How to know what keywords to use for SEO?

The old, fabled question of every marketer in the world; ‘how do you research keywords for SEO?’. We’re here to help. You see, it’s not as complex as you might think. You just need to grab a hold of the basics and before you know it, you’ll be getting the best keywords for SEO in no time. Let’s start off with the simplest thing…

What is a keyword?

Keywords for SEO will be words that are trending or perhaps have a meaning attached to them in terms of your sales process. They could be a location, a product name, a brand name, a descriptive product, etc. Keywords are the main words or the most important words in a search term.

So for example, ‘blue denim jeans, the keyword there is ‘jeans’. That is the product we will be met by on the results page, not blue or denim. You’ll most likely get results with that specific type of jeans but you’ll also be met with other similar products, all of them some form of jeans.

Keyword research will analyze search terms that the majority of people are entering into their search engines, at any given time. The goal is to be able to use the data you find, for a very specific purpose. This could be to optimize your blog content, your product descriptions, or just for general marketing purposes. The hope is that the highest-ranking keywords will be relevant to your brand.

Make a list

Begin the process by making a list of all the topics that are relevant to you. This will entail the types of products and services you produce as well as your sales and marketing initiatives. In other words, keywords that are most relevant to your projects and goals for this quarter. The process begins by using software such as Google Adwords or perhaps Semrush. You can research any keyword and see how it has been trending or not, during a given time period.

More often than not, this will net you about 5-10 topics and along with that, you will begin to think of some very specific keywords that describe them. For example, you are a clothing business and you want to sell trench coats made out of wool.

Topics such as fall fashion, winter overcoats, keeping warm, stylish long coats, and traditional style are all going to be relevant. Then keywords such as wool trench coat, leather trench jacket, women’s trench coat, knee-high trench jacket, etc, will be the keywords you should look for.

Analyzing keywords

Now that you have a list of keywords and their rankings, you can begin to go into the finer details. More than likely, you will know when the keywords began to trend, or for how long they have been trending. This should let you know a few things.

• When did the trend begin? Was there a product launch of a rival brand? Was there a cultural trend that boosted the search for the keyword? Why has the keyword been so successful for so long?
• Do the keywords match any of your products or services? Can they be related to your brand in some credible way? Can you use them in your content marketing strategy?
• Do you sense a fall in keyword popularity? Don’t catch a keyword as it is falling, better to use it just before it hits its peak.
• Take a look at the related keyword searches. Remember as we discussed, ‘jeans’ are always accompanied by something else. ‘Blue jean’, ‘stretch jeans’, ‘jeans for a gift’, etc, are all terms that go along with the keyword.

Check the authority

Authority is a very big thing nowadays. With so much distrust of news and various websites, the consumer doesn’t know who to take seriously. But when keywords are being utilized by trusted brands then you can rest assured that Google will likely favor them more than the others.

If credible sites such as Forbes and ABC News start to talk about a new product launch from Samsung, you can bet that that keyword will be used by other smaller media outlets and brands too.

If however the keywords are not necessarily gaining ground from authoritative websites that users can trust, it will be more difficult to see the trend.

Check the volume

This leads to the next thing which is volume. If a keyword doesn’t have a wide volume of searches, from various demographics, different media outlets and peak traffic numbers are low, then you will be setting yourself up for a fall should you use them.

However, sometimes it’s a good thing as you want to be the first to get the ball rolling. You see, if you bid for certain keywords you will have an exclusive boost for a short while. It may only be for a day, a week, or two. Anytime someone searches for a specific keyword you have won a bid on, you will be high up in the search results page.

Use them correctly

Lastly, Google will know if you spam the keywords in your content so use them correctly. You’ll know that the keywords you chose are the right ones if they coincide with your data analysis. The results you get should correlate with the results of similar brands which you can see in your research using the various software mentioned.

You can also see how competitors are ranking these keywords in their own strategies, so you can see if you are perhaps on the right track. Don’t ignore the rivals that seem not to care about keywords. If they don’t want a keyword that just needs a push to get going, you can take it.

If you would like to know more about SEO keywords, how to choose them, how to use them, and why they are important to your brand, just speak with us. Ask us any questions you might have and we’ll be happy to help.