How to Conduct Keyword Research Like a Pro

Today, You are going to understand the importance of keyword research. 

And how it can lead to long-term revenue growth for your business. 

By conducting keyword research, you can quickly discover profitable keywords.

Not sure where to start? No worries I will cover the best ways to find profitable keywords and compile them into a unique list. 

You will also learn how you can analyze your top competitors’ keywords to help you surpass them in the search engine rankings.

What is Keyword research

In a nutshell, keyword research is the process of finding those profitable keywords. And phrases that people frequently use when they search on Google and other search engines. Like Bing, Yandex, and Youtube.

By conducting keyword research. You can gain a better understanding of what your target audience is looking for. and create content that answers their question.

What is the benefit of keyword research

When we talk about keyword research. Most people immediately think about ranking their website on the first page of Google. 

But did you know that keyword research can do a lot more for your online marketing?

By conducting keyword research, you can learn how to title your posts. And create articles that attract more traffic. 

You can also discover what your target audience is searching for. Giving you insights into their needs and interests.

How to know a profitable keyword

There are few ways to know a profitable keyword. It is not just about looking at the keyword metrics in Google’s keyword planner. 

Sure, high-traffic numbers are great, but that’s not all you should be focusing on.

You want to see if there is a lot of demand for that keyword. This means you need to look beyond the metrics.

And consider factors like sponsored ads, competition, and relevance to your business.

Signs of profitable keywords (S.R.R)

1. Sponsored Ads

One way to know if a keyword is profitable. Is to check to see if there are sponsored ads targeting the keyword.

If there are a lot of sponsored ads. it’s a good sign because it means people are actually paying for the keyword.

2. Relevant

You also need to make sure that the keywords you choose are relevant to your business or goals.

For example, you are selling shoes. But running an ad campaign targeting keywords related to bags. 

You will just be wasting your time. And money on something that won’t bring you the results you’re looking for.

3. Rankable

We need to know if our target keyword is easy to rank. 

Every keyword has some competition. so look at the competitors and decide if it’s worth targeting. 

This way, we can prioritize our efforts and focus on rankable keywords for Low and High domain authority websites.

Using the S.R.R method will help you find profitable keywords for boosting your website traffic.

Understanding search intent

Understanding the searcher’s intent is crucial for choosing the right keywords. 

It helps you to identify the keywords that will attract the most relevant visitors to your site. and have a good conversion rate.

There are two main types of keyword search intent: informational and transactional, both of which serve different purposes.

Informational keywords

Informational keywords are what people use when they want to learn more about a specific topic. 

They are not necessarily looking to buy anything. But rather seeking information. 

For example, someone may search for “credit card”, “healthy snack”, or “blogging tips”.

These keywords are usually quite general and won’t typically result in a purchase.

Transactional keywords

Transactional keywords are used when people want to perform a specific action, such as buying something or signing up for a service. 

These keywords often include product-related or buying keywords, like “buy,” “discount,” “coupon,” or specific brand names. 

Searchers using these keywords are likely to have their wallets out and ready. Or are very close to making a purchase.

Product keywords have a higher conversion rate because searchers using them are often close to taking action. 

They may also use keywords like “best,” “top,” or “review” when searching for specific products.

Types of keyword

Now that we’ve covered search intent, let’s dive into three different types of keywords that are important for your SEO campaign. 

Knowing these terms will not only make your campaign successful. But also help you understand the importance of search intent.

1. Short tail keyword

These are generic and broad keywords that consist of one or two words. They typically have a high search volume but can be very competitive.

For example, if you are in the fitness industry, a short-tail keyword could be “fitness tips” or “workout routine.” 

While these keywords may drive a lot of traffic to your site, they are less profitable.

2. Long-tail keyword

These are more specific and detailed keywords that consist of three or more words.

They usually have lower search volume, And most of them are highly competitive and have a higher conversion rate. 

Continuing with our fitness industry example, a long-tail keyword could be “beginner dumbbell workout routine.” 

While fewer people may be searching for this keyword. Those who do are likely to be more interested in your content or services.

Also keep in mind that about 40% or more of all, the online searches today are made up of four or more words.

3. LSI Keywords 

LSI stands for Latent Semantic Indexing and refers to the relationship between words and phrases.

These keywords are closely related to your main keyword and help search engines better understand the content on your page. 

Using LSI keywords in your content can improve your SEO ranking and attract more targeted traffic.

Keyword research tools

You can conduct keyword research for free or use paid software to get the job done quicker. 

The choice is yours based on your budget and how much time you want to invest in manual research. I’ll provide both free and paid tools, so you can decide what works best for you.

If you only plan on doing keyword research once or twice. Sticking with the free tools may be a good idea. 

But if you’ll be doing a lot of keyword research for multiple websites or clients. Investing in paid software will help save time.

In this guide, I will be using a variety of tricks and techniques to ensure we find the best. And most profitable keywords for your website. 

After completing the training and trying out different tools. You can choose which ones work best for you in the long term.

Brainstorming keywords

The first step of keyword research is to come up with a list of keywords. 

The best way to start is by brainstorming. And thinking about what keyphrases and words people type in the Google search bar.

When it comes to starting keyword research. I find it helpful to use a tool like Excel to create a spreadsheet for the keyword.

This way, it’s easy to copy and paste them into different tools that we’ll be using later on. 

To start with brainstorming for keywords. Think about how you would describe the information, and services. Or products on your website and write down any keywords that come to mind. 

Don’t stress too much about whether they’re long-tail or short-tail keywords – just get them down on paper. We can always refine and expand on them as we go along. 

Remember, the goal at this stage is to generate a list of potential keywords that we can then analyze their metrics.

Google Auto-suggest

As we continue with our keyword research, it’s important to generate a long list of keywords. 

If you’re stuck on ideas, don’t worry – there are some tricks to help you get even more keywords. 

One way is to visit Google and use its auto-suggest feature. For example, if you’re targeting web hosting services.

Simply type that in the search bar and Google will generate a list of related keywords.

Another way to generate more keywords is to scroll all the way to the bottom of the Google search results page.

Where you’ll find a section called “related searches” with additional keyword suggestions.

These related keywords are often popular. And can give you ideas you may not have thought of before.

Don’t worry about having too many keywords at this stage. It’s better to start with a longer list and narrow it down later. 

You can always remove keywords that don’t fit your business later on. Once you have a list of potential keywords. 

You can then start refining and prioritizing based on search volume and relevance to your business.

Google Trend

As we continue to find keywords. Google Trends is another tool that can come in handy. 

When you enter your target keyword in Google Trends. You will see metrics that show you the interest in that keyword over time.

This can be useful if you’re looking to build a website that generates a lot of traffic. As you want to choose a keyword that is growing in popularity. Rather than one that’s on the decline.

But what I find most helpful are the related searches. Here, you’ll find a list of queries that are most closely related to the keyword you entered.

And are the ones people are most likely to search for when looking for that topic. You can even narrow it down by city to see where the keyword is most popular.

You can also check out the “rising keywords” section to see what terms are gaining popularity over time. 

This can give you an idea of what people are searching for right now. Just make sure to adjust the time period to get the most relevant information.

Google keyword planner

Google Keyword Planner tool is a fantastic tool for finding new keyword ideas. 

To begin with, we need to get the monthly search volume of our target keyword. 

To do so, simply enter all of your keywords in the Google keyword planner. You can either copy and paste them if you have a long list, or upload a CSV file from Excel.

Once you’ve entered your keywords, click on “Get search volume.” Google will then display a list of the keywords you entered. Along with their monthly search volume, level of competition, and suggested bids.

This information is primarily meant for AdWords advertisers, but it’s also useful for keyword researchers like us.

When analyzing the search volume, we want to focus on keywords with a high number of average monthly searches. 

However, we also want to consider the suggested bid because that indicates the value of the keyword.

Nobody is going to bid large amounts of money on a keyword that won’t drive targeted traffic.

For example, let’s say we’re searching for “car accident lawyer” Google tells us that this keyword has 100,000 monthly searches and is highly competitive. With a suggested bid of $150 per click. 

If you’re targeting a local area, the search volume may vary depending on the location.

For instance, “car accident lawyer Atlanta” has an average of 2900 monthly searches with a suggested bid of $90 and the difficulty is low.

To narrow down your keyword list further, you can also filter keywords based on minimum monthly searches or minimum suggested bid.

This feature is mainly intended for advertisers, but it can still be helpful for search purposes.

Google Keyword Planner is an excellent tool for keyword research. It helps us identify the most valuable keywords based on their search volume and suggested bids. 

Using Semrush

 If you want an advanced tool to help you find the right keywords and analyze your competitor. You can use Semrush. 

This premium tool is great when it comes to finding the best keywords. And checking out how your competitor is doing.

You can enter either a keyword or a domain. And Semrush will provide you with information about the keyword. Such as search volume, keyword difficulty, and related keywords. 

For example, if you type in a keyword like “car maintenance service”. Semrush will tell you it gets around 4.2k monthly global searches, 73% difficulty, and a CPC of $3.8.

Not only that. But you can also see a full report of related keywords.

If you have a pro account, you will have access to even more detailed information. Like your organic and paid ad competition, backlink data, and trends over time. 

With all this information, you can really cover your bases and ensure you’re targeting the right keywords for your content.

Another great feature of Semrush is its ability to analyze your competitors. Simply enter their domain.

And Semrush will tell you how many monthly searches they’re getting, how many backlinks they have, and how their search traffic has evolved over time. 

You can even see which keywords they’re ranking for and what their positions are in SERP. This information is valuable when it comes to deciding which keywords to target.

And the best part is that Semrush is super user-friendly. Even if you’re a beginner. You will be able to navigate the tool easily and find the information you need.

Analyzing keywords of top-ranking websites

Before we move forward, we have one more step to ensure that we have a good chance of ranking for our selected keywords.

We want to find keywords that have both good search volume and little to no competition. Which will take less effort to outrank those sites. 

So, how do we determine the competition? 

We need to take a look at the top ranking websites on the first page of Google.

Now, if you search for your target keyword and find several authoritative sites like Wikipedia, Amazon, Yelp, and other large sites on the first page. 

It’s better to move on to the next keyword. These sites are considered very authoritative in the eyes of Google, so it will be tough to outrank them.

For instance, if we search for “DSLR cameras,” the first page will show Best Buy, Amazon, Walmart, and even PC Mag. 

These are huge websites and to be honest, Google tends to favor them in the search results. So, it will be challenging to rank for this keyword.

On the other hand, if you search for a keyword like “best bread recipe whole wheat,”. And the very first website that appears in the search result is Hub Pages, an article-type site. 

This is a good sign that the keyword is easier to rank for. If you see less authoritative pages. It is a good sign that you will be able to rank easily for those keywords.

You also need to look at the top-ranking websites’ page authority and domain authority to determine their strength.

Finding the right keywords with good search volume and low competition is crucial to your SEO success. 

Take your time and do your research to ensure that you can outrank your competitors and increase your website’s visibility.

Page rank and page authority

Let’s explain what page rank and page authority really mean.

First up, let’s talk about “page rank”. 

Page rank

This is a score given by Google, on a scale of 1 to 10, to determine the authority of a specific web page. 

While there may be some debate within the SEO community about the weight of page rank in today’s digital landscape. It’s still a good way to measure how easily you can rank for specific keywords.

New sites typically start with a page rank of zero and gradually build their way up over time.

While many authoritative sites have a page rank of 4 or 5. A score of 4 or 5 is considered pretty good.

However, it’s important to note that you should avoid targeting keywords where the top rankings are held by giants like Amazon or Wikipedia, as they have a page rank of 8 or 9. 

Google tends to favor these sites, even if the individual web pages don’t have all the SEO elements.

While page rank is a good indicator, it doesn’t get updated frequently. That’s where “page authority” comes in.

Page authority

Page authority is another score that measures the authority of a specific web page, but it’s updated more frequently than page rank.

When researching a site’s page authority and page rank, you should aim for low scores.

As that’s a sign you can outrank the page if you’re targeting medium or higher competition keywords. 

Even if a site has a few pages with higher scores, it’s still okay as long as you can achieve a top 10 ranking.

Page authority is important, because Google ranks individual pages and not entire websites.

Free tools for checking page rank and page authority

How do I determine the page authority and page rank of a website? 

In my experience, there are two fantastic tools that I like to use: MozBar and SEO Quake. Both of these browser extensions are completely free and easy to install. 

Once you download and install them in your Chrome browser. You will see little information bars below each search result, displaying page rank and page authority.

I like to take a look at the first few search results and assess their page rank using SEO Quake.

I also take a look at page authority, with a particular focus on keeping the numbers relatively low. I usually aim for page authority under 40, as I’m looking for quick wins.

The domain authority is also an essential factor to consider. And you can see it displayed in the MozBar. 

I prefer to target sites with low page ranks, typically between 0 and 3. as these are generally a good sign.

When I’m looking for quick wins, I focus on lower page ranking and page authority websites.

Final thought…….

Congratulation, You have now mastered the art of keyword research. 

I know it can be time-consuming and even frustrating at times. But trust me, it’s worth it. 

There’s nothing like the feeling of starting an SEO campaign with confidence. knowing that you’ve done your research and found the best keywords to target.

With this new knowledge. You will be able to rank for those keywords and see the results in no time. But don’t stop here. 

If you have any questions about keyword research or SEO in general. Don’t hesitate to ask in the comments section below. 

I’m always here to help and share my knowledge with you.

So keep on learning, keep on researching, and keep on optimizing. The results will come, and You will be glad you put in the effort.