5 Pro Keyword Research Tips

In this article we’ll talk about keyword research and some tips you can use. We all think this is the easy part and try to blaze through it. Rushing this part of the process makes you miss out on some long tail keywords. And as we know, long tail is where you want to start. This will allow you to get some traction, gain some back links, get some traffic and increase the reputation of your site to then be able to tackle those big-girl keywords.

1.The asterisk

While doing a google search, whether a long-tail keyword or short keyword, insert an asterisk in a strategic position of the phrase to see all the long-tail variations of this keyword. This will give you all kinds of results that you can build on in your content strategy.  

See the image below depicting how this is done. Again, this is done in a google search. Not even in the keyword planner.

2. Your keyword research goal

Keyword research can be a large task if you don’t plan properly and create some guidelines for yourself. It is important to set a goal for your research. Are you looking for keywords for a new page? Are you looking for the keywords for an existing page to see how it measures up? Are you looking for gaps in your content that you can capitalize on?

By defining you goal you’ll have a better sense of what you’re doing before you hop on keyword planner. It is very easy to get sucked into a black hole on the keyword planner and spend hours exploring new keywords based on its suggestions.

3. Prioritize Search intent – Not just monthly volume

When using the keyword planned we can all get sucked into the monthly searches for a particular region and begin to explore and plan based on those numbers. Before you go there, it’s important to search the keyword. See what is currently ranking. See what the intent is. If you’re getting excited about the keyword “haircut” because you have a hair salon, make sure that what comes up on google is in fact hair salons, not tutorials on how to do your own haircut. If everybody typing in that keyword is just trying to learn how to do their own haircut or just researching different cuts, you may not want this.

But why?

If people are not looking for a salon, and they click your link without finding what they’re looking, they will bounce. If this is happening over and over, google will know that despite all your other great metrics, people don’t like your content because the bounce rate is too high. Now, if you have a tutorial on there, demonstrating the latest trends or how to cut your own hair, then you can give the searchers what they’re looking for, keep your bounce rate low, and hopefully gain some new clients.

4. Copy the competition

Well maybe not completely. But definitely research them and consider using their strategy. They're clearly doing something right if they're #1

Wondering what keywords to look for? Either you’re new to this or you’re dead tired and your creativity levels are at the lowest of the low. No problem. Tools like SEMrush can help you analyze the competition by entering in their URL. Even more free, however, is the ability to do this right from the google keyword planner. You can narrow the search down to a page, a category or a keyword and have all your research done for you.

Have you heard of Burger King’s market research strategy?

They would place their burger joint as close as possible to a McDonalds. Because McDonalds has a great budget for market research. They would let them do the homework and then setup shop next door. The demographic is the same.

5. Target variations

Once you’ve found your keyword. Search for variations. Find those long tail keywords that you will rank for easily. These long-tail keywords are “low hanging fruit” as they call them. You can rank for these quite quickly as you work your way up to the big “money” keywords.

We hope you enjoyed these 5 tips for keyword research. If you have any questions, please reach out to us any time.