Keyword research is arguably one of the most important aspects to any SEO campaign, by targeting the right keywords you can ensure that your website has a good chance at ranking on Google and generating traffic from it. Here are 3 tips I would give to anyone doing keyword research:
- Look at the SERP (Search Engine Results Page): One of the best ways to get an idea of how likely your website is to rank for specific terms on Google is by assessing the websites that Google is currently ranking for those terms. If Google is ranking websites that are similar to yours in terms of context and metrics than you have a good chance of ranking. Although if Google is ranking websites that are not very similar to yours than it’s a sign that it will be difficult for you to rank. For example if you are a painting contractor and you are trying to target a keyword that has a bunch of other contractors ranking for it that’s a good sign, but if the keyword your targeting has a bunch of paint manufactures rankings for it, than you should probably rethink it. Personally the tool that I use and recommend for keyword research is KWFinder by Mangools. Using this tool you can easily assess the websites ranking on the first page for a given search term and see all their metrics in one easy spot as well as find other similar terms.
- Don’t be afraid to niche down: When conducting keyword research it can be frustrating trying to find a term that you can easily compete in, especially if your site is new. Usually general terms will be more competitive and as you niche down the competition will decrease. If you provide multiple services instead of trying to target a keyword that broadly covers all your services you might want to target each service specifically and build out separate pages for all the services. Even if the search volume for each service individually is lower combining all of them can often add up to even more search volume while also dealing with less competition. If you are a local business try to target keywords that include your town’s name, if you live in a big city try targeting keywords that include major intersections in your area.
- Look for user intent: It can be easy to get caught up in targeting keywords with the highest search volume but in many cases the highest search volume keyword is not the one that is most likely to convert. For example if you are a painter in Toronto you might be tempted to target a keyword such as “home painting” (90 searches) but this keyword is very general. The people searching for it might be looking for home painting ideas or home painting supplies, it might make more sense for you to target a keyword that shows better search intent such as “professional painters Toronto” (50 search) even though the search volume is lower it is clear that the people searching for it are looking for exactly your services. Usually you can get an idea of how valuable a keyword is by looking at the estimated CPC for that keyword in a Google Ads campaign.
The best way to improve your keyword research is through practice, the more websites you rank on Google the better understanding you will have of how the algorithm works. If you’re looking for a digital marketing agency feel free to reach out to me for help.
