SEO keywords are single words or short phrases that represent the search queries that people use in a search engine. Website owners select keywords and use them to guide content creation and optimize their webpages as part of their SEO strategy.
There is no one “right way” to do keyword research.
In fact, SEO professionals usually each have their own unique way of conducting keyword research. However, the steps outlined in this article will give you plenty of avenues to explore when it comes to researching and selecting the right keywords for your SEO strategy.
We have deliberate ways of selecting keywords for two basic scenarios. This article describes the method to use when you do not have tried and true keywords.
The other scenario would be for more established websites with well-honed product information and a knowledge of what makes them money. Doing both types of keyword research sometimes makes sense.
If you’re new to the concept of keywords, I recommend you first read our article What Are Keywords and Why Are They Important to SEO?
In this article, I’ll explain how to do in-depth keyword research for SEO, including examples.
- Know Your Website’s Theme
- Perform Basic and Advanced Keyword Research
- Refine Your Keyword List
- Assign Keywords and Optimize / Build Content
1. Know Your Website’s Theme
This may seem obvious, but a lot of websites get this wrong. The first step in keyword research is to identify the website’s theme(s).
You need to hone in on what your website is about. That’s because you want your keyword research and your content to reflect those themes accurately. This step clarifies the main topics your site should be relevant for.
For example, if you sell women’s clothing, that’s a broad theme. But narrow down the types of clothing you sell (petite, plus size, new or used, dresses, shoes, styles or other). If you do local business only, that will also affect your keyword research.
This step is all about getting clarity and focus on what you’re really about and how you want your business to be presented online.
2. Perform Basic and Advanced Keyword Research
Brainstorm an Initial List of Keywords
With a clearer picture of your business, brainstorm a list of possible words and phrases related to all the themes you created in the last step.
This is often called a “seed list.” Remember, these are potential keywords because they relate to your products, services or subject matter expertise.
Some questions that you might keep in mind as you are brainstorming keywords:
- What would I search for on a search engine if I were looking for what I have to offer?
- How does my audience describe what I have to offer? Think about the audience that doesn’t use industry jargon as well. If you are hyper-focused on jargon, and there isn’t search volume for those keywords, you may not end up with a list of many keywords to refine.
- What are the problems that my products or services solve? What would someone search for if they had those problems?
Other places to find ideas for your seed list:
Here, it can be helpful if you know your audience.
Not every business takes the time to build personas of their ideal customers, but it’s useful to have an understanding. Knowing the needs and desires of your target audience will help you as you brainstorm an initial list of keywords.
Similarly, you want to understand the needs and desires of internal stakeholders. They typically have a lot of ideas when it comes to the types of words and phrases they think the business should target.
You will validate these ideas later using other techniques. So don’t worry too much about trying to get the phrasing right or to match exactly how your audience might type a query into Google.
Tools and data will often help you discover the best keywords to use.
Read more about seed keywords: What Is a Seed Keyword and How Can I Use It in My Research?
Use Tools to Discover More Keywords
Now, it’s time to turn to SEO tools and data.
Take the keywords you have brainstormed and enter them into the keyword research tool(s) of your choosing. You will get data back on those words as well as suggestions for many other keywords related to those words.
Some tools to consider:
Google Ads Keyword Planner: This tool can help you discover new keywords from Google, view approximate monthly search volume for those terms and more. Note that you will get better data on keywords if you have an active ad account with Google Ads.
PreWriter.ai: PreWriter, our AI-powered content creation suite, is a great way to conduct keyword research. Simply input a keyword and a specific URL (your competitor’s webpage, for example) into the Keyword Research tool and PreWriter will give you an exhaustive list of related keywords to build your content strategy around.
Give PreWriter a try for free and see the power of the Keyword Research tool in action.
SEOToolSet®: Our Keyword Suggestions tool finds terms that are semantically related to the keywords in your seed list. For each keyword, the tool can provide search activity, three metrics to indicate competitiveness, categories and a trending chart. (See more below …)
Keyword Suggestions Tool: The free version of our SEOToolSet keyword tool will serve up 20 related words and phrases for your keyword (entered one at a time) pulled from search engine data.
Google Analytics 4: You can get some data on keywords here if you have an account. Go to Reports > Search Console > Queries.
Wordtracker: This tool can help you discover new keywords, uncover trending keywords for a niche and discover competitor keywords, too.
Semrush: Semrush allows you to discover new keywords, understand a keyword’s value, analyze competitor keywords, analyze keyword metrics in real time and discover the “not provided” keywords in your Google Analytics.
Google Search Console: Find out which search queries are generating impressions and clicks to your website in Google’s search results. Once you set up your Search Console account, you will have access to up to 1,000 queries. Under the ‘Performance’ section on the left-hand side, click Search Results. On the results page, scroll down and be sure you are on the Queries tab.
Google Trends: Some keywords are more seasonal in nature and see spikes and valleys throughout the year. If you’re in a business that is impacted by the seasons, exploring Google Trends offers some key insights around words and phrases you may already be thinking about and some you may not have. You can also spot search behavior changes, such as new terms replacing older ones. (For details, see our article on how to use Google Trends for keyword research.)
Answer the Public: This tool provides long-tail, conversational keyword phrases based on autocomplete data from the search engines for any given keyword that you input.
People also ask: Dive into Google’s search results for additional keyword research. Manually search (always in incognito mode so that the results are not as biased) for your target keywords and then look at the “People also ask” section. Consider adding those questions to your keyword list.
Related searches: Another way to get more ideas for keyword phrases is by manually searching for your keywords and scrolling down to the “Related searches” section.
Wikipedia: Search for a keyword in Wikipedia and then dive into that Wikipedia page’s table of contents to find more ideas for related terms.
Using one or more of these tools is going to give you plenty of ideas. You can export the data and start compiling the keywords and metrics in a central location (usually a spreadsheet).
Note that not all tools are going to give apples-to-apples metrics for a keyword.
Example of How to Do Keyword Research Using the SEOToolSet
Let’s get into the nitty-gritty details of how you can use our SEO tools, the SEOToolSet, to perform keyword research step-by-step.
1. Use the Keyword Suggestions Tool
The SEOToolSet’s Keyword Suggestions tool finds terms semantically related to a seed and/or keyword phrase.
The report shows search activity, click-through rate (CTR), cost per click, confidence percentage and a trending chart for each.
The confidence metric shows how prevalent the keyword was in the SEOToolSet’s sources (which consist of multiple APIs).
You can set up multiple keyword lists (such as one for each silo). From the Keyword Suggestions tool, you can add any reasonable keywords to one of your lists.
2. Run the Real-Time Ranking Monitor
The SEOToolSet Ranking Monitor allows you to see which keywords your site is ranking for with (relatively) unfiltered and unbiased ranking data across Google and Bing.
You can then assign the appropriate keywords to the right webpages and strengthen those pages by better optimizing them.
For more information, read What Is a Search Engine Ranking Report.
3. Use the Domain Ranking Report
The Domain Ranking report shows which webpages are ranking by keyword or by page. Data points include:
- The keyword.
- The activity for that keyword.
- The number of results in a Google search and Bing for that keyword.
- The average cost per click of that keyword in a PPC ad.
- The number of pages in Google and Bing that use that keyword in their Title tag.
- The rankings for each search engine selected when you ran the report.
The data you get from this report will inform your content strategy. It shows you what the best keywords are to build content around and shows you what content needs improvement.
Export to a Spreadsheet
Once in the Domain Ranking Report, you can export the data to an Excel spreadsheet.
- Click the “Export” button in the upper right-hand side of the report window, then select ‘CSV.’
- Using Excel (or a spreadsheet of your choice), sort the information so that you can look at all keywords with a $0 CPC and determine if you want to keep the keywords none of your competitors bid on.
- Using the spreadsheet, sort the information in Excel so you can see all the keywords with a “0” activity count and determine if you should delete keywords few people search for. Note that this is an approximation of traffic and should be used more as an indicator that a keyword is popular, not as an exact number. Basically, the higher the number, the more likely more people are searching for a keyword.
These steps are typically the first steps in refining the keyword list. Next, I’ll touch on more refinement techniques.
3. Refine Your Keyword List
You should have an extensive list of ideas from the previous steps. Now comes the arduous task of refining that list.
Here are four basic questions you should ask about each keyword:
- Is this keyword relevant to the site? Right off the bat, you can go through the lists and delete any keywords that are not relevant to your business. That should take out a good chunk of keywords that you don’t need to waste any more time on.
- Is there a page within the site that specifically talks about that keyword topic? If not, would you be willing to create a page for that keyword topic?
- Would you expect to see your website listed in the results if you typed this keyword into a search engine?
- Does this keyword have any search volume?
If your answer is “no” to any of these questions, then delete that keyword phrase from the spreadsheet.
Analyze Metrics
Keyword metrics are another way to determine whether a keyword is a good fit. In general, you want high ROI, CPC, KPI keywords (and then branded terms, of course).
But you also want to strike a balance between what is attainable for your website and the resources you have in order to compete for rankings.
Some data points to consider for each keyword:
- Search volume: Higher search activity means it’s a popular search term. Higher search volume might also mean there’s a lot of competition, which makes the keyword harder to rank for. Newer websites might not want to start with these terms.
- Clicks: Tools like Ahrefs’ “Keywords Explorer” can show the estimated number of clicks for your keywords.
- Cost per click: This can indicate whether PPC advertisers perceive this keyword to be a money-maker. The going CPC rate for a keyword is one measure of its competitiveness.
- Traffic potential: Again, Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer can help you estimate traffic potential for certain keywords.
- Keyword difficulty: This is often a manual process that looks at the top-ranked pages for certain keywords and takes into account several factors. However, many keyword tools can help refine this process for you.
- Competition: If the competition seems too stiff for your website to compete with right now (for example, if multinational companies show up on page one), then you might skip the keyword. On the other hand, if your market competitors are showing up in the search results for a keyword, it’s probably a good one to keep. (Here’s how to clarify who your SEO competition is.)
- Traffic versus conversions: High-traffic keywords may bring in more traffic, but you also want to consider keywords that may drive less traffic but more conversions.
- PPC data: You can find out which keywords bring in clicks, traffic and conversions by testing them through PPC campaigns. To learn more, read our series on building and managing search campaigns.
- Rankings: If you are already ranking for certain keyword terms, you will want to evaluate those keywords. If they are relevant to your site, then keep them on the list. To find out what terms your website ranks for, check your Google Search Console data by queries. Some SEO tools, such as Semrush, can also help identify your traffic-driving keywords. Note that if you aren’t starting from scratch with keyword research, you’ll want to make this step a priority to better understand the terms you are already succeeding with.
Match to Theme
Get rid of any search terms that don’t reinforce the theme(s) of your site. This is a bit different from just getting rid of irrelevant keywords.
This step is about further refining the keywords in the categories based on the theme of your website. To better understand this concept, read SEO Siloing: What, Why, How.
Cross-Reference Personas
You might go through the lists of keywords with your personas in mind. You can get rid of those that you think don’t align with their needs and desires.
As a reminder, personas can also include internal stakeholders who will have an opinion on which keywords to target as well.
Determine Intent
As you analyze the keywords, ask yourself what intent you believe the searcher has when using this keyword.
Turn to the Google search engine to see what sort of content Google is ranking for that keyword to determine its relevance to your website.
For example, intent can be:
- Informational: These keywords are used by people seeking to learn more about the topic and who are not ready to buy just yet.
- Transactional: These keywords are used by people with the intent to purchase something.
- Branded: These keywords are related specifically to your business or brand.
As an example, if someone is trying to optimize a shopping site for a keyword phrase, and what Google is ranking are research pages with content about “what is [keyword phrase],” then it might not be the right keyword phrase or content.
Another layer might be local keywords, phrases that someone might use searching for a nearby business (think “near me”).
In all cases, you can have a mix of broader category keywords (i.e., the one- or two-word queries such as “women’s clothing”) and longer keywords that produce long-tail traffic (i.e., three or more words in a phrase such as “high heel womens designer shoes”) depending on where a searcher is on their searching journey.
You can try organizing your spreadsheet into the buckets listed above to start, and then further organize by broad versus long-tail.
An important note: Doing keyword research for things like shopping sites can be radically different than what’s outlined in this article. That involves a combination of both how people search and an evaluation of how filter/faceted navigation is set up on the site.
TOFU and BOFU Keywords
You can also organize your keywords by TOFU (top of the funnel) and BOFU (bottom of the funnel) categories.
Top-of-the-funnel keywords are usually more general topics (think “how-to” keywords) that build brand awareness and are used in educational-type resources like blog articles.
Bottom-of-the-funnel keywords typically are those that are highly specific and drive conversions. One example is searching for the “best [product name]”, which may bring up a targeted landing page.
Consider the “Zero-Click” Reality
Dig deeper to understand how certain keywords might instigate certain search results.
Google continually invents new SERP features that allow people to get answers to their queries without ever clicking through to a website. But that doesn’t mean you still can’t compete.
Google’s latest is AI Overviews, which gives an AI-generated summary of the search results for a query.
That doesn’t mean SEO is dead. Far from it. Google still relies on the content of websites to do its job. Still, SEO continuously evolves.
To learn more, read How to Adapt SEO in a Zero-Click World.
4. Assign Keywords and Optimize / Build Content
Keyword research is just the beginning of your SEO journey.
The keywords you choose will serve as a roadmap for your content, including the structure of your main webpages, your blog content and beyond (remember to keep in mind your whole-SERP SEO strategy!).
Identify “Unicorn” Webpages and Strengthen with Keywords
You can identify the webpages that rank well and are bringing in the most traffic first using tools like Google Analytics and our SEOToolSet, as I outlined earlier. Assign relevant keywords to those pages and then optimize them well.
Optimize Other Existing Webpages
Assign relevant keywords to other webpages that are already published. See how to get customized, real-time SEO advice per keyword.
Tips for Assigning Keywords to Webpages
Generally speaking, pages higher up in the site hierarchy should target the high-value keywords (“head” or “money” terms), while pages lower in the hierarchy should target long-tail keyword phrases.
The home page and top landing pages should be assigned the most important, the most competitive and the most-searched keywords, while product/content pages should be assigned long-tail keywords.
Primary and Secondary Keywords
For each page, pick one primary keyword and two or three secondary keywords.
The amount of content on the page determines how many secondary keywords are appropriate. The more content on the page, the greater variety of keywords it can be optimized for.
The secondary keywords should be related to the primary keyword. For example, if the primary keyword is “retirement communities,” then good secondary keywords might be “senior living” and “55 plus communities.”
“Nested” Keywords
Look for opportunities to use nested keywords — combining multiple head terms that share words.
For example, “Arizona retirement” and “retirement communities” both have high search volume. The term “Arizona retirement communities” has a lower search volume but contains both high-volume terms.
By optimizing for “Arizona retirement communities” you also optimize for “Arizona retirement” and “retirement communities.”
Build Content That Is Missing
Assign keywords as new topics for new webpages that you don’t yet have, like important keywords that you can’t assign to any pre-existing webpages. Make sure that you put those new webpages in the right SEO silo.
For more on developing great SEO content, see our guide to Google’s E-E-A-T, what makes a webpage quality, and crafting high-quality SEO content.
Final Thoughts
Keyword research is a lengthy and technical process. It’s worth spending the time up front to get this foundational step in your SEO strategy right.
Then, a good SEO strategy will deliver on your keyword research with quality, authoritative content to satisfy the people who are searching.
To build a solid SEO foundation, I recommend you check out our SEO Guide. This free resource starts with keyword research, then leads you through the important areas you need to know to get ranked. It’s a good idea to bookmark this page as well as the SEO Guide.
Don’t have the time or resources to conduct thorough keyword research? Let our SEO experts do the work for you.
FAQ: How can I perform effective keyword research to identify the right keywords that will improve my website’s SEO strategy?
Keyword research is an integral component of an effective SEO strategy, helping website owners uncover the most apt and impactful keywords to target. But exactly how will it benefit us? Let’s delve further into a process which leverages search behavior insights into effective content strategies.
Understanding user intent is vitally important if you wish to accurately portray what your audience is searching for through certain keywords. Tools like PreWriter.ai help you uncover popular and pertinent terms.
An evaluation of keyword difficulty and search volume using tools like the SEOToolSet® is crucial in order to create the ideal balance of high-volume keywords with manageable competition levels and those which add greater relevancy for increased chances of ranking higher in search results.
Creation of content clusters can be an efficient means of conducting keyword research. By organizing relevant information into groups of similar articles on your website, content clusters allow it to increase in authority and visibility while offering visitors relevant, organized data – perfect for both keyword optimization as well as user experience improvement!
Keyword research can be daunting due to an overwhelming volume of data and algorithm updates; but by employing professional tools and remaining up-to-**** on SEO trends, these challenges can be overcome successfully.
Step-by-Step Procedure
- Outline your SEO objectives.
- Plan an initial brainstorm session in order to compile a list of keywords.
- Use SEO tools like SEOToolSet, SEMRush or Ahrefs to track the rise and fall in popularity over time of particular keywords.
- Take advantage of keyword research tools in order to efficiently collect data.
- Analyze competitor websites to identify their top keywords.
- Generate long-tail keywords using tools such as PreWriter.ai.
- Assess the search volume and keyword difficulty for every potential keyword.
- Arrange similar keywords into clusters to strengthen their organization thematically.
- Leveraging semantic keywords and synonyms to boost content relevancy.
- Prioritize keywords by their impact and feasibility.
- Create a content strategy incorporating keywords related to your products/services.
- Create high-quality and engaging content that meets user intent.
- Optimize on-page elements including titles, meta descriptions and headers with keywords for maximum keyword usage.
- Gain insights into keyword performance using analytics tools that track rankings and traffic levels for accurate tracking of performance metrics.
- Based on performance data and SEO trends, make necessary modifications.
- Stay abreast of algorithm updates to maintain competitive edge for your website.
- When reviewing user trends when revising keyword lists.
- Experiment with different content formats to broaden the exposure of your keyword targets, and ensure maximum impactful exposure for them.
- Integrate internal links within content clusters to improve navigation and SEO performance.
- Engage with your audience through comments and feedback to understand their needs.
- Utilizing social media platforms such as X to expand and disseminate your content further will allow it to reach farther than it originally could.
- Join forces with industry specialists or influencers to bolster your credibility and extend the scope of your reach.
- When optimizing the technical aspects of your website, ensure it can provide optimal speed and mobile performance to maximize speed and mobile functionality as effectively as possible.
- For maximum effectiveness and relevance, regularly review and edit your content to stay fresh.
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