How to Do Keyword Research for SEO: A Step-by-Step Guide

Wondering how to do keyword research for SEO? We’ll cover everything you need to know in this step-by-step guide.

The foundation of any effective content or SEO strategy is built around keyword research. 

You need to identify the right keywords to know how you’re going to generate traffic and get a specific audience onto your website. Overlook this step, and your content will probably get lost in the internet abyss. 

Don’t worry, effective keyword research is easier than you might think. We’ll show you exactly how to do it in the guide below.

What is Keyword Research in SEO?

Keyword research is the process of finding and analyzing the words people type into search engines. This is necessary to understand what people are searching for online.

Keyword research is important for SEO because it shows which keywords can drive traffic to your site.

The process helps you discover:

• Which keywords to target
• How popular these keywords are
• How difficult it is to rank for them

By using keyword research, you can create content that matches what people are looking for. This improves your chances of appearing in search results and attracting visitors to your website.

Why is Keyword Research Important?

In short, if you want to drive traffic to your website, then you need to do keyword research.

However, doing keyword research has many benefits beyond traffic generation. Here are the main ones:

• Helps you understand your audience: Keyword research helps you learn what your target audience is searching for online. This insight lets you create content that matches their needs.

• Improves your content strategy: Knowing popular search terms is necessary to guide your content creation. This ensures your content is relevant and answers real questions.

• Increases traffic to your website: Targeting the right keywords helps your content rank higher in search results, driving more visitors to your website.

• Keeps you updated on trends: Keyword research shows current trends in your industry, allowing you to create timely and relevant content that your audience wants to discover.

• Boosts customer acquisition: Addressing specific search queries helps you attract potential customers and guide them through the buyer’s journey.

• Enhances your SEO efforts: Keywords clearly indicate what topics people care about. This helps you organize your content and improve your SEO strategy.

In short, keyword research is the foundation of effective content and marketing strategies. It ensures your content is discoverable and valuable to your audience.

Check out our detailed guide on what is a content strategy to learn more about the different reasons why a strategic approach to SEO is essential.

Elements of Keyword Research

Before we get into how to do keyword research, it’s important that you understand the different elements that make up each keyword you search for. These elements will be clearly displayed through your keyword research tool (more details on this later).

While there are many metrics you can look into when conducting keyword research, here are the main four you need to consider.

Relevance

Relevance is critical because your content must align with the searchers’ intent. 

To rank well, your content should directly address the needs and questions of users searching for that keyword. This involves understanding the different types of search intent: informational (seeking knowledge), navigational (looking for a specific site), transactional (ready to make a purchase), and commercial investigation (researching products or services). 

Ensure your content provides comprehensive answers and solutions to address this intent, making it the best resource available for the query. 

After all, Google’s goal is to offer the most relevant and valuable content, so your content must be thorough and highly useful if it’s going to rank well.

Authority

How does Google decide which source to rank better on the same topic? While the quality of the content is the most important factor, the authority of the website is the second deciding point.

Authority is a measure of your site’s credibility and trustworthiness in the eyes of Google. To build authority, you need to create high-quality, informative content that showcases your expertise. 

You also need to promote your content to earn backlinks from reputable sites. Backlinks give your website social signals, which boosts your authority. 

Remember, Google ranks authoritative sources higher, so if you’re competing with well-established websites, your content must be exceptionally well-crafted and valuable. Building authority takes time and consistent effort in producing and promoting excellent content.

How does this tie into your keyword research strategy? Well, if your site doesn’t have the authority to compete for the keyword, then you might want to choose a more realistic keyword to help you build organic rankings and better authority. 

Generally, the higher the keyword’s monthly search volume is, the more authority you’ll need to rank for it.

Search Volume

Volume refers to the keyword’s monthly search volume (MSV), which indicates how often a keyword is searched each month. 

A high search volume means more potential traffic, but it also means more websites will be competing for that search term. That’s why it’s essential to balance volume with relevance and difficulty. 

Any keyword research tool can help you determine the search volume. While high-volume keywords can bring more visitors, they are often more competitive. On the other hand, lower-volume keywords might attract fewer visitors but could be easier to rank for and highly relevant to a niche audience. 

It’s crucial to target keywords that will attract the right kind of traffic – people who are likely to engage with your content and convert. This brings you back to the relevance metric mentioned above.

Keyword Difficulty

Keyword difficulty measures how challenging it is to rank for a particular keyword. 

This is influenced by the competition. If many high-authority sites are ranking for the keyword, it will be harder for you to rank. 

When evaluating difficulty, consider your site’s current authority and resources. If a keyword has high difficulty, you may need a robust content strategy, including top-notch content, targeted link-building efforts, and possibly a longer timeframe to see results. 

Balancing keyword difficulty with search volume and relevance helps you choose the most effective keywords to target.

Below is an example of a keyword research tool (the Moz Keyword Explorer) that clearly displays these keyword elements. This is important for helping you understand your site’s chance of ranking for the keyword and what kind of return you can expect from it.

Keyword Research Strategy: How to Do Keyword Research

Here’s a simple, effective process to help you develop a strong keyword strategy and get found for the search terms that matter most to your business.

Step 1: Identify Important Topics

Start by listing relevant topics based on what you know about your business. This doesn’t need to be data-driven and is more of a brainstorming session based on your own ideas.

Think about the key areas you want to rank for. Aim for 5-10 broad topics that are central to your business. 

These topics should be what you frequently blog about or what comes up often in sales conversations. The broad topics you focus on should be aligned with your product offering, services, or unique selling points.

Put yourself in your target audience’s shoes when doing this. For example, if you’re a marketing agency, your topics might include “inbound marketing,” “email marketing,” “SEO,” and “social media marketing,” as these topics align with your main service offerings. Knowing these topics helps you focus your keyword research.

Step 2: Fill Topic Buckets with Keywords

Once you have your topics, brainstorm specific keywords for each bucket. These are phrases your target audience might search for. 

For example, under “marketing automation,” you might include keywords like “marketing automation tools,” “how to use marketing automation software,” and “email marketing automation.” 

This step is about gathering a broad list of potential keywords – you don’t need to base it on data just yet, we’re still in the high-level ideas phase.

If you’re not starting from scratch, use a tool like Google Search Console to see what keywords your site already ranks for and to get more ideas. These search terms show what your audience is interested in, so they can be valuable to base your keyword strategy around.

Step 3: Understand Search Intent

User intent is crucial in keyword research. It’s more important that your content addresses the searcher’s problem than just including the exact keyword in your content. 

For example, the keyword “how to start a blog” could mean different things. Does the user want to know how to write a blog post or how to set up a blog website? 

To determine intent, search the keyword yourself and see what types of results come up. Ensure that the content Google displays aligns with your intended use of the keyword. Now you’ll be able to narrow down a list of keyword ideas that have the right search intent for your audience.

Think about it this way – if someone searches for a keyword and wants to discover the type of information that Google offers, would this lead them to become a customer of your business? If yes, then target those keywords.

Step 4: Research Related Search Terms

If you’re stuck, look at related search terms on search results pages. 

When you search a keyword on Google, scroll to the bottom of the results page to see related searches. These suggestions can provide new keyword ideas. 

For example, if you search “content marketing,” you might see related terms like “content marketing strategy” or “content marketing examples.” These can help expand your keyword list.

These related search terms come directly from what people are searching for on Google, so they’ll always be relevant.

Step 5: Use Keyword Research Tools

Now that you’ve identified a broad keyword list, you can use keyword research tools to narrow your list down and access valuable keyword information. This can help you refine your list and identify the most valuable keywords to target.

Keyword research tools can also generate more keyword ideas based on your original keyword, and provide data on search volume and competition. These tools can also suggest exact match and phrase match keywords based on your initial ideas. 

This helps you build a comprehensive keyword list that balances relevance, search volume, and competition.

Now, once you’ve got your long list of potential keywords in place, you can look at their metrics to understand which ones are the best to target and which ones are most likely to deliver results to your business. 

If you’re researching keywords, we advise you check out our complete guide on how to create a content strategy to help you make the most of those keywords.

Best Keyword Research Tools

There are loads of different keyword research tools out there. Some are free and some are very pricey. To help you choose the right one, here are some of the top tools for keyword research.

Ahrefs

Ahrefs Keywords Explorer is known for its detailed SEO reports and keyword insights. It provides in-depth data on backlinks and organic keywords for verified domains, making it a powerful tool for SEO professionals.

SE Ranking

SE Ranking offers comprehensive keyword research and suggestion tools. 

Although the interface may require some practice, it provides valuable data without requiring a credit card for a free trial.

SEMrush Keyword Magic Tool

SEMrush is a comprehensive SEO platform. Their Keyword Magic Tool offers extensive keyword suggestions and allows you to sort and filter results easily. A free account setup is required to access these features.

Ubersuggest

Want to know how to do keyword research for free? Try using this tool.

Ubersuggest is user-friendly and offers up to three free searches a day. It provides specific keyword performance data, related keywords, and reverse search capabilities to see what your site already ranks for.

Ryrob’s Free Keyword Research Tool

This AI-powered tool is easy to use and provides related keywords and keyword cluster ideas. It’s helpful for brainstorming potential blog topics and specific search terms to target in future content.

Google Keyword Planner

Google’s tool is free and provides keyword ideas based on your website or specific keywords. It offers extensive data straight from Google, making it a reliable source for keyword research.

In order to use this tool, you need to have a Google Ads account.

Keywords Everywhere

This browser extension is highly affordable and provides keyword data directly in your search results. It offers detailed insights on related keywords and similar searches, making it a convenient tool for ongoing keyword research.

KeywordTool.io

KeywordTool.io generates a list of keyword ideas based on your input. While it only shows detailed metrics for the first few results, it provides a solid starting point for further research.

KWFinder

KWFinder is a straightforward tool that requires a free account to start. It quickly provides top keyword suggestions and is easy to use, making it a good choice for beginners.

SearchVolume.io

This free tool shows the monthly search volume for keywords after a quick verification. The data is consistent with other platforms, making it a reliable option for keyword research.

Keyword Research Tips: How to Choose the Right Keywords for Your Website

Selecting the right keywords is essential for driving traffic to your website, but deciding exactly which keywords are best can be tricky.

No that you know the general strategy for how to do keyword research, here are a couple of steps to help you refine your keyword list and choose the best ones for your strategy.

Step 1: Use Google Keyword Planner

Start by using Google Keyword Planner to get search volume and traffic estimates for your potential keywords. 

This tool helps you identify keywords that might be too competitive or not searched enough. Before removing any keywords, use Google Trends to check their trend history. Some low-volume keywords might be worth investing in if they are on an upward trend.

Step 2: Prioritize Low-Hanging Fruit

Focus on keywords that you have a realistic chance of ranking for based on your website’s authority. 

Large companies often dominate high-volume keywords, so targeting keywords with less competition can give you a better chance of ranking. 

Look for keywords where there isn’t much content already, giving you an opportunity to rank higher.

Step 3: Check Monthly Search Volume (MSV)

MSV tells you how often a keyword is searched each month. 

Use tools like searchvolume.io or Google Trends to find out the most searched keywords. 

Writing content around popular search terms ensures that your efforts align with what people are actively looking for.

Step 4: Factor in SERP Features

Google often highlights certain types of content in search results, such as image packs, paragraph snippets, list snippets, and video snippets. 

Analyze the SERP features for your chosen keywords to see how you can optimize your content. 

For example, if image packs are common, include more images in your content. If paragraph snippets appear, provide concise answers to common questions.

Just look at the example below. The keyword reveals custom images of surfboards in the top search results. So, if you want to rank well for this keyword, then you probably want to include your own image like this.

Step 5: Mix Head Terms and Long-Tail Keywords

Head terms are short and generic (one to three words), while long-tail keywords are longer and more specific. It’s crucial to have a mix of both when targeting keywords.

Head terms attract more search volume but are highly competitive. Long-tail keywords have less search volume but are easier to rank for and attract more qualified traffic. 

Make sure your keyword list includes both to balance short-term wins and long-term goals.

Step 6: Analyze Competitors

Look at what keywords your competitors are ranking for. This can help you refine your list and identify gaps in their strategy that you can exploit. 

Use tools like Ahrefs to run reports on competitor domains and see their top-ranking keywords. This insight can help you focus on keywords where you can outperform them.

Boost Your Website’s SEO With the Right Keywords

At the end of the day, there are no universally “best” keywords for SEO, only those that are highly relevant and searched by your audience. Your goal is to find keywords that balance relevance, authority, and volume. Most importantly, the keywords you target need to make sense for your audience. 

When researching keywords, focus on keywords that:

• Are highly searched by your target audience.
• You can realistically rank for given the competition.
• Allow you to create content that exceeds the quality of what is currently ranking.

By following these steps, you can develop a strong keyword strategy that drives traffic to your site and helps you achieve your SEO goals.

Need help developing a keyword and content plan? Our managed content service includes a custom keyword strategy for your business every month (plus high-quality content delivered for weekly publishing). Check it out if you’re interested in growing your business more strategically.