The 7 Evergreen Basics of Keyword Research For Great SEO Results
Keyword searches are the most prevalent sort of online activity. And the goal of keyword research is to explore words and phrases that people are looking for on Google and other major search engines.
Essentially, keyword research is the process of identifying and analyzing search keywords that users enter into search engines. This is done with the intention of using the data for a specific purpose, such as search engine optimization and general marketing.
Normally, a typical user enters keywords or phrases into search engines to find a useful answer to his problem.
A person looking for listings of electric cars, for example, may type “electric cars” into the search box.
Determining what the user is trying to find out is all about keyword research.
Let’s look at some of the fundamentals of keyword research.
1.Domain Name And Importance Of Keywords
What is the first step that a website owner or blogger takes when they’re just starting out?
They get a domain name first. Right?
So if that’s the case, it’s essential that you do thorough keyword research before deciding on a domain name for your blog or website.
It is vital to identify the core topic (keyword), the area, and your competitors before beginning keyword research.
So here’s the thing.
Make a list of the words that best define your blog and its content.
These terms will be your major keywords and based on them, you can create significant content to employ in your SEO strategy.
For instance, suppose the website’s theme is ‘electric cars’. Then you can target terms such as “cheap electric cars,” “best electric cars,” etc.This enables you to generate meaningful content over a period of time for your audience, so that it solves their major pain points.
2.Keyword Research Process
Keyword research is an essential first step in every SEO effort. And so you must go through the following deliberate steps in the keyword research process.
•Firstly identify your target audience, and make a note of who you’re trying to reach.
• Then make a list of keywords and keyword phrases in general.
• Gather keywords from competitors’ websites and target markets that are essential to you.
• Use keyword research tools such as Google Keyword Planner, SemRush, Ahref, Ubersuggest, and KWfinder, which have the highest KEIs and KPIs.
• Evaluate the popularity of the keywords you’ve chosen. For your keyword searches, how many site matches appear? How many of the top 30 search results have optimized their websites? So, what can you do to improve?
• Use unique keywords for each page of your website, based on the content. While doing this, keep the keyword intent in focus.
• Make sure you follow keyword research strategies for beginners that involve tools like Google Ads Keyword Planner etc.
3.K.E.I (Keyword Effectiveness Index)
The keyword effectiveness index (K.E.I.) is the ratio of search count (number of searches made by users) to the total number of search results found by the user.
Simply put, K.E.I compares the number of searches with the number of web page results.
Keyword tools such as Ahrefs, Google Keyword Tool, Google Search Console, and others can be used to determine this aspect .
These programs estimate the number of searches made by users on search engines over a given time period.
K.E.I. Calculations
K.E.I is calculated using the following formula:
KEI = (Monthly Searches)2 / Raw Competition.
The KEI can be calculated in a variety of ways. And hence different formulae have been introduced by SEO practitioners.
The most basic method to compute KEI is to divide the number of searches by the number of search results.
Assume that a keyword receives 2000 searches per month and that Google returns 150,000 search results for that term. Then the keyword’s competitiveness is 2000*2000/ 150000, which is 26.6.
Where “monthly searches” refer to the expected number of searches that users do in a given month.
4.Keyword Ranking
The position of your page on the search results pages (SERP) for a specific search query is referred to as keyword rankings in SEO.
When people search for terms related to the topic of your website on Google, the position of your URL in the SERPs reflects your keyword ranking.
And what’s the importance of keyword ranking?
The importance is enormous.
The essence is that the position of your site in search engines for a certain phrase has a crucial impact on your web traffic, lead creation, and conversions.
According to research, more than half of all search engine users click on a result on the first page itself.
Hardly any users ever navigate to the second page.
Hence, and the higher you rank on that SERP, the better.
5.Keyword Variants
Keyword variants are subtly different versions of the same keyword.
Close variants allow keywords to match with searches that are similar but not identical to the targeted keyword. This allows the blogger to connect with users who are looking for their business, despite the minor differences in how they search.
Eventually, this reduces the need to create lengthy keyword lists to reach these customers.
When looking for used golf sets for sale, for example, customers may use phrases other than “second-hand golf sets for sale.” They might search for “used golf sets for sale” or a similar but unrelated term.
The keyword idea behind all searches is the same; the consumer wants to find, and possibly buy a second-hand golf set. But the keywords themselves can vary a lot.
This is why targeting keyword variants is crucial, as it anticipates the various ways a potential lead can interact with your website during a Google search.
6.Keyword Density
The number of times a phrase occurs on a piece of content as a percentage of the total word count is referred to as keyword density.
Another term for this is keyword frequency or the frequency with which a certain keyword appears on a webpage.
When a keyword or keyword phrase appears excessive times on a single page (very high keyword density), search engines are likely to deem it spam.
So what’s the recommended keyword density on a web page?
Well, when it comes to keyword density, there are no hard and fast rules.
To further complicate matters, keyword density can, and should, vary based on the kind of content in question.
A timely, syndicated news story, for example, may need considerably fewer keywords to score higher than an older evergreen blog post.
According to several SEO experts, one keyword should be used for every 200 words of text.
For instance, if a web page has 200 words, then your keyword must appear once on that page. Then the keyword density of that keyword is 1/200*100 = 0.5%
Hence in percentage terms, keyword density should be around 0.5%. And if you want to confirm your keyword density status, you can check it with tools like SEOBook.com.
7.Long Tail Keywords
Long-tail keywords are search terms with a low volume of searches and low levels of competition. Long-tail terms are also typically longer (3 words or more) than other keyword kinds.
Websites that want their content to rank in organic Google searches should use long-tail keywords .
And why’s that? Well the answer lies in the specificity of long-tail keywords.
The longer keywords are more precise because of multiple words in them that describe exactly what the user wants
Descriptive keywords show that users are looking for exactly what they’re going to buy.
Such highly focused searches are almost always more likely to result in sales, than generic searches.
Take, for example, the term “electric cars.”
If you’re looking for just the term ‘electric cars ‘, you’re probably attempting to figure out what they are, or how they function.
But such a short phrase also shows that the users aren’t ready to make a purchase yet.
However, someone looking for a longer form of that word (such as “electric car accessories”), is much closer to completing a purchase.
Conclusion
The right keywords can help your blog post reach the right audience, and also get more visitors to your site.
The rationale behind it is that the less effort necessary to get higher results for a certain keyword , the higher the search traffic.
Eventually, learning how to conduct keyword research is a vital SEO action that entails discovering popular search terms and phrases.
So it helps when you know what people are looking for. Because you can then create content that revolves around your audience’s pain points.