6 minute read
Keyword research without the jargon
How to find the searches worth targeting, judge how hard they are, and turn them into a plan of pages.
Begin with your customers, not a tool
Write down how a customer would describe their problem before they know your product exists. Those phrases are your seed keywords.
Expand the list
Use keyword ideas to see variations, related searches and the questions people ask. Questions are especially useful because they often become sections or whole pages.
- Phrase variations: the seed plus extra words
- Related searches: different words, same need
- Questions: who, what, how, why and can
Judge each keyword
Three things matter: how many people search for it, how hard it is to rank, and what the searcher wants. A modest keyword that matches what you sell often beats a popular one that does not.
- Volume: monthly searches in your country
- Difficulty: how strong the pages that already rank are
- Intent: information, comparison, purchase or a specific brand
Group keywords into topics
Many keywords mean the same thing. Group them, then give each group one page. This avoids several of your own pages competing for the same search.
Check what already ranks
Look at the pages in the top results. If they are all long guides, a short product page will struggle, and the reverse is also true. Match the format searchers clearly prefer.
Track the result
Once a page is live, track its main keyword so you can see whether the work paid off and when a page needs a refresh.