Keyword Research: A Guide for 2022 | DigitalGrowthWorld

If you want to drive more organic search traffic to your site, SEO will help you achieve that.

It is important to identify keywords with a strong SEO strategy so that you can climb into the top 10 in Google rankings and increase your income.

Given that the number of searches each year equals several TRILLIONS, the question arises: “How to choose the right keywords for targeting?” That’s what we’re going to answer in this guide. We’ll walk you through the steps you need to take to conduct keyword research. We will analyze what keywords are and help you build the entire research process correctly. Your attention will be offered a convenient checklist and a list of the best tools and services.

What is Keyword Research?

This term refers to the process of identifying those keywords that users use when formulating their search queries.
Using the information obtained during the research, you can optimize the content on your site.

As we said above, Google processes trillions of searches every year. Of these, several thousand, and maybe even tens of thousands of search queries are related to your business.

Of course, you can’t target everything.

For your SEO strategy to produce great results, you must choose the right keywords and focus on them.
Keyword research will help you do this because it is based on the power of data. By choosing words that have good search volume, low competition, or high conversion rates, you can prioritize your SEO efforts.

Why is it important to do keyword research?

This is a fundamental aspect of any SEO strategy. It directs all other aspects of your SEO.
The research will help you understand which keywords need focusing on in order to optimize existing site content and increase its visibility for relevant search queries.

It will also make it easier for you to create a content plan that targets your potential and current customers.
But why increase your site’s visibility on Google?

To answer this question, let’s take a look at this graph, which illustrates link clicks for Google search results. As you review it, keep in mind that every page on Google shows 10 results: Notice the dramatic drop in click-through rates past 10.

 

This is because most users will never miss the top three results in a Google search, much less the first page.

In fact: over 75% of ALL clicks are in the top three results.

Only 0.78% of Google users click on someone on the second page. Starting from it, the numbers go down.
If you want to get traffic through search engines, you MUST be on the first page. More importantly, you should be among these top three results. Finding and using the right keywords as part of your SEO strategy will help you achieve this.

Here’s why …

Improving your organic search presence is the # 1 priority for 61% of marketers worldwide.
The simple truth is that SEO is the most lucrative marketing weapon in your arsenal. When you rank first in search results for keywords in Yandex, your site’s visibility increases. More visibility means more search traffic. And an increase in traffic ultimately leads to an increase in profits.

But as we mentioned earlier, you don’t have time to target ALL keywords.

So how do you find the best keywords to focus on? The ones that will bring real value to your business? Stick to the following formula to get exactly the ones that work for you.

TOP 7 Best Keyword Research Tools

Since this is about keyword research, you need to have the right tools in your arsenal to do it.
Below we have listed some of the best tools to help you crush your competition and win your SEO game.

1. Google Keyword Planner

It is a very reliable tool for this reason. It gives you information straight from the source. The best part is that it’s a free service. Using Google Keyword Planner, you can get a quick summary of the monthly search volume for keywords that an agency uses to promote your online business. And the ability to test SEO competitors for keywords makes it an indispensable tool for keyword research.

In the screenshot, you can see the level of competition as well as the monthly search volume for various keywords. This data makes it easier to find relevant keywords and to evaluate targeting opportunities, as you will have information about searches with higher search volume and lower keyword complexity.

2. KWFinder

If you already have an initial list of keyword topics, then this is a great tool to help you dig deeper and refine your keyword list. It contains keyword suggestions, information about search volume, search functionality from autocomplete search queries, and the questions users ask most often.

Here is an example of what the result looks like for the words “PPC management”: And this is how the list of recommendations from Autocomplete looks like: The Suggestions and AutoComplete sections give you additional ideas. “Questions” helps you see what people are asking, and it helps you find a variety of topics for blog posts and other content writing.

 

In addition, KWFinder has been noted by other industry professionals as a tool that provides accurate keyword difficulty rankings. With it, you can gauge how strong the competition is and focus your efforts on relevant keywords.

 

3. Ahrefs Keywords Explorer

This tool provides detailed information for each keyword, as well as a summary of competing companies on the first page and information on how many users actually click on a given keyword.

Here you will find the best questions, suggested keywords, and ideas for SEO keyword promotion and how to apply them with the same terms. With the latest updates from Ahrefs, users can see global monthly search volumes as well as country-specific information about them, which is extremely convenient. Just write down the keywords and do the analysis!

Ahref’s keyword difficulty rating system is second to none, as here we can actually see the exact number of backlinks required to rank on the first page for a given keyword.

4. SEMrush

This is another great tool. With the competitor search feature, it’s easy to find out the best central keywords your competitors are ranking for and their search volume. Plus, the Keyword Magic Tool is a great way to quickly do keyword research to check your search volume as well as all the other metrics you want to know about.

 

 

5. UberSuggest

This free keyword research tool from Neil Patel is especially useful for finding new keywords (keyword idea generation) and long-tail keywords.
With the help of this service, you can find out such key indicators as monthly search volume, competition in organic search, average CPC, and competition when ordering a turnkey contextual advertising setup, as well as highlight the SEO focus keyword.

You can also sort by suggestions, related keywords, questions, guesses (two related concepts in one term), and interesting comparisons (terms that include the words “against”, “or” or “and”) – not available in other competing instruments. And the main thing is that it’s all free.

6. Google Search Console

It is one of the most important tools for your advanced keyword research. It provides valuable information that can be used to find the right keywords for a particular site.

To search, go to the Search Query Analysis option, for example, This is where you will see your best pages. If you click the “Requests” button on one of these pages, you will see the terms that bring the most traffic: These keywords are your “stars”. Try to highlight your keywords and include them on the pages that have the most revenue potential. If they don’t fit into the content, you can use related keywords that are appropriate for it.

7. Google Trends

This is a great free Google tool for finding new site SEO keywords and search trends. With the help of Google Trends, you can quickly find out how popular a particular query was over a certain period of time, whether there is particular interest in it in a particular region or city, and whether a keyword is gaining more and more popularity. What’s cool is that Google will show you related trending and top searches for that term. Alternatively, you can also set up a filter to see your interest percentage through news search, image search, Google Shopping, or YouTube search. The ability to compare multiple terms at once also helps you quickly gain insight into what people are looking for in general.

Also Read: 8 DESIGN TIPS FOR ECOMMERCE WEBSITES 2021

Google Trends is especially useful if you are creating evergreen content as it lets you know what topics people are really interested in now and in the long term.

How to do keyword research

1. Create customer personas

Before you start the keyword research, you need to have an accurate understanding of who your audience is, what is important to them, and what they are looking for. Conduct an SEO analysis of your niche keywords.

The ability to understand your customers is critical to choosing the right keywords. It will also help you identify user intent and optimize your content for it.

This is where the personas of the buyers appear.
Buyer personas are a collective image that embodies your target customers. They help you see potential customers as ordinary people and not through a sales lens. Once you do this, it will be much easier for you to understand what and how they are searching on Google. And the more you know about your prospect, the better you can identify the keywords they are using to find content.

So what do you need to know to create a buyer’s persona?

• Floor
• Age
• Average income
• Interests
• Key problems or pain points for which you can propose solutions
• What do they want to achieve
• How your product can help them

Remember that you are not limited to one person in creating a custom image. Most companies have more than one buyer persona. Create multiple personas based on the different types of customers you hope to attract.
Once you’ve identified the personas, describe them and share them with your marketing team or SEO agency . Then you can move on to the next step: defining the keywords that people use for searches.

 

2. Identify topics relevant to your business

Before you start figuring out WHAT people are looking for, it’s a good idea to brainstorm on broader topics relevant to your business. SEO keyword research will help you conduct deeper research in the next stages. They will also help you organize your content marketing more effectively and structure your website.
To select topics related to your business, make a list of what you do. These are usually products or services that you provide or problems that your company offers solutions to.

 

For example, if you are an internet marketing agency, you might have topics like this:

• Google Search Ads
• Display Advertising
• YouTube advertising
• Bing Ads
• Remarketing

Limit your list to about the five most important topics. Keep in mind that topics are not keywords. This is what you will rely on in the future.

3. Find niche keywords

Most people starting out in keyword research use a keyword suggestion tool. They choose the keywords that are most popular, thinking that this will give them the traffic they need.
In other words, they see a ton of different keywords and build their content around them, hoping it will work. In most cases, this does not happen. Why?

Because when you try to target everything, you end up not targeting anything.

While it’s certainly a good idea to include new, high-volume, relevant, and popular keywords in the list, they shouldn’t make up the bulk of your keywords. Instead, focus on finding niche keywords that work for your business. Perform SEO Keyword Optimization on your website.

When it comes to SEO services calculators, the word “niche” does not mean a narrow circle and a limited audience. Good niche keywords should cover a broad topic without being overly general or overused. This is where the themes you outlined earlier can help.

Start by looking at your topics. Step into your customer’s shoes using the personas you created earlier. Think about what words he will use to search. Write them down. Then use an SEO tool to measure search volume for those keywords and provide recommendations for similar keywords.

Once you have an initial list of keywords, you can start digging even deeper.

4. Well-defined long-tail keywords

If you’ve never used long-tail keywords, you’re missing out on an amazing opportunity to increase your traffic and sales conversions. This is one of the fundamental components of white-label SEO.

Long-tail keywords are an essential part of good keyword research. These are longer versions of the main keywords that most companies use. And, as we said, they make up roughly 70% of all searches.
These keywords are important because they help you capture keywords from different stages of the customer journey.

How it works?

Let’s say you sell furniture. The keyword “selling modern furniture” is aimed at people who are in the buying stage. You should aim for high rankings for it.
But for most people, the journey begins LONG before they enter that keyword into Google. They probably already entered into the search something like the phrases “how to choose a sofa for the living room” or “modern apartments in new buildings in the Crimea.”

By targeting these keywords, you can answer a question that a potential customer had long before he was at the buying stage. If you rank highly for these keywords, you position yourself as a reputable company and accompany the person through the marketing funnel and help them move to the next stage.

Then, when potential customers are ready to make a purchase, they can enter the phrase “selling modern furniture” into a search engine. If they see your site again in the search results, they will most likely be inclined to click on it. While your keyword “selling modern furniture” drove the conversions, it was actually your “long tail” keyword that drove buyers to your site.

So how do you find long-tail keywords?

You can use the keyword research tools we talked about above. They will help you pinpoint the various long-tail keywords and their search volumes. You can include them in your keyword list and create content based on them.
But there is also another way.

 

5. Use your search goldmine

If you want to order website promotion on Google and rank in this search engine, then Google itself is your best friend. You can use a search engine to find niche keywords, but it is also convenient to take advantage of the relevant gold mines for keywords. A good example is the use of forums for keyword research. Forums can be a real gold mine – a source of precious data about your target audience. It is a great tool for your advanced keyword research, providing a ton of useful insights into your audience.

You can also use platforms like Google Trends, Reddit, Quora, Whirlpool, or Wikipedia. Another way to find questions people are asking is to navigate to existing blog posts that rank for a given topic and look at the Comments section. Trending social media themes can also come in handy.

6. Test your keywords

By now, you probably already have an impressive list of keyword ideas. So how do you narrow down your search and choose the best ones for your business?
It’s simple. Before you get started with content creation and internal site optimization, evaluate keyword significance and search volume using the following steps:

1) Ask yourself the key questions
Is the keyword relevant to the content of your site? Will the user get something useful if they use this keyword? Will this ultimately lead to payback in your efforts? If the keyword is good, then you will answer “Yes” to all of these questions.

2) Search For It
Perform a Google search for the keyword you are looking at. This way you can look at your competitors using it. If you’ve seen a ton of ads, then you’ve probably found a keyword that has value and is converting traffic.

3) Put it to the test
Don’t jump straight into SEO for that keyword. Test it with Google Ads. Run a small campaign using the exact match option. This will help you figure out how much search and traffic a keyword is generating for a given high position.

 

Keyword Research Checklist

• Design different buyer personas based on the problem your brand is solving
• Identify the main topics related to your products or services
• Find niche keywords for your main topics. They should be relevant to the products you offer without being overly generalized or overused.
• Determine Ranking Opportunities for Long-Tailed Keywords Using Keyword Research Tools
• Use goldmine such as forums, Wikipedia, Google Trends, Reddit, and Quora to get more ideas for long-tail keywords
• Test your keywords with Google Ads. Find high-converting keywords and prioritize them
• Focus on the most profitable keywords to get some short-term profits
• Use Google Search Console to track progress and determine the best performing keywords

Ranking high on Google is by no means an easy task. The search algorithm changes frequently, and adapting to all such changes can be challenging.

But by sticking to the right SEO formula and having the best tools at your fingertips, you will be confidently on your way to improving your organic traffic and conversions.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
How do you turn all these tools and strategies into ranking and search traffic, which then turns into income? You will need an evidence-based campaign tailored to your goals.