How To Perform Keyword Research For SEO: In-Depth Guide 

If you are serious about SEO, then you need to be serious about keyword research for SEO. 

You cannot simply stuff your content with keywords and hope that your page would rank high in the search engine results pages (SERPs). 

Keyword research is a complex and ever-evolving process, but there are a few basics that every SEO should know.

In this guide, I’ll take you over everything you need to know about keyword research for SEO, from how to find the right keywords to target to how to use them in your content.

And by the end, you would have a solid understanding of how to perform keyword research for SEO and how to use keywords to improve your site’s ranking in the SERPs.

So let’s get started with keyword research for SEO.

What Is Keyword Research?

Keyword research is a process of finding the terms and queries that your users are searching for on Google to look for products, services, or any information. 

For example, if you type in the search box, “how to do meditation”. This is what a keyword that you insert in the Google search box which later gives out several results in the form of Google SERPs.

Think like…

If you have a business of an online e-commerce store, and people searching for your business can’t find you in the search results. 

Why? Because keywords or terms that you infused in your web pages don’t match with the keywords your audience is searching for.

At last, it can ultimately affect your rankings, and decrease the organic traffic.

This makes keyword research a very important component of SEO. Now, you must ask…

Why Is Keyword Research For SEO Important?

See, it is all about how easily you can fulfill the need of your audience. Identifying the terms that your target audience is searching for should be the sole purpose of keyword research for SEO.

With keyword research for SEO, you can ensure that you get connected with the people who need you. Plus, it also tells the areas that you might be missing earlier and focus on them from now.

So, to enhance the quality of your webpage and gain more reach, it is important to get a step forward to do keyword research for SEO.

With importance come the benefits… conducting result-driving keyword research for SEO has immense benefits, they are:

1. Increases Engagement Of The Audience

As soon as you start creating content around the keywords you listed when doing keyword research for SEO, that particular content will be more engaging and more relevant to the audience.

2. Updated Trends Insights

Identifying keywords can help you get insights into new SEO trends which later can help create new content that is engaging and attractive as well.

3. Increased Conversions

Creating content that is engaging and informative can surely lead to more and more conversions.

4. More Organic Traffic

Your Google rankings can be significantly improved by identifying the best keywords to list out and writing content around them. With this, Google would rank you higher in the SERPs if it determines that your content is relevant to the search queries, and can increase traffic to your website.

Essential Elements Of Keyword Research

The three main elements of Keyword Research for SEO include:

Volume

Volume is determined to be the number of searches per month. It means how many times a certain keyword is searched by the audience.

For instance, you created content around a keyword and that article ranks on the top spot of Google SERPs. But it does not drive any traffic. 

Why? This is because people are not searching for that term or keyword at all!

That is why, you have to check the search volume of a keyword to identify which keywords are useful and which are not.

KD

Next up is… Keyword Difficulty, KD refers to the competition for a keyword. It means how difficult it is to rank for a keyword in Google search results. KD is measured on a scale from 1-100.

High KD means ranking for a keyword is very difficult or the competition is high. Whereas, Low KD means you can put that keyword in your content as the competition for that keyword is low. 

But targeting keywords with high keyword difficulty and creating outstanding content around them can increase your chances of ranking higher as compared to that of low KD keywords. But if you are new to SEO, you can also target low KD keywords as they have lesser competition.

It is important to consider both the Volume and Keyword difficulty of keywords simultaneously as both metrics are related to one another. 

Relevance

Google tends to rank Relevant Content. This is where comes the role of INTENT. Your content can only and only rank higher when it satisfies the needs of the customers.

You should always try to create content around any keyword that is answering the question asked by the audience. 

For example, If I search how to find keywords for website, in result, Google shows me the results that must be answering my query. 

Why? Just because those results must have the content which is relevant to the query asked.

With this, let me tell you a few tips for keyword research….

How To Perform Keyword Research For SEO

Now, I’m gonna show you some tried-and-true keyword strategy for SEO that you can use to generate a ton of keyword suggestions.

Use Tools To Find Keywords You Think People Might Search For

To name some, these are, Ahrefs Keyword Explorer, Google Keyword Planner, Moz Keyword Explorer, and many more…

So, let me tell you how to find the keywords, Go to Ahrefs > Insert the target keyword in the search box > Click on search

In a result, it will show the keywords and the related search terms that people are searching for in the search engines.

The overview includes Keyword Difficulty, Volume, Traffic Potential, Clicks, and many more metrics.

Secondly, it shows you a list of keywords, question-based keywords, and related terms

And an overview of the SERP analysis. Here,

Over here, you can see a few elements like no. of backlinks, other keywords, and the volume of the website which used that keyword.

Read More: Ahrefs Guide: The Most Comprehensive Guide Available on the Internet

List Out A Few Topic Ideas To Start With

The next keyword strategy for SEO is listing out a few topic ideas to further generate keywords. This could be the services you provide or the products you sell.

For example, if your niche is Search Engine Optimization, Then your search terms could be digital marketing services, SEO services, email marketing, web development, and much more.

Note: The above-listed services are just an example. Do not consider them as your main keywords.

When I searched for the main topic, I got a few terms to list.

Now that you have identified a few broad topics… just insert each of them in keyword research tools such as Ahrefs, Semrush, Google Keyword Planner, and many more.

Let’s find out the keywords for SEO services…

I nearly got around 11,227 keywords! And as discussed about the elements earlier, keeping them in mind, now I can list out a few keywords for each of the broad topics. 

Talking about the tools, I’ll provide a list of them later…  with this, let’s jump on to the next tips for keyword research for SEO.

Find Long-Tail Variants For Your Keywords

Long-tailed keywords are the keywords that are the longer version of your main keyword. They may not have a high search volume but they have lesser competition.

But you may question, why target such keywords?

Let me tell you an example,

The above image tells us about how targeting long-tailed keywords can enhance the engagement period of the audience and help you to drive more traffic to your website.

Shoes (seed keyword) do have a larger search volume, but this makes the keyword more competitive and difficult to rank. As many others would also be targeting that keyword only.

Whereas, best running shoes for kids (long-tailed) have a lower search volume but have a high chance of getting higher rankings because of low competition.

These keywords can generally be the questions asked by the audience. 

Let’s bring back the ‘meditation’ example,

Use the search volume filter to instantly see thousands of long-tail keywords by simply searching for any word that describes your niche in Keywords Explorer.

Don’t forget to click the “Questions” button as well. It frequently reveals some interesting questions-framed long-tail search results:

Targeting such keywords can really increase your visibility. Sometimes it happens that users GO SPECIFIC.

Searching for short terms can make you rank higher, but at times it may be difficult to rank for short keywords because the competition can be high for it.

But on the other hand, going for long-tailed keywords can be fruitful by using these keywords, you can attract highly relevant and organic traffic to your website.

Next up in the queue of keyword strategies to perform keyword research for SEO is…

keyword Difficulty Analysis

This is a very crucial step when doing keyword research for SEO because you need to perform keyword difficulty analysis and find out how competitive a keyword is and how much it can help you in ranking.

Here comes the role of various metrics like Volume, Keyword difficulty, Traffic, Trend, Intent, etc.

Here are some key points to keep in mind to analyze your keywords:

1. Identifying The Search Volume Of That Keyword 

If you are new to SEO, then you should not look to gather keywords that have search volumes of thousands or millions because they can be too competitive to rank for.

Instead, you should target keywords that are less competitive, low-volume keywords that are easy to rank for can be of good use. These are what are known as long-tailed keywords (discussed above).

2. Identify The Keyword Difficulty Of The Keywords

KD ranges from 1-100, the higher the percentage, the more the competition to rank for a keyword.

Here’s an example to explain… Below I have given the analysis of two keywords, can you guess which one can be used as far as Keyword Difficulty is concerned?

The first one has 17% KD.

And the second one has a KD of 100%.

Obviously, one should go for the first one as the possibility of ranking for that keyword is high as the competition is low.

Whereas, the second one is too hard to compete and one should have to gather high-quality content to write and get into the SERPs 

Plus, it depends on the Domain Authority of your website, which means if you have high-quality backlinks then your website’s domain authority would be high enough to compete for a highly competitive keyword.

Also, it does not solely depend upon the keyword difficult that matters…

There are a few more metrics that you should keep an eye on while doing keyword research for SEO.

At last, I have, 

3. Trend Of The Keywords

Observing the trends in search volume over time for a particular keyword can be useful.

Why? 

Because, it is the keywords that need the most efforts: writing content, building links, on-page seo, and more…

Which makes it very important to understand how a keyword is behaving. Is it trending over time or not? Is the trend of that keyword?

Analyzing the trend is one of a kind of keyword strategy for SEO.

Look how,

A keyword with a declining trend would not benefit in any aspect whether it be keyword research for blogs or websites. Whereas, when you see a keyword with a rising trend, you must go for it. Like this…

Such keywords can really affect your rankings and can drive a good bunch of visitors also. With this, let’s move to the next part which is to identify the intent of the listed keywords

Check Out The Search Intent For The Keyword

Search is what is known as the sentiments of a query. It means the purpose of a particular query that is searched by the user. Earlier marketers used to trick google with several black hat tactics. But as Google introduced new algorithms… The situation is completely different.

Now, you would be able to achieve higher rankings only if you can measure users’ search intent. 

And talking about Search Intent, there are four types of search intent. Refer to the table below,

This is the best opportunity to make a move and have a positive impact on your rankings. You just have to identify the intent of your users, and later create amazing content around the keywords you identified depending upon the intent.

Let me take you to the basics…

While searching on Google,  what would a person think? maybe looking for more alternatives, getting some information, or may visit a website. 

This is what INTENT is all about!

If the search intent hints at information, simply deliver content based on it. Or if the intent is to hire some sort of services or visit somewhere, quickly optimize your website including keywords related to navigational intent.

Find More Relevant Terms For Your Keywords

This is one of the coolest and simplest tips for keyword research for SEO. To find more relevant terms for your keywords, just put your keyword in the Google search box and press enter.

Scroll Scroll Scroll! When you reached the bottom of the SERP page, you’ll see terms like this. These are the Related Search terms for that keyword.

These keywords can give you suggestions for additional keywords you might want to think about.

Create A Keyword Strategy For SEO

Every choice you make based on the results of your keyword research for SEO, whether it’s about the content you plan to write or how you’re going to track the results, is contained in your keyword strategy for SEO.

It starts with questioning yourself about your goals, followed by why would anyone visit your website, and what’s unique in your business. This would provide you with a better insight into your business.

Next up, is attaining the value of search intent, as mentioned above also, getting clarity on what the audience is searching for could be some sort of help.

This would also help you to gather the words or say queries that people are looking for. With this, you must create user-focused content that perfectly matches their intentions and objectives.

Talking about finding the best phrases and not including the Competition can be a crucial point…

So, it is important to have a good look at your competitors and identify what’s working for them, and strategically identify what improvements you can do to make your website more attractive.

At last, you have to go for the final analysis that is, analyzing your performance. Check whether the keywords you listed are working or not. Whether your website is driving traffic or is ranking higher or not.

And this is the most crucial part of your keyword strategy for SEO to work on…

Create Pages For Keywords

Now comes the part where you actually use the listed keywords to form a piece of content on your website. Time to show some CREATIVITY!

Creating pages for keywords is considered to be the best keyword strategy for SEO to do…

It shows how well your listed keywords perform when get indexed on the search engines. For that, you have to create high-quality content or even create pages for each keyword.

Look, not every keyword can be used in writing content, some might be used for separate pages…

For example, you listed a few keywords: e-commerce SEO, Healthcare SEO, Competitors Analysis Tools for SEO, and  SEO Site Auditing Tools.

Now, can you imagine creating a whole page for a keyword, SEO Site auditing tools? NO! And what if a keyword is Healthcare SEO? YES! 

A separate page can be made for this keyword citing each and everything a medical store can do to attract more organic patients and provide its services.

Here’s a damn good example of my own website. See below how I dedicated a separate page to every service my company offers…

And Of course, these pages do have the keywords that were listed from the keyword research for SEO.

Points to remember when creating pages for each keyword listed:

• Craft a catchy Title including the target keyword 
• Write attention-grabbing Meta Description
• Include attractive Images (well-optimized)
• Create a user-friendly URL
• Work on Internal Linking
• Include a CTA button on your webpages

Read More: Tweaks For Page Title & Meta Description That’ll Boost Your SEO Traffic & CTR

And this takes us to the list of tools for keyword research for SEO…

Keyword Research Tools

Yes! You heard that right.

Now is the time when I’ll state a few tools that would help you in keyword research for SEO. There are a number of tools available in the market that may put an end to this question, ‘how to find keywords for a website’

Google Search Console

You can monitor how well your website performs in organic search using Google Search Console. This indicates that a lot of information is displayed about the keywords you already rank for.

Plus, it also provides a list of potential keywords that you can also rank for.

Read More: The Ultimate Guide To Using Google Search Console For SEO

Ahrefs

Ahrefs, as I have shown above is one of my trusted tools for keyword research for SEO. You can have a full overview of any keyword which also gives you related search terms questions, potential traffic, and search volume for that keyword.

Many people ask, how to conduct keyword research in ahrefs? We have an ultimate ahrefs guide. 

Read More: Ahrefs Guide: The Most Comprehensive Guide Available on the Internet

SEMrush

If you’re looking for something more advanced, Semrush is a fine tool for keyword research for SEO that offers a ton of keyword data and makes it simple for you to target the best suitable keywords.

Additionally, Semrush provides a wide range of keyword research tools, including content-driven keyword research, competitive keyword gap analysis, and standard traffic and search volume data.

Google Keyword Planner

One of the best tools to perform keyword research for SEO is Google Keyword Planner. You do not have to worry about hitting restrictions or having to pay for upgrades because it’s totally free. 

It gives you a number of search queries or keywords with relative metrics (avg monthly searches, competition, and a few more.  Here, have a look,

Conclusion

So, this was all about keyword research for SEO from head to toe. Doing this must give you the basic knowledge of what is keyword research how to choose seo keywords and a few tips for keyword research that I have mentioned.

After accomplishing the basics, I’ll take you to the advanced techniques and strategies once you have a better understanding through application to advance your keyword research.

With this, now it’s your turn now, go for keyword research for SEO and list out the best working keywords for your website to achieve better rankings as well as drive more traffic.

And if you have any sort of questions or suggestions, comment below in the comment section. I’ll catch you there.

FAQs

1. How can I increase the visibility of my keywords?

Here are a few tips to increase the visibility of your keywords:

• Optimize Meta Tags (include keywords in your Titles and Descriptions)
• Optimize Images
• Optimize anchor texts for better internal linking
• Write engaging content including the best suitable keywords

2. How can I boost organic keyword volume?

Start with listing out some keywords, refine your list with matching the search intent, don’t overthink choosing the keywords with lesser search volume, and create a content keeping in mind the intent of the users.

3. What number of keywords need to be used for SEO?

It might be easier to get a higher ranking when you have a vision and specifications. Going with the topics that relate the best to your business can be a good option. For this, you have to list out 1 or 2 target keywords, 4-5 secondary keywords, and a few LSI keywords.