How to Find the Right Keywords for SEO
What is the first step to getting seen on Google? Finding the right keywords for SEO, of course. What’s the point of ranking for the best flower delivery services in your area when you only allow in-person shopping? Why talk about baby food when you’re a child’s fashion boutique? As ridiculous as these examples may sound, they have all happened in real life.
So, if you don’t want to become the next laughing stock used by marketers… Worse, if you don’t want your business to fail from being invisible on Google in front of your potential customers, keep reading on where to find the right keywords.
Long tail keywords vs. Conversion Rate (Source: Semrush)
What are Search Keywords
“A keyword is a word or set of words that Google Ads advertisers can add to a given ad group so that your ads are targeting the right audience.”
Simply put, keywords are Google search queries. they can be as general as “cars” or as complicated as “what are the benefits of taking daily Vitamin D.” There are long-tail keywords, short tail keywords, high-intent keywords, general keywords, brand-specific keywords, product keywords… You name it.
In the end, SEO is about guessing what people are thinking when they use a certain query. For example, “bookstores near me” might mean the user is wanting to buy a book, whereas “secondhand bookstores” provide far less information on the user’s intent. Different keywords serve different purposes in your SEM strategy. Talk to an SEO specialist to understand what keywords you should prioritize.
So, where can you find keywords for SEO?
Know Your Business
The best place to find keywords is from your existing website (we’re hoping you at least have one, even if it’s just a landing page. Otherwise, keywords really shouldn’t be your biggest concern yet). Use a free SEO audit tool, such as Ubersuggest, to find all organic keywords your website currently have.
If you can’t find enough data there, go through your business plan again. Start with the services behind your main revenue streams and your focus markets.
Your target industries
Your customers’ main complaints
Questions prospects ask
Latest topics in your industry
In the end, the better you know your business and your market, the more likely you can find good keywords to target.
Keyword mapping according to the customer journey. (Source: Neil Patel)
Keyword Mapping
We talked about implementing a full-funnel strategy in the list of digital marketing best practices for 2022. Frankly, it’s not as complicated as it sounds. All it really means is to make sure you have something ready at each step of your customer journey.
And a core piece behind full-funnel marketing is keyword mapping according to the buyer’s journey. From an SEO perspective, this means optimizing content with keywords corresponding to the content consumer’s buyer’s journey stage. This way, not only are you ranking high on focus keywords, but you’re also putting yourself in front of the right crowd at the right time.
Regional Keywords for Local SEO
Never forget to include some regional and local keywords for SEO, even if the search volume appears seems low.
Of course, there are other ways to boost your local visibility on Google as well. However, starting with local keywords is almost always a good idea.
Creating Content for SEO
Writing with SEO in mind is tricky. It requires you to think like a search engine crawler while paying attention to your human audience’s needs. In other words, you need to be eloquent both in crawler behavior and consumer demand. Therefore, it’s best to add some SEO content writing tools to your marketing gadget box to take some burden off you.
You should also always follow SEO writing best practices. For example, build your content topics in clustering formats to reach higher rankings for larger keywords. In the meantime, think beyond planning and creation when looking at your content marketing strategy because distribution, sharing, and engagement could impact your ranking just as much.
Finally, don’t try to hit all keywords for SEO in one piece of content. How would you feel if someone forced you to finish a full pizza, a ramen bowl, and a whole fried chicken all in one sitting?