re a content marketing agency based in New York City, using keywords like ‘content marketing agency in NYC’ or ‘best content marketing services in New York’ can help your website appear in search results when potential clients in the area are searching for related services.

This localized approach enhances the relevance of your content and increases the likelihood of connecting with your target audience.

How to Choose Keywords for Your Website for Organic Search?

Selecting the appropriate keywords for your website encapsulates both art and science. It’s not just about selecting high-volume keywords; it’s about understanding search intent and aligning your content to meet those needs.

Consider different types of search intents, such as:

• Informational (looking for information)
• Navigational (looking for a specific website)
• Transactional (looking to buy)
• Commercial investigation (comparing products before buying)

Understanding user intent is crucial as it dictates the keywords you should target. For example, if your audience wants informational content, you might focus on keywords like ‘benefits of content marketing’ or ‘how to create an SEO strategy.’

For those ready to take action or purchase, transactional keywords such as ‘hire a content marketing agency’ or ‘SEO services pricing’ are more suitable.

This is why assessing the competition and difficulty of ranking for each keyword is essential.

You can also use keyword research tools like SEOBoost to identify high-volume, low-competition keywords that align with user intent. With its Topic Reports feature, you can get insights into what keywords rank on SERPs and how often you should use them.

Best Tools for Keyword Research

So, now that you know how to do keyword research, how do you pinpoint the most relevant keywords for your website?

This is where keyword research tools come in handy. These tools streamline the understanding of search intent, offer related keyword suggestions, and save valuable time.

So, let’s discuss how to make the most of the best keyword research tools.

1. SEOBoost – The #1 Keyword Research Tool

SEOBoost is an SEO tool that is created as an easy way to create better-ranking content. SEO Boost is an all-in-one SEO Tool for content and keyword research, preparing seamless content briefs, and optimizing & publishing better content with the help of AI and Workflow Automation.

2. Google Keyword Planner

Google Keyword Planner is one of the most widely used free keyword research tools for discovering related organic keywords, understanding search trends, and estimating traffic for each keyword.

You need a Google Ads account to use it, but don’t worry; you don’t have to run an active campaign.

The planner offers advanced filtering and sorting options, including:

• The ability to exclude keywords already in use in Google Ads campaigns
• Filter by average monthly searches
• Broaden searches to discover keywords that are related to the original terms entered

These features aid in comprehensive keyword research.

2. Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool

Next on the list is Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool. Known for providing insights into keyword difficulty, this tool helps you with SEO keyword research. You can discover high-value keywords in minutes, assisting in creating quality content and effective ad campaigns.

Semrush offers the following features:

• Displays search volume data and historical fluctuations for keywords over the previous year
• Presents a clear overview of demand trends
• Helps you anticipate keyword trends and adjust your keyword strategy accordingly.

3. Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer

The Keywords Explorer from Ahrefs is one of the most reliable SEO tools that provides users with a wide range of data and valuable insights. It offers comprehensive information to help users improve their keyword research and analysis. It lets you identify popular keywords, uncover related search terms, and assess keyword competition.

Ahrefs provides data on search volume, the intent behind the searches, and the level of competition. It also features Site Explorer, Keywords Explorer, and Content Gap analysis, which help measure competitors’ performance.

How to Optimize Content with Targeted Keywords

After identifying your target keywords, the next step involves optimizing them in your content for better ranking on search engine results pages.

This involves crafting engaging titles, ensuring natural keyword usage, and using keywords in headers, URLs, and image alt text. You can also add these to your content optimization checklist for a better workflow.

Let’s look at the most important optimizing factors.

1. Create Engaging Titles and Meta Descriptions

Meta descriptions summarize a webpage’s content and are displayed to users in search results. They play a key role in SEO by persuading users to click on a search result.

A well-crafted meta description can indirectly influence search rankings by improving the click-through rate (CTR), which search engines like Google use to signal a page’s relevance and quality.

Keeping them between 145 and 155 characters ensures they are not truncated in search results.

You should also use an active voice and include a call to action in meta descriptions to encourage users to click through to the webpage.

Remember, the meta description should accurately reflect the page’s content to avoid misleading users, which could negatively impact trust and search engine rankings.

If you’re a WordPress user, you can download AIOSEO for free and use its meta description generator feature to create optimized metadata for your content. 

2. Ensure Natural Keyword Usage

One of the biggest mistakes in SEO is keyword stuffing. This involves overusing keywords in the content, leading to a poor user experience and penalties from Google. Sometimes, it can also lead to several keywords being used improperly.

Instead, you should incorporate keywords smoothly into the text, maintaining a good user experience and increasing the ranking potential for search traffic.

You can also use variations and synonyms of main keywords to maintain the natural flow of content. For example, instead of repeatedly using ‘content marketing’, you might interchangeably use terms like ‘digital marketing strategy’ or ‘online marketing approach.’

Remember, prioritizing content that resonates with human readers and flows naturally is essential.

You should also pay attention to keyword density. This refers to the number of times a keyword is used in the content compared to the total word count. Aim towards balancing keyword density to avoid over-optimization.

3. Use Keywords in Headers, URLs, and Image Alt Text

Using keywords in headers and URLs is a crucial strategy for improving a page’s visibility in search results.

For instance, if you’re writing a blog post about keyword research tips, you should use the keyword phrase ‘keyword research tips’ in your H1 tag and URL. This helps search engines understand your content, increasing the chances of your page appearing in relevant search results.

In addition to headers and URLs, including keywords in your image alt text is important, too.

Alt text is what search engines use to understand what an image is about. Including relevant keywords in your image alt text can improve your SEO and make your content more accessible to people using screen readers.

Monitor and Adjust Your Keyword Research Strategy

Here are some of the most important ways to monitor content marketing and keyword strategy.

1. Track Keyword Rankings

SEO is a long game, and keeping track of your keyword rankings over time is essential. This helps recognize changes in search results and optimize or remove underperforming keywords.

Google Search Console can reveal up to 1,000 of the most popular keywords a site ranks for, along with performance metrics such as search queries.

2. Analyze Competitor Strategies

Analyzing your competitors can provide valuable insights that can help refine your SEO approach. By studying their keyword targeting strategies, you can see what’s driving their traffic and conversions and apply these insights to your strategy.

Tools like the SERP Gap Analyzer can pinpoint which keywords competitors rank for with less effective content, suggesting opportunities for improvement and capturing market share. This can be particularly useful for identifying gaps in your content and discovering new keyword opportunities.

3. Update Old Content with New Keywords

As your business evolves, so should your keywords. Regularly reviewing and updating your keyword list is crucial to match the evolving search intent of your target audience and keep abreast with current trends.

Optimizing existing content by adding new, relevant keywords can help prioritize pages and tasks, making the SEO process more effective. This can involve updating your content to include new products or services or reflecting industry trends or changes in customer preferences.

Advanced Keyword Research Techniques

Advanced techniques include leveraging semantic keywords for an in-depth understanding of the content. It also includes developing comprehensive content outlines that naturally incorporate related keywords. The objective is to optimize the content to rank on the first page of search engines.

Here are a few advanced keyword search techniques you can adopt.

1. Use Semantic Keywords

As discussed above, semantic keywords include contextually related terms that contribute to a deeper understanding of the content’s topic beyond mere synonyms.

For instance, if your main keyword is ‘keyword research tips,’ semantic keywords could include ‘backlinks,’ ‘keyword data,’ ‘SERP features,’ and so on.

These keywords provide more context about your content, helping search engines understand and rank it better.

2. Stay Updated with Keyword Trends

Keeping up-to-date with keyword trends is important for SEO. You can use SEOBoost to keep track of keywords and what your competitors are doing.

You can also use Google Trends, which is a free tool that allows you to:

• See the popularity of search queries, filtered by location, search history, and category in almost real-time
• Use it alongside Google Keyword Planner to identify search queries increasing or declining in popularity.

Key Takeaway

Effective keyword research is much more than just predicting monthly search volume. It ensures that your content reaches the right audience.

By identifying the right keywords, understanding your audience’s search intent, and incorporating them into your content, you can connect with your target audience meaningfully, driving traffic and conversions.

Whether you’re a small business owner, a content creator, or an SEO professional, SEOBoost can help you create better-ranking content. Try SEOBoost for free today and see the potential of the only all-in-one SEO tool you’ll ever need!

FAQs

How to do Google keyword research?

Use keyword research tools to analyze the keyword trends, competitive analysis and capture search intent.

How do you create keywords for research?

To create keywords for research, start by briefly describing your research topic. Then, identify 2-4 important words from your research question and list related words for each key concept. This will help you narrow down and select the best keywords for your research.

Why is keyword research important for SEO?

Keyword research is important for SEO because it aligns content with user expectations, improves search result visibility, and informs marketing strategies. It’s crucial for a strong SEO foundation.

What are the best tools for keyword research?

The best tools for keyword research are SEOBoost, Google Keyword Planner, Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool, and Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer.

Alina Zahid Content Writer

Alina is an SEO professional with specialized knowledge of content marketing. When she’s not busy researching and creating awesome content for SEOBoost, she can be found practicing piano, writing fiction and traveling.

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