Doesn’t matter whether you are a freelancer, writing for a company, or building your own content writing agency; the ultimate goal of every content writer is to watch his content rank at the top of search results. But the hard-hitting fact is- out of 1 million URLs, 98% never make it to the top 10 Google search results. If you want to be in the 2% of URLs, you will need to strengthen your SEO. And keywords are the best way to start and accentuate your SEO strategy.
More than 4 billion people use Google Search, making it the most-used internet service. As a content writer, you can never miss these 4 billion people. But what are they using to find what they want on the internet? It’s keywords.
Keywords are the backbone of SEO, as they are used by Google to both rank your content and understand it. Also, it is used by the audience to find information, products, services, and whatever they want from the digital age. And if you want to become a successful content writer who not only writes but ranks on Google, you should know about Keyword research.
What is keyword research, and why is it important?
Keyword research is the method of finding the terms and queries people use to find information, guides, tips, knowledge, products, or services on the internet. Without keyword research, you will end up writing thousands of content pieces, and none of them will rank on Google, and will never be discovered by the user.
But when you use the right keywords in your content after keyword research, you provide an enhanced user experience and better answers to the audience on the internet. This is considered a positive sign by Google, and the algorithm pushes your content and website up in the search results.
With the help of keyword research, you can discover-
- Which term is your audience using to search for whatever they want on the internet?
- Is your current content meeting the user’s needs?
- New opportunities to rank for
- Which keywords are your competitors using?
Basic Terminologies of Keyword Research
Before you start your keyword research as a content writer, it is helpful to know some common terms used in keyword research. This will make your life easier, and you will not have to keep a tab open just to search for these terminologies while reading the blog.
- Search Volume – The number of times people use a specific keyword in search engines.
- Keyword Difficulty – A metrics which shows how hard it is to rank for a keyword.
- Search Intent – The main goal of the search or the why behind the search.
- Short-tail keyword– Keywords that have only 1-2 words.
- Long-tail keyword– Keywords that have more than 2 words.
- Seed keyword– The foundational keyword that defines a product, service, or topic.
- CTR (Click Through Rate)– It is the % of people who click on your content after seeing it.
Ask questions before researching
Before you begin keyword research for SEO writing, you have to understand who your audience is and what their goal is. This is a crucial aspect of keyword research, and many people tend to ignore it since they think they already know what they want to rank for. Let’s understand this with an example.
You are writing about bodybuilding, and you think that your audience must be searching for “best protein powder.” You assume that your audience is ready to buy protein powder and have the commercial intent. So, you write multiple articles comparing different protein powder brands. However, the point is that your bodybuilding audience is at a beginner level and wants to understand what protein powder is and whether they should use it. What happens next?
Your comparison article on the best protein powder brands will never be clicked by your audience, and thus, it will be lost among the billions of articles on the internet that never rank.
So, the main thing you should do is bridge the gap between what you want to rank for and what your audience is searching for. And this can be done by asking yourself some basic questions first.
- What is your audience searching for?
- What language are they using?
- What are their demographics?
- At what time do they search?
- Which questions do they ask?
- Which device is used for searching?
By answering these questions, you will automatically get a list of keywords. For example, if your audience is searching for “banana milkshake,” you have one keyword; if your audience is asking questions like “weight loss banana milkshake recipe,” you have another.
Similarly, if your audience is 50+ and mostly male, you know they would be adding words like “for diabetes”, “is it safe”, “for heart health”, and more.
How to do keyword research for SEO writing?
At first, keyword research might sound like some kind of theory developed in a research facility, but it’s not. A few basic steps and the right understanding of the audience, competitors, and Google’s algorithm will give you a kick-start in keyword research. And as a content writer, you don’t need to become the best keyword researcher; you just need to be good enough to use it in your content and rank.
Here is the simple 5-step process through which you can conduct your first keyword research for SEO writing.
1. Start with the seed keyword and explore more
Seed keyword is the starting point of your keyword research. If you are working for a client, ask them which keyword people most often use to search for their product or service. For example, a QuickBooks cloud hosting company will mostly be searched by “QuickBooks cloud hosting,” and this will be your seed keyword.
If you are writing for yourself, like cricket, your seed keyword can be cricket, IPL, or cricket training. If you are writing SEO content, your seed keyword will be the same. You must have 2-3 or more seed keywords to start with.
After finding the seed keyword, you may need to find more keywords related to it. Consider the seed keyword as tomato seeds, which are used to grow more tomatoes. But how to do that?
You can use tools like Google Keyword Planner, Ubersuggest, Ahrefs, and Semrush. Just enter your seed keyword, and you will get multiple related keywords. Like for “Cricket”, you can get keywords like “cricket score”, “cricket history”, and more.
2. Eliminate the odd ones
While making a list of keywords, you will come across many keywords that will not be relevant to your industry and audience. Working on those keywords even during the keyword research phase is a waste of time. So, after making a list of 50-60 keywords, remove those that are not relevant.
For example, if you are writing on “bookshelves” in India, keywords like “bookshelves NYC” will not be relevant for your audience. So, filtering down the list you have made is necessary to avoid wasting both time and energy.
3. Use keyword metrics
When you search for keywords in SEO tools like Ubersuggest, you will get different metrics like search volume, keyword difficulty, and search intent. All of these factors must be taken into consideration to further narrow down your keyword list. Let’s start with keyword difficulty. Always try to work on keywords that have low to medium keyword difficulty. This will increase your chances of ranking.
Next, look at the search volume. Working on a keyword that has 100k search volume might feel tempting, but ranking for such a keyword in the beginning is nearly impossible. That’s why you should target a keyword with a search volume ranging between 500 and 2000. Also, look at the search intent. If you are writing for information and a keyword in your list has commercial intent, remove it.
4. Separate long tail and short tail keywords
Now that you have a list of refined keywords with high-ranking potential, you should categorize them on the basis of their length. Keywords with 2-3 words should be put in the short-tail keyword category, and keywords with more than 3 words should be put in the long-tail keyword category. Why is this important? Because it will create more ranking opportunities,
If you have just started your content writing journey, it will be better to target the long tail keywords first because they would be easier to rank for in comparison to short tail keywords. For example, the search volume for “banana milkshake” will be much higher than for “banana milkshake for diabetes,” and thus the competition will be higher as well.
But this doesn’t mean you should ignore the short-tail keywords; use them wisely through your content. Also, separating long-tail keywords from short-tail keywords will provide a better understanding of search intent. Thus, you can tailor your content to the direction your audience will be heading.
5. Use the keywords in your content
Now that you have done your keyword research, it’s time to use your keywords throughout your content. It will help your audience find your content and help Google understand what it’s about.
You should use keywords in your alt text, website content, blog posts, press releases, URLs, meta descriptions, articles, infographics, and more. But don’t overdo it, as keyword stuffing can be penalized by Google. Let the keywords flow naturally in your content like butter in mashed potatoes.
Conclusion
Keyword research lets you delve deeper into your audience’s mind, and the better you understand them, the more useful the content you can draft. Instead of writing articles at random about assumptions, your content strategy should be laser-focused, and that can be achieved through keyword research.
Over time, you will become better at keyword research, since only you can guide the process; becoming good at it is in your hands. The more you practice, the more you will learn about your audience, Google ranking factors, search terms, and content drafting.
FAQs
How many keywords should I target in a blog?
You should target one primary keyword and 3-4 secondary keywords in a blog post. Targeting too many keywords will confuse both Google and the audience. Also, keep the keyword density less than 1.5%.
Which tools are best for keyword research?
Ubersuggest, Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, and Semrush are some of the best tools for keyword research.
Can I do keyword research without paid tools?
Yes, there are various free tools you can use to do keyword research.
- Google Trends
- Google keyword planner
- People ask for
- Google autocomplete
Which keyword should I target as a beginner?
As a beginner, you should target low-difficulty, medium-volume (500-2000), and long-tail keywords. It will improve your chances of ranking.
