One of the most common problems for people just getting started online is that they don’t realise the importance of simple keyword research when creating content for their blog or website.
A lot of people decide to write articles or create videos on topics that they think people would like to read or watch. But is important to realise that if you were to actually do a bit of simple keyword research first, it would drive a lot more free traffic to your website (if done properly).
For those that are not sure of the meaning of a keyword, it is basically a phrase (can be more than one word) that people type into the search engines.
Unless you are already an established name online and are getting plenty of traffic, creating content is pointless unless you are getting eyeballs onto your website.
So when you look at it this way, you can see the importance of researching keywords that fall into both of the following two categories:
a) keywords that are in demand (people are searching for them).
b) keywords that don’t have massive competition and are therefore possible to rank for.
So therefore, any piece of content that you create should be based around a specific keyword or group of keywords. Decide on a good keyword first, and then create a piece of content around it.
So, now that we know the importance of going to the effort of researching the keywords for our content, let’s take a look at a very basic system that you can start using for simple keyword research.
Keep in mind that this formula is for people that are inexperienced at keyword research, and it is not designed to turn you into a SEO guru. I don’t pretend to be an SEO expert, but I know enough about the basics to help people get started.
Once you start doing this, you will then have the foundation to begin learning about advanced keyword research eventually in the future.
Use The Google Keyword Tool
At the time of writing this is the URL to visit to use the Google Keyword Tool ==> https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
Pick a topic that you are interested in writing about and type it into the box at the top (Word or Phrase). Tick the box that says “Only show ideas closely related to my search terms”, and set the country and language options to your choice.
Fill in the annoying captcha section and hit the “Search” button.
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Now it’s more than likely that the keyword or phrase that you have chosen has many thousands or millions of searches globally per month. Obviously the chances of ranking for a keyword that has such high competition is nearly impossible for the average person, and even very difficult for the ultimate SEO guru.
This does not mean that we give up on our keyword though, we just need to add some words at the front and/or the beginning of the keyword to create a variation of it.
A keyword that contains one or two words is known as a short tail keyword, and a keyword that is three words or more is usually referred to as a long tail keyword. In our case we are going to be targeting the long tail keywords, as they are much less competitive, and therefore easier to rank for.
So in our example above we need to look at some extended variations of the keyword “dog training”. The Google Keyword tool does this for us by adding a list of related keywords and displaying the data for each.
The parameters that I look for are:
a) preferably “low” to “medium” in the competition column (for obvious reasons)
b) a minimum of 100 searches globally per month (anything less does not have enough demand)
c) a maximum of 1,000 searches globally per month (anymore makes it too difficult to rank and you need to be really good at SEO to stand a chance of getting on the first page – due to very high competition)
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So if we are looking for something to do with certification for dog training, the keyword highlighted above is close to perfect. It does have high competition, but at only 210 searches per month, you at least have a chance of getting your content ranked.
It is just a matter of experimenting with different variations until you find something that is closely related to what you want to write about, and also fits the parameters listed above.
It may take a while to find a suitable keyword, but it is worth the effort, and you will definitely get better at this the more that you do it.
Now that you have chosen a good keyword, you should always use the keyword in the title of the content, and also in the URL of the post (known as the permalink). If possible include the keyword a few times in the body of the article, but don’t overuse the keyword though. It is more important to have a piece of content that flows and makes sense – than to try and trick the search engines.
There is no exact science to keyword research, but like anything, it is a learned skill that become easier over time.mple keyword resea
