Keyword Research Tips and Tools for Beginners

If you do not know what people are searching to find your businesses goods or services than you simply cannot optimize for SEO. You might think people search “Boston Plumbing Services” but in reality far more people search for “Plumbers in Boston.” The only way to know what keywords are most valuable to your business based on search volume and quality of search is to do some research.

Search Google:

Simply searching Google and using their auto complete will help you gauge what Google knows as common searches for keywords related to your business. One of the best ways to get started with keyword research is to simply just start typing what you think people are searching for to find your business products and services and see what pop ups in the auto complete. The auto complete will suggest what the frequently searched terms are in your industry / business realm.

Use Keyword Research Tools:

There are a lot of keyword research tools like Google Adwords keyword planner, Bing keyword tools, MOZ keyword research tools, and many other keyword research tools to use. They can provide valuable insight into approximately how many people are searching those keywords per month, the competition for those keywords, and more.

Focus On Long Tail:

Over 70% of searches are long tail, meaning keywords with three or more words versus no long tail keywords. Focusing on ultra competitive terms like “shoes” or “toys” is great, however you are most likely not ready to rank for those terms and are better going after less competitive long tail keywords. Try and find long tail keywords that are relevant to your business, have decent search volume, and competition that you have the potential to beat out for the top spot.

Start Local:

Chances are you are more likely to rank for local keywords than national competitive keywords, especially if you are a small or medium size business. Therefore it makes sense to start optimizing for local keywords like your town or nearest major city.

• 4 billion desktop queries per month in the United States alone have local intent .
• 50%+ of mobile queries have local intent.
• Roughly 15-20% of all searches are mobile . (2013 its higher now in late 2014)

Google Analytics & Google Web Masters

Check to see what data in Google Analytics and Google Web Masters has regarding keywords bringing in organic traffic. You may find you are getting traffic from keywords in which you are on page 2 on Google and by simply making a push to page 1 you could greatly increase your organic traffic. Search acquisition traffic and look at your organic traffic in Google Analytics as well as search analytics in Google Web Masters.

Organize Your Research in Excel!

Make sure you have your keywords organized in some fashion. A simple and easy way to start is to organize them in excel with more than just the simple keywords themselves, such as traffic volume, current ranking, and competition.

Track Your Rankings

Once you have carefully decided on specific keywords you feel are most valuable to your business, it is important to utilize some sort of SEO software to track your rankings. Simply looking at Google one by one to see where you rank is both not efficient and unreliable. Google personalizes its rankings, and a software is a much better way to see weekly rankings progress and a more objective view of your keyword rankings.