Understanding The Basics Of Keyword Research
By Steve Phillips
President
Purple Trout, LLC
Everything related to online marketing – search engine optimization, pay-per-click, and even social media – starts with a keyword.
No matter where you invest your Internet marketing time, keyword research must be the starting point. After all, studies show that 80% of all online purchases start with a keyword search within a search engine or social media platform.
Accordingly, the publication of website content, articles, blogs, white papers and anything in social media should begin with finding and targeting the right keywords.
It is also important to note that while most businesses believe that all keyword research tools target B2C (business-to-consumer) results, B2B (business-to-business) keyword research involves identifying the best possible keywords for business-to-business SEO. These include transaction-, awareness- and education-related keywords.
So what is the best way to get started with keyword research? Begin by creating three lists:
- List 1 -- Compile a list of possible keywords you believe best describe your company and its products or services.
- List 2 - Compile a list of possible keywords your customers are using to find you. You should be able to gather this information from your Google Analytics account or from your website design statistical software.
- List 3 - Review your competitors' websites and collect a list of keywords they are targeting. Review their page titles and page content to find these keywords.
Once you combine your lists, you're ready to move onto the researching stage, in which you will utilize various keyword research tools in order to help find the best possible keywords to target for your online marketing efforts (SEO, pay-per-click, content, social media, etc.).
Here are the top-seven tools and online services you can utilize to research and select the best keywords for your website:
- Google Keyword Tool - Google AdWords
- Google Insights for Search
- Google Trends
- Microsoft AdCenter Keyword Forecasting
- WordTracker
- SEMRush
- Keyword Discovery
Google Keyword Tool / Google AdWords
The Google Keyword Tool (better known as Google AdWords Research) is popular for two reasons: it's free and it's a Google product.
The primary purposes of AdWords are to help you determine how many searches are conducted for targeted keywords each month and to let you know what you can expect to pay for Google AdWords traffic (i.e., pay-per-click).
All-in-all, it's a good "starter" tool for keyword research.
Remember: The statistics revealed through the Google AdWords tool represent search numbers for Google only (they do not include results for Bing, Yahoo!, Safari, etc.).
The Google Keyword Tool allows you to enter words or phrases manually. It also offers you the option of having Google crawl your website and offer keyword suggestions based on the site's current content or categories.
Note: You can also choose from advanced options and filters, including locations, languages and devices (think iPads, smart phones, etc.).
Google Insights for Search
Google Insights is an awesome tool for keyword comparisons, locations and time ranges. Here, you can search for specific keyword information, locations and date ranges. For example, you can research search frequency for the keyword "file cabinets" in "Los Angeles, California" over the last 12 months.
In addition, you can research multiple search terms and compare searching trends among those terms.
In addition, Google Insights offers the ability to search for specific international, national, regional and local interest on targeted keywords, as well as uncovering the top search terms and rising searching trends.
Google Trends
Google Trends is another useful (and free) Google tool that can be vital to keyword research.
Here, you can compare search trends on targeted keywords. Google Trends will help identify any spikes in specific searching numbers based on news items, stock information, etc. For example, a high number of searches were recorded for the keyword "Los Angeles Lakers" on June 18, 2010. Why? That's when the Lakes won their 16th NBA title.
Keyword Trends can also be viewed by regions, cities and languages.
Microsoft AdCenter Keyword Forecasting
This tool works through an Excel add-in that is installed on your computer and offers keyword research stats by the month or by the day. In addition, Microsoft AdCenter Keyword Forecasting predicts search query numbers for the next three months.
The Microsoft AdCenter website includes a short tutorial video which explains how to download and use the Excel add-in.
WordTracker
Although long-term users will need to subscribe to WordTracker, a free version of the keyword research tool is available.
With the free tool, you'll need to enter keyword phrases individually, and your research results will be limited to search numbers only.
All-in-all, this is a popular and useful keyword research site.
SEMRush
SEMRush is also available by subscription. Here, you can search by domain, keyword or URL. It's also a great tool to use to research your competition, for both organic and paid searches.
Keyword Discovery
Like WordTracker, Keyword Discovery offers its keyword research services via a paid subscription. However, while you learn and test the service, a free trial is available
Finally, although it is an essential first step in creating a successful Internet marketing campaign, keyword research and selection is not a "set it and forget it" task. Businesses should be reviewing their targeted keywords on a regular basis (i.e., every 90 days).
