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Keyword Research: An In-Depth Beginner’s Guide

Keyword research is the foundation of search engine optimization. This guide covers what it is and how you should do keyword research.

Keyword research is the foundation of search engine optimization, and without it, you cannot expect to create sustainable and repeatable visibility.

Today, SEO is a much wider discipline than in the early days of the industry and has been segmented into many verticals.

But, at the core, SEO is about finding opportunities online and capturing relevant traffic to a website through visibility in search engines. Keyword research is at the heart of that SEO strategy.

This guide explains what keyword research is, why it’s important, and how you can make a start for a successful SEO strategy.

What Is Keyword Research?

Keyword research is a process of finding words, queries, and phrases that users are searching for, which means a keyword that has search volume.

Research involves connecting the relevance of keywords to a website and its individual pages so that the user can find the best page to answer their query, known as search intent.

Keyword research also involves categorizing search queries into the different stages of a user journey and different categories of search, such as transactional, navigational, and informational.

Good keyword research enables users to find what they need:

• Shoppers who want to buy something can find the right product page.
• A user that wants to know ‘how to’ can find a page that explains a process in-depth.
• Users who want to research a person or brand can find out about that entity.

Keyword research should also carefully consider if ranking on a keyword is worth the effort it would take to rank highly and get visitors. Not all traffic is equal.

Download the ebook, How To Do Keyword Research For SEO .

Why Keyword Research Is Important For SEO

A search engine is an information retrieval system built around the queries that a user inputs to find an answer or relevant information to their search query.

The predominant focus of Google is to connect a user with the best answer to their query and the best website page so that a user is satisfied. Understanding this underlines SEO.

Good keyword research is the foundation of how a business can connect with its potential customers and audience. Understanding this helps to understand a good SEO strategy.

A business strategy starts with understanding its audience and their needs.

• What do they want?
• What do they need?
• What keeps them awake at night?
• What could solve their problem?

Keyword research is an extension of understanding your audience by first considering their needs and then the phrases, keywords, or queries they use to find solutions.

Keyword research is also important for SEO because it can show you where the opportunities are by knowing what your audience is searching for.

This will help you to find new areas of business and to prioritize where to focus attention and resources.

Keyword research will also help you to calculate where you can expect a return on investment to justify your efforts:

• Can a keyword deliver relevant traffic that has the possibility to convert to an end goal?
• What is an estimation of that traffic, and how much is each visitor worth to your business?

Basically, keyword research is the ultimate business research tool.

Read more: Why Keywords Are Still So Very Important For SEO

Keyword Research Basics

Monthly search volume.

Monthly Search Volume (MSV) is a predominant measure of keyword value. It’s a useful metric as a starting point to consider if anyone is searching for that keyword, but it shouldn’t be used in isolation or as the only measure of value.

Just because a keyword has a high MSV doesn’t mean it is the right keyword for you to rank on.

High-volume keywords generally deliver ‘browsing’ traffic at the top of the funnel. They are useful for brand awareness but not for direct conversion.

Low-volume keywords can be much more valuable because they can deliver users who are ready to buy a product.

Read more: A Complete Guide To Keyword Search Volume For SEO

User Intent

User intent refers to what type of result they want to see when they search for a query – the intention of their search.

You will hear user intent talked about a lot in keyword research, as it is one of the most important factors in the process.

User intent is important in two ways, firstly because your primary aim in creating content and pages on a website are to provide a user with information that they want to know.

There’s no point in creating a page about what you care about – your user only cares about their problems and needs.

You can have the best page in the world about the history of cupcakes, but if a user searching for [cupcake] wants a recipe for cupcakes, then they will not click on your link.

Secondly, Google considers relevance when serving results pages (as we said above, they want to deliver the best result for a query). So, the better your page fits user intent, the better it might rank.

Read more: How People Search: Understanding User Intent

When Google considers which pages it will show in search results, the algorithm will look at other pages that users are clicking on for that query.

If we have a query such as [cupcake], Google has to consider if a user wants to know what a cupcake is, how to make a cupcake, or wants to buy a cupcake.

By looking at a search result page, you can get a good idea of user intent from the other results.

Reviewing the search results page of a query should be part of your research process for every keyword you want to consider.

Keyword relevance and user intent are much the same things. It’s about knowing what the user really means when they search. This is more ambiguous for head keywords and less so for long-tail queries.

Long-Tail keywords

Long-tail keywords are called long-tail because they fall to the right of the search demand curve – where the graph looks like a long tail stretching to the right.

The search demand curve is a graph that shows keywords with high volume to the left and lower search volumes to the right.

Longer queries that are more focused fall to the right. Head terms with broad meaning and high volume fall to the left.

The value of long-tail keywords is that they are usually highly focused terms that convert well, as users are actively looking for something very specific.

For example, [iPhone 13] is a head term with high volume (2.7 million MSV), and [Best affordable iPhone 13 cases] (210 MSV) is a long-tail keyword with far fewer searches but would have a high conversion rate.

Long-tail keywords are useful to include in a keyword strategy because they are usually much easier to rank for and achievable for a new website, and the cumulative volume of many long-tail keywords adds up to considerable targeted traffic.

This is a much more stable strategy than focusing on one high-volume ambiguous keyword.

Read more: Long-Tail Keyword Strategy: Why & How To Target Intent For SEO

Types Of Search Query

There are four types of keywords that are useful to understand as they categorize the different user intents and can help when planning a keyword strategy.

• Informational – users looking for information or an answer to a question (top of the funnel).
• Navigational – users wanting to find a specific brand, site, or page (brand searches).
• Commercial – users researching brands, products, or services (middle of the funnel).
• Transactional – users ready to complete a purchase or action (bottom of the funnel).

Local keywords can also be considered another category.

How To Do Keyword Research

Now that you have a better understanding of the basics of keyword research, we can look at where you would start with your research and keyword strategy.

1. How To Find Keyword Ideas

The first stage of keyword research is to brainstorm ideas for seed keywords, and there are several ways to do this.

Your Target Audience

Everything starts with your audience and what they want. Think about their needs, wants, and especially their pain points and problems.

Start to compile your wide list of words, ideas, and topics that surround your niche or business.

Think About Questions

Question-based keyword queries are valuable as they can help you to capture featured snippets and can be a way to jump rank on highly competitive keywords.

Ask your sales team and review CRM data to find the questions that your audience is asking.

Also, think of question modifiers that will start to build out your list:

• What [is a road bike].
• How to [ride a road bike].
• When is [the best time to service a road bike].
• What is [the best road bike].
• Where is [road bike shop].

Current Site Queries

If your site already has some online history, then Google Search Console can tell you what Google thinks your website is relevant for. This is insightful to tell you if your site is conveying the right message and to find opportunities.

If Google is showing a lot of queries that have nothing to do with your product or brand, then you need to apply more keyword focus to your pages.

Look for queries that are position 10 or greater, have reasonable impressions, and you think are relevant to your business.

These are potential quick-win opportunities that you can capture by making improvements and optimizing pages for the query.

Read more: A Complete Google Search Console Guide For SEO Pros

Competitors’ Keywords

Your competitors are a gold mine of information because they might already have invested in extensive research.

A business should be constantly monitoring its competitors anyway, so keep an eye on what content they are producing and the terms they target.

A keyword gap analysis will help you find opportunities your competitors are targeting that you might not have considered.

Read more: Competitor Keyword Analysis: 5 Ways To Fill The Gaps In Your Organic Strategy & Get More Traffic

Seed Keywords

Start with high-level ‘seed’ keywords that you can use as a starting point to then open up variants and related queries.

Seed keywords are ‘big’ head terms such as [iPhone], [trainers], [road bike], or [cupcake].

For each seed keyword, start to think of topics that are related:

• Road bike maintenance.
• Road bike training.
• Road bike clothing.
• Road bike lights.

Also, use question modifiers and buying modifiers such as:

• Best [road bike].
• Buy [road bike].
• Price [for women’s road bike].
• [road bikes for hire] near me.
• Reviews [of road bikes under $1,000].

When you have finished this process, you should have a raw list of potential keywords grouped in topics – such as maintenance, clothing, training, etc.

2. How To Analyze Keywords

Once you have your raw list, it’s time to start to analyze and sort by value and opportunity.

Search Volume

Search volume will tell you if anyone is actively searching for this term.

For a first-stage strategy, you should aim for keywords with a mid-range and long-tail volume for quick wins and then build up to approach more competitive terms with higher volumes.

Head keywords with super high volumes (like ‘iPhone’) are not the best keywords to focus on as they can be too ambiguous and rarely have a specific intent.

Also, the amount of work that is needed to rank can be too high a barrier for entry unless you have an established domain of significant authority.

If a tool shows a keyword with zero search volume, this doesn’t always mean you should discard the term.

If the keyword is shown in the tool, then there can be value to consider targeting it in your strategy. However, make sure you know your audience and what is relevant to them before you invest resources in a zero-volume keyword.

Read more: Why You Should Target Zero Search Volume Keywords

Search Intent

After you have sorted your raw lists by search volumes, it’s then time to review the intent for each keyword that you would like to target.

The SERP will tell you everything that you need to know, and you should always review SERPs for clues on how to construct content and rank.

Look at the other listing that rank highly:

• Are they ‘how-to’ guides that indicate it’s informational?
• Do the titles say ‘buy,’ ‘best,’ or include product names?
• Is there a shopping carousel that indicates a buying keyword?
• Is there a location map that indicates it’s a local search?

Tag each keyword type and then consider which are the strongest keywords from each group.

You can also use a research tool that will tell you the type of keyword.

Topic Clusters

Grouping keywords into topic clusters is an advanced keyword strategy that can help to strengthen the topic authority of a site.

To do this, you would start with a high-volume head keyword and then research a series of keywords that supports that head term.

After creating pages of content that target each keyword, you use internal linking to connect pages with the same topic.

Read more: Keyword Clusters: How To Level Up Your SEO Content Strategy

3. How To Choose Organic Keywords

After sorting the volumes, intent, and topics, you will need to decide if you have a chance of ranking on a term by looking at how much competition there is for each keyword.

Keyword Difficulty

Keyword difficulty is one of the most important keyword metrics when doing your research.

If a keyword is so competitive that you need hundreds of thousands of dollars to rank, then you need to get strategic.

The easiest way to calculate keyword difficulty is to use a research tool that gives a score for each keyword.

Or, you can refer to Google Keyword Planner Tool and look at the CPC and level of difficulty. The higher the CPC bid, the higher the competition.

If you are starting out, first approach the lower competition keywords that are achievable and then build your way up to more competitive terms.

Read more: Why Keyword Research Is Useful For SEO & How To Rank

Connecting To Your Objectives And Goals

Unless a keyword can actually deliver a result for you – do you want to target it?

As we said above, targeting head terms is not the best strategy as they will, at best, deliver browsing or drive-by visitors. Unless you are a big brand with a big budget that is aiming for brand awareness, this is not the best application of your resources and budget.

Choosing your keyword priority should start with what can give you the best return in the shortest time frame.

Good keyword research is not just about trying to target a high-volume popular keyword. A good keyword strategy is about finding the right keywords for your needs and outcome. Always keep that front and center.

Read more: How To Calculate ROI For SEO When Targeting A Set Of Keywords

Watch John Mueller talk about ranking for head keywords in this video from the 38:55 minute mark.

Using Keyword Research Tools

Doing your research without a tool is limited; for the most in-depth keyword research, you need help to find keyword opportunities you had not thought of.

The following keyword research tools are all free versions that you can start out with.

Google Keyword Planner

The original keyword tool has evolved over the years, but it still remains one of the best free keyword tools and a good starting point to find seed keywords and keyword ideas.

The Google tool is aligned with Google Ads, so the data is skewed towards paid ads but is still valuable for research.

You need a Google Ads account to access the tool. Google will try to force you to set up an active campaign, but you can access the account by setting up an account without a campaign.

Without a campaign running, you will only get limited search volumes displayed in ranges, but the tool is still useful for its suggestions of keyword ideas. If you have an active campaign, Google will show you the monthly search volume.

You can add up to 10 seed keywords and get a list of suggested keywords, and run competitor URLs in the tool to find keywords they are targeting. Doing this is a great place to start building out raw lists of keywords to work from.

Read more: How To Use Google Keyword Planner

Read more: 9 Creative Ways To Use Google’s Keyword Planner Tool

Google Trends

Google Trends offers data based on actual search query data. It doesn’t provide search volumes, but the data in Google trends can be compared with actual search volumes from other tools so you can get a comparative feel of what the actual volumes are.

Where Trends excels is to identify trending topics and subtopics in a niche and to find geographic search trends in a local area. Trends will recommend related keywords that are currently growing in popularity.

As part of a keyword strategy, this can show you where to focus resources and when to stop investing in terms.

Read more: How To Use Google Trends For SEO

Google Autocomplete

Previously known as Suggest, Autocomplete is integrated into the Google search box to help users complete their search with what Google calls ‘predictions.’

Google takes its predictions from common searches and trending searches.

As the suggestions are all variations around the topic you are typing, the results shown give you an insight into other related terms that users could be looking for.

Checking the predictions that Google provides in Autocomplete can help you find more variations and keywords to consider.

Read more: Google Autocomplete: A Complete SEO Guide

Answer The Public

Answer The Public is a powerful tool that scrapes data from Google Autocomplete and connects a seed keyword with a variety of modifiers to produce a list of variants.

Answer The Public will quickly provide a list of suggestions, especially based on questions that you can use as a raw list to then review.

Read more: More Free Keyword Research Tools

Paid Keyword Research Tools

Free keyword tools are great to get you started and to create raw lists of keywords that you can then drill into.

However, for the best results, you might want to invest in a paid competitive analysis tool that can help you get monthly search volume and keyword difficulty data.

Some tools will also help with assigning topics and clustering for more advanced keyword strategies.

Anyone who does keyword research in-depth or to an advanced level will have their own process. They will also use a variety of tools and a combination of paid and free resources to get the best results.

Read more: Best Keyword Research Tools

Advanced Keyword Strategies

Now that you have an understanding of how to get started with keyword research, experiment with a few different websites and niches. Doing the work yourself is the best way to learn.

Once you have a better understanding in practice, move into more advanced methods and strategies to take your keyword research to the next level.

Advanced Keyword Research

• B2B Keyword Research Done Right With Practical Examples
• Keyword Clusters: How To Level Up Your SEO Content Strategy
• Building A Keyword Strategy For Comparison Content

Featured Image: Paulo Bobita/Search Engine Journal

Shelley Walsh is the SEO Content Strategist at SEJ & produces the Pioneers, a series about the history of SEO ...

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The Ultimate 2024 SEO Keyword Research Guide

If you’re familiar with search engine optimization (SEO) , you’ve probably heard of keywords — the phrases that users type into a search engine when they want to find something.

Choosing the best keywords is vital to the success of your SEO efforts. That’s why we’re bringing you this complete SEO keyword research guide! This can be a daunting, yet profitable, task. Don’t be afraid to reach out to an SEO company for assistance. Otherwise, keep reading to dive in and learn how to do keyword research for SEO!

What are SEO keywords?

What is keyword research for seo, why is seo keyword research important.

• How to do keyword research for SEO

SEO keywords are words and phrases you add to your online content to improve your website’s rankings for those terms. The goal is that when a user searches for that keyword on a search engine like Google, your website will appear as one of the top search results.

Why are SEO keywords important?

SEO keywords are vital to your SEO efforts because you need to use them in your content in order to rank in the search results. When a user searches for a term related to your business online, you want your website to be one of the first results. And to achieve that goal, you must incorporate those terms throughout your content and website.

“Our systems analyze the content to assess whether it contains information that might be relevant to what you are looking for. The most basic signal that information is relevant is when content contains the same keywords as your search query.”

Keyword research for SEO is the process of identifying the words or phrases your target audience searches for online so you can target them for your SEO strategy. It can involve using various tools and platforms to create a list of the best phrases to target in your content.

Keyword research is important because it helps you identify which phrases your target audience uses to find your products or services on search engines like Google.

Once you know these phrases, you can incorporate them into your content and help your website rank at the top of the results each time someone searches for those words.

In other words, you’ll be able to reach more of your target market and increase your online visibility.

That means that with the right keyword targeting, you’ll drive more web traffic, high-quality leads, and sales for your business.

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How to do keyword research for SEO: Best practices for choosing the best keywords

Now you know what SEO keyword research is and why it’s important, but how exactly do you research keywords and find the right ones to target?

Here’s how to do keyword research for SEO in 10 steps:

• Use SEO keyword research tools to start off your keyword list
• Use Google Suggest and Google Trends to discover keywords
• Find out what keywords your competitors rank for
• Look at keywords you already rank for
• Create a list of your keyword ideas
• Look out for long-tail keywords
• Analyze keyword volume and competition
• Look at the search intent
• Determine target and related keywords
• Finalize your keyword list

1. Use SEO keyword research tools to start off your keyword list

One of the best ways to research keywords is to use SEO keyword research tools to make your job as easy as possible.

We recommend using SEO.com’s keyword research tool to generate a list of possible keywords to target for your SEO strategy. You can even save and export the list for easy access later.

There are a number of other helpful keyword research tools you can try, too, like:

• Keywords Everywhere
• Ahref’s Keywords Explorer
• Semrush’s Keyword Overview

Most of these tools operate by simply entering a starting phrase. The tool then generates a list of related phrases, terms, and questions that people search for online.

While you will need to weed through these lists to pick out the best phrases for your content (more on that later), these tools are a great starting point for your SEO keyword research.

2. Use Google Suggest and Google Trends to discover keywords

Another great way to discover keywords for your SEO strategy is to use Google Suggest and Google Trends .

Google Suggest is the list of suggestions that appear when you start searching for something on Google. These suggestions are perfect candidates for potential keywords to target.

And as a bonus, these suggestions are usually long-tail keywords.

In the example above, for instance, you can see examples of short- and long-tail HVAC keywords .

Long-tail keywords , as the name suggests, are longer keywords that contain multiple words or a longer phrase and are usually more specific. For example, “brownie” is a short-tail keyword, while “chocolate brownie recipe” is a long-tail keyword.

Long-tail keywords are usually less competitive and easier to rank for than short-tail keywords.

Google Trends can also give you lots of potential keyword ideas. This tool shows you what searches are currently trending on Google.

Using this tool is a great way to get an idea of which keywords related to your business are currently popular, making it easy to target keywords your audience is searching for repeatedly.

3. Find out what keywords your competitors rank for

Next in our guide for how to do keyword research for SEO is to scope out what keywords your competitors currently rank for.

After all, the goal is to outrank your competitors in the search results so you can drive more traffic and leads. Plus, your competitors already offer some of the same products or services as you, so there’s a high probability the keywords they rank for will be relevant to you.

So, what better way to outrank your competitors in the search results than to research the keywords they already rank for?

You can use a tool like Ahrefs to accomplish this.

Simply copy the URL of a page on your competitor’s website and enter it into the Ahrefs Site Explorer tool. Then, click on the Organic Keywords tab from the menu on the left-hand side to see which keywords that page is currently ranking for.

You can also look up the keywords for an entire domain using the Ahrefs Site Explorer tool.

Once you’ve identified the keywords your competitors rank for, you’ll have the ultimate list of keywords to target in your content.

4. Look at keywords you already rank for

It’s also a good idea to check out the keywords your site already ranks for.

You might be thinking, “But wait, I’m already ranking for them, so why do they matter? Shouldn’t I be trying to rank for new keywords?”

Yes, you should try to rank for new keywords, but that doesn’t mean you should ignore the ones you already rank for. In fact, by looking at your existing keywords, you’ll probably also find some new keywords you can optimize for.

The best way to check out your current keyword rankings is to head to Google Search Console and navigate to the Search Results report . From there, look at your current keyword rankings under the Queries tab.

Odds are, lots of these will be familiar to you, but you may be surprised to find some that you haven’t optimized for. Google has already deemed your website a good candidate for ranking for those terms.

If you aren’t already ranking on page one, and these keywords make sense for your SEO strategy, it’s a good idea to optimize for them and boost your rankings and traffic even more.

5. Create a list of your keyword ideas

Now that you’ve used some SEO keyword research tools and scoped out your competitors’ keyword rankings along with your own site’s rankings, it’s time to create a list of all the keyword ideas you’ve accumulated.

You can create a list in any format that works best for you. Maybe you type up your keyword ideas in a Word document or in an Excel spreadsheet.

Whatever you choose, make sure you list all of your ideas in an organized fashion because you’ll need to look at this list again in the future or likely share it with other team members.

6. Look out for long-tail keywords

Once you’ve compiled your list, it’s time to analyze it and narrow it down.

While you likely have some great keyword ideas jotted down, it’s possible that not all of them will be a good fit for your SEO strategy, so it’s important to take the time to go through the entirety of your list and weed out the less desirable keywords.

The first thing you’ll want to include in your final list is long-tail and out-of-the-box keywords. As we mentioned before, long-tail keywords are usually less competitive and easier to rank for than short-tail ones, so it’s a great idea to include these in your SEO strategy.

Keep an eye out for phrases like “chocolate chip cookie recipe” vs. “cookie” or “HVAC technician in Cleveland” vs. “HVAC technician.”

7. Analyze keyword volume and competition

You’ll also want to analyze the search volume and competition for the keyword ideas on your list.

The search volume refers to how many people search for that keyword. The higher the search volume, the more people are typing that word or phrase on search engines.

The keyword competition, sometimes called keyword difficulty, refers to how challenging it will be to rank for that keyword in the SERPs. The higher the keyword difficulty, the more challenging it will be to earn a top spot in the search results.

You can view metrics like keyword difficulty and search volume by using tools like Ahrefs.

The goal is to choose keywords that have a high keyword volume and low competition.

But this can be easier said than done. In fact, you might notice that keywords with a higher search volume also have more competition.

Try to choose keywords that fall somewhere in the middle. You should pick keywords with a decent search volume and a lower keyword difficulty, so you have a better chance at ranking at the top of the search results and can drive a decent amount of traffic to your site.

8. Look at the search intent

Now that you’ve narrowed down your keyword idea list using long-tail keywords, search volume, and search difficulty, it’s time to look at search intent.

Search intent is the reason why a user types a particular word or phrase into a search engine. When someone searches for something online, they want to solve a problem, answer a question, or get more information about a topic.

If your content doesn’t match the search intent of your keyword, it won’t rank. Even more importantly, you want to make sure that answering the search intent makes sense for your business.

For example, if you run an HVAC company , it wouldn’t make sense to match the search intent of a keyword like “plumber near me” because you don’t offer those services.

It’s important to analyze the search intent of the keywords on your list to ensure that you can (and want to) answer the search intent for your keywords.

9. Determine target and related keywords

Another important step in the SEO keyword research process is determining target and related keywords.

A target keyword is the main keyword you want to target in your content. Related keywords, as the name suggests, are related to your target keyword. They aren’t your core keyword, but you target them secondarily on your pages.

For example, let’s say your target keyword is something like “Italian restaurant.” Some related keywords you can also target could be “local Italian restaurant,” “Italian restaurant near me,” and “Italian restaurant in Philadelphia, PA.”

It’s important to group your keywords into target and related keywords to ensure you don’t create duplicate content. This strategy also helps you create content that will appear in multiple relevant search results, maximizing your online visibility.

Take a look at your keyword list to determine which words and phrases are target keywords and which are related keywords. You should also brainstorm and research any target and related keywords that are missing from your list.

10. Finalize your keyword list

Now that you’ve analyzed and brainstormed target and related keywords, it’s time to finalize your keyword list.

Take one last look through your list to ensure that the keywords are a good fit for your company in terms of search intent, search volume, and keyword difficulty.

Once you’ve finalized your list, all that’s left is to start targeting your keywords by creating valuable, helpful, and optimized content and watch your rankings and traffic soar.

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Table of Contents

• What Are SEO Keywords?
• What is Keyword Research for SEO?
• Why is SEO Keyword Research Important?
• How to Do Keyword Research for SEO

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Related Resources

• SEO Title Tags: What Are They? [+ 5 Tips to Optimize Yours]
• Should You Target Misspelled Keywords in SEO?
• Should You Target Zero-Volume Keywords? (And How to Find Them)
• The Basics of Registered Trademarks & Symbols in Title Tags
• What Are Internal Links? A Guide to Internal Linking Basics
• What is an SEO Score? Definition, Factors, and How to Improve
• What is First Link Priority? (And Does It Affect Rankings?)
• Why is Google Ignoring My Title Tag and Meta Description?
• 100+ Best SEO Keywords for Ecommerce Businesses
• 100+ Best SEO Keywords for HVAC Companies

Keyword Research – An In-Depth Guide to Help You Rank Higher [+Template]

Keyword research can help you effectively reach more of your audience. By understanding exactly what they are searching for, you can create targeted content to meet their needs. But, in order to maximize your impact, you need to take a systematic approach using the most accurate keyword research tools . In this post, we’ll break down the complete step-by-step guide to how to conduct keyword research and the tools to use to achieve real results.

What is keyword research?

Keyword research is the process of finding the words and phrases your target audience is searching for on Google. Whether they are looking to find information like, pizza delivery options in your city, or are ready to purchase a product or a service, once you identify the high-value keywords they are searching related to your business, and their intent, you can optimize your search strategy and rank higher on Google.

Why does keyword research matter to you?

Using the right keywords (also known as search terms) gives your content the power to climb higher on search engine results pages (SERPs). This is exactly why keyword research is a pillar in search engine optimization (SEO).

If you set up your keyword research properly, scaling your ongoing SEO efforts and powering your growth will be fairly easy to execute.

It is important that your primary research is comprehensive and hones in on search intent because it will be the foundation of your search engine optimization strategy. Think of it as the base of all your future subject-specific SEO efforts to bring you new leads like a passive income. During this initial phase of research, your goal is to gather as many relevant keyword phrases as you can that could reach your audience.

In this blog we will guide you through how to conduct keyword research:

• Scan your website for keywords
• Dig deeper into your keyword data with Google Search Console
• Take advantage of competitor analysis tools
• Find the most valuable phrases with the keyword generation tool
• Consolidate your keyword data
• Categorize keywords by user intent and semantic search
• Analyze long-tail vs. short-tail keywords
• Choose the right mix of keywords to focus on

You can download our keyword research template below and apply what you learn as you go.

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How to do keyword research

1. scan your website for keywords.

To start your keyword research process, the first step is to open your website and identify the main categories. Note any very obvious keywords you will need to include. The keywords you find during this process are the first ones you should add to your initial list to gain high-level insight into your website’s main goals.

At this stage don’t focus on the specific terminology used, you can tweak the wording later, focus on understanding what your website is aiming to do and/or sell to understand how you will generate search traffic.

• Pro Tip: Pay special attention to how your content is organized. Look for where the content and product pages are located. If you have a menu, those keywords are (yes, you guessed it) key. You can also find additional crucial industry words by scanning your site as a whole, including content featured on your homepage, blogs, product pages, feature descriptions, mission statements, and FAQ. If you sell a product, both the product and its category would be included .

Below you can see an example of important keywords on Similarweb’s homepage that would need to be included during this stage of SEO research. Words like ‘digital research’ and ‘investing’  relate to how our content is organized. As you go through your own website these are the types of phrases you are searching for in this stage of your keyword research.

2. Dig deep into your keyword data in Google Search Console

Take a look at the data you already have. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel – yet. If you have access to Google Search Console, (which can also be visible through your Google Analytics account), you can navigate to the performance section and look at the search results reported there. The list you create here will give you a thorough review of your strongest keywords that are already working.  If a term is performing well, you need to ensure you continue to include it in your SEO strategy , and possibly, even double down on your content efforts to win traffic from the term.

• Pro Tip: To use the Performance section effectively, set the data range for the page at 6 months, exclude all branded queries to compile a list of general terms that your audience is searching for, and then download the list it creates as a CSV file.

3. Take advantage of competitor analysis tools

Use competitive data tools to analyze your website and gain more insight into your current performance. Keep in mind that the keywords you will find differ for macro-level SEO and local SEO. You could conduct macro-level keyword research for specific countries using Similarweb. This will help you drill down and understand the topics and keyword opportunities that are trending in countries that interest you.

To do this, you can use Similarweb’s website analysis tool , and first, insert your own URL. Next, click on the Keywords section and filter out all branded keywords. After that, navigate to the “Competitors” section of your website analysis. Note the top three competitors you have and then run an audit on their websites too. For each audit you run, go to the Keyword Analysis section, filter out the branded search queries and export the reports for internal use. Remember that competitors’ traffic data can be as valuable as ranking data for your analysis, so don’t give up on any exported dataset yet – many of them will come in handy for your SEO strategy.

• Pro Tip: It can also be useful to filter out results that fall outside of the top 50 rankings in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERP) to weed out many irrelevant queries.

Combine the keyword list you created for each of your competitors’ sites with the one you made for your own site. You should merge the exported Excel files into one. Now you can consolidate the ranking and traffic data for each of your competitors and then remove any duplicate keywords.

Alternatively, you can decide not to consolidate your competitors’ ranking and traffic data and use only the keyword data. At this point you have the basis of the research: You found out what your website is ranked for, what phrases your competitors’ websites are ranked for, and what real people search for. Now it’s time to inspect your entire search potential.

You can also perform micro-level research using an SEO tool like Navads . Navads, acquired by Uberall in 2018, is the leading location data provider for the databases that power the navigation and mapping industry. It has a local search tool that helps you rank higher in map search results.

4. Find the most valuable phrases with Keyword Generation Tool

Your next step is to use a keyword tool to discover more keyword ideas, synonyms, and suggestions. You can use Google Keyword Planner to discover new keyword ideas. Another and often easier option is to use a keyword research tool like Similarweb’s Keyword Generator Tool and insert keywords by the categories you found on your website during stage one. Diving into more specific categories ensures the keywords the tool suggests are relevant to your topic.

Consider your target audience: Who are they? How do they search for what they need? What words or phrasing do they use? Are they primarily on desktop or mobile? This is also the perfect time to further research “interesting” phrases you may have found through competitive keyword research .

• Pro Tip: Since branded terms are usually irrelevant to SEO, be sure to filter out brand terms when you conduct your keyword research. You should also filter out irrelevant keyword phrase suggestions such as price and jobs. 

Again, in this stage, the goal is to compile a comprehensive keyword list for each of your chosen categories, so add as many relevant keywords as possible. You will probably discover that the broad category you started off with needs to be broken down into subtopics to make your keyword list usable for technical SEO and content marketing purposes. For example, digital marketing is a huge category that includes SEO, pay-per-click (PPC), media planning , marketing strategies, and more. So, each of those subjects should become its own subcategory at this stage since they each require research into specific keyword terms.

After you’ve broken down your main category into more easily digestible bite-sized subcategories, each subcategory should have its own keyword list that you can download. Now, it’s time to download those lists and take some time to review each. If you find that one of your categories is still quite wide, meaning it contains many search queries and very large volumes, you can break it down further into more detailed subcategories until it’s manageable.

Once you’re happy with your subcategory lists go to Google Keyword Planner. This tool allows up to 10 base phrases per ‘research,’ so group all phrases from the same subcategory together to find the best relevant keyword suggestions. ‘Research’ in SEO keyword planning refers to the maximum number of starting keywords that you can use in Google Keyword Planner to find related keyword suggestions.

5. Consolidate your keyword data

At this point, you’re probably wondering why you have so many keyword lists, but don’t worry that means you’re on the right track! These lists are your data sources for all search volumes and trends, and also for your competitors’ ranking and performance data. In fact, now it’s time to combine all of the lists that fall into the same subcategory by migrating all the data to one master Excel file. Once you’ve combined them remove any duplicate keywords. The reason you are merging the lists you’ve made is so you can effectively organize and implement your keyword research when it’s go-time.

• Pro Tip : Perform search trend and rank calculations on your data lists. Then consolidate the sources and remove duplicate phrase entries. Finally, pull all the competitive data related to your research (competitors ranking, traffic shares , etc.). Now you can calculate competitive keyword difficulty and value easily and build a data-driven SEO strategy. For example, you can identify recent changes in search volumes as well as competitor’s weak spots, and adjust your strategy accordingly.

To understand how to most effectively implement your keyword research, map out your data and insights against the current content on your website. Ask yourself:

• Which terms do you already have pages for?
• Which ones do you need to create pages for?

These questions will allow you to understand how to prioritize your efforts and successfully execute your keyword strategy.

6. Categorize keywords by user intent and semantic search

Start by dividing the phrases you’ve compiled into smaller groups based on topic similarities. From there you can break them down into large categories, like digital marketing, subcategories like SEO, and topic words like keyword research. For your topic keywords with semantic similarities, you want to keep in mind the users’ search intent for every query and effectively reach your potential customers.

People can use the same keywords to mean different things, so an important part of this process is decoding the user’s search intent.

For example, if someone searches for toilet paper what do they mean? Are they looking for places to order from, popular brands, or keeping tabs on which stores have toilet paper in stock? This is why you must understand search intent to categorize your keywords and ultimately reach your relevant target audience. Once you understand your target audience’s intent you can analyze the most relevant search phrases for them and for your business, and decide what are the right keywords for you.

In general, there are four main intent categories:

• Informational: These generally include “how-to” questions and “what” questions. For example, ‘how to disinfect plastic.’   
• Commercial investigation : Specific Attributes, versus, best, for example, ‘Walmart vs Target.’
• Transactional : This includes searches where the user has the intent to buy or download, for example, ‘buying waterproof kid’s toys.’
• Navigational : This includes branded queries, like ‘Facebook updates.’
• Pro Tip : Taking the time to thoroughly complete this step will help you to achieve very high clarity in your groups and ensure your SEO optimization efforts will have the largest impact possible.

Remove all remaining terms that are still irrelevant to your SEO goals such as queries that include times, locations, and competitor names. What you deem irrelevant will change based on your individual site and industry, so there is not a hard and fast rule to follow.

Optimization gaps are pages that are optimized for the wrong search intent, that have missing content, or are missing the right meta elements . To do this, continue re-dividing your keyword groups into smaller and smaller groups until you’re left only with keyword groups of semantically related search queries .  

7. Analyze long-tail vs. short-tail keywords

Within your keyword groups, it’s important to ensure you have a mix of short-tail and long-tail keywords . Short-tail keywords are more competitive and more to rank for because they are broader searches. On the other hand, long-tail keywords typically contain over three words and are less competitive because they are geared toward more specific searches. A good mix of the two types allows you to develop a keyword strategy that balances long-term and short-term wins.

For example, which of these keyword phrases do you think would be easier to rank for?

Toilet paper

Reusable toilet paper

[Did you pick the second one? Good!] The more competition there is for a keyword, the harder it is to rank.

As you can tell, long-tail keywords are more specific so they have a much clearer search intent than short-tail keywords. They also usually drive higher-quality traffic to your site since people are looking for something specific, which results in a more qualified lead. At many times data will show long-tail keywords can also produce larger traffic volumes when accumulated than short-tails for a specific topic, in those cases, it will be a strategic decision to focus on long-tail keywords that offer higher relevancy and match the audience’s search intent. This is another reason to make sure you don’t only pick high-volume phrases, but look at the big picture and choose the right keywords for SEO that offer maximum relevance and potential.

8. Choose the right mix of keywords to focus on

When creating your keyword plan you need to consider the following information and how they fit into your SEO strategy:

• Search volume: You should be closely evaluating the search volume of the keywords you are targeting. A keyword with a high search volume is more likely to be competitive, or harder to rank for. In order to rank higher on a high-volume, highly competitive keyword, you need to have site authority for the topic. One way you can build authority: create content on lower volume-related keywords. This shows Google that you are an expert on the topic and boosts your standing. Knowing the search volume for any given keyword helps you strategize to create the most effective approach given the characteristics of your website.
• Organic click-through rates (CTRs): This metric will give you an idea of how likely people are to click on posts that rank for a specific keyword. For example search terms like “what is the weather,” which are often answered on the Google Search Result page, may have a lower click-through rate since the user gets their answer question without needing to take another action.
• Keyword search trends: Trending keywords are constantly changing, so you need the most up-to-date data to stay on top of what’s trending in search. Similarweb has a keywords trends feature where you can quickly see what keywords are driving traffic now. Trends can change based on current events, pop culture developments (think Meghan and Harry’s Oprah interview ), or even seasonal events like Black Friday. Watch for specific times to rank for keywords because that’s when it matters.
• Your competitors’ keywords:  You can gain a lot of insight from keywords your competitors are ranking on. Using Similarweb’s Website Analysis, you can see the market share that each competitor has for specific keywords.
• Long-tail and short-tail keywords: As discussed earlier, you want to be sure you are focusing on the long-tail and short-tail keywords that make sense for your search strategy and your site’s level of authority.

Now you have sorted and expanded on your data strategically. This means you can easily estimate the difficulty as well as the value of ranking for a keyword or a topic and build an SEO strategy that takes everything into account and can be easily deployed. You can make smarter choices in creating or optimizing content, easily discover and address content gaps , and scale your activity without duplication hazards.

Put your keyword research to work

Boom. You did it. You just completed your initial keyword research. You now have small keyword groups you can use to map out and optimize pages from your site and create new pages for keywords you know will win SEO traffic. The list you have now enables you to easily manage on-page optimization and keyword use, as well as mitigate the risk of duplicate content.

This blog was written in collaboration with Sarah Mehlman , Content Manager at Similarweb.

Keyword research FAQs

Keyword research is the process of finding the terms and phrases that your target audience is searching for on search engines.

Why should I use keyword research?

You should use keyword research to discover the right terms that will help you climb higher on the SERP, and therefore increase the traffic to your website.

How do I conduct keyword research?

You can conduct keyword research with SEO tools . Similarweb’s keyword tool allows you to discover keywords your target audience is searching for, and the terms that are driving traffic to your competitors.

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A Step-By-Step Guide to Keyword Research (Bonus: Best Keyword Research Tools Compared)

Imagine getting over a quarter million visitors to your site every month. We did it thanks to keyword research:

That screenshot is from one of my sites called The Wandering RV . My wife and I grew this site from a brand new site to a quarter million monthly visits in just three years with less than 30 articles.

Yes, you also have to create great content and build links to that content, but those actions come AFTER you know the best keywords to target. Every successful SEO campaign begins with keyword research ; skip this step at your peril.

Ready to get started?

How to Do Keyword Research (Quick Steps):

Good keywords make or brake a successful SEO marketing campaign. Here’s the key steps to get started with keyword research :

Step 1 : Find keyword ideas based on key terms, related search, long-tail keywords, and LSI. Step 2 : Check the TRUE keyword difficulty and search volume. Step 3 : Determine user intent.

In today’s guide, I share a step-by-step guide to keyword research that covers not just how to find hundreds of great keywords, but also how to tell which ones can move the needle for your business and which aren’t worth your time. Let’s dive in!

Keyword Research Fundamentals

Before I talk about the exact steps to find keywords for your SEO campaign, let’s briefly cover what keyword research is and why you should care.

What Is Keyword Research?

Keyword research is the act of finding and vetting keywords to target in an SEO campaign.

This is done using a number of free and/or paid tools that show you what people are searching for on Google and other search engines .

Suggested in-depth guides: Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools .

The Role of Keyword Research in Digital Marketing

As you’ll learn in the next section, the quality of your keywords is the difference between a successful marketing campaign and a waste of time. The keywords you pick will determine your SEO marketing strategy from beginning to end.

Let’s see how.

How Important is Keyword Research? (Don’t Skip This!)

SEO can be complex, but it boils down to three fundamentals:

• Keyword Research
• Link building

Of those three, keyword research is the most important.

Why? Because you can create the best content and build incredible links that score you #1 Google rankings and still get zero benefits in terms of business growth or revenue if you target the wrong keywords.

For example, let’s say you want to write some content on your site’s blog so you can show up on Google’s first page. You have an idea of a blog post and think you have a good keyword to target. You make amazing content, build links to it through guest posting and email outreach (here’s how to find anyone’s email address ), and end up on the first page of Google . You’re getting hundreds of visits every month…

But your income from that article remains a big fat $0.

That’s because you didn’t properly research your keyword ahead of time. You may have found a keyword, but finding a keyword and doing keyword research are very different things.

Properly researching a keyword means understanding it’s income potential, how competitive it is, and even the exact kind of content you need to create to be able to rank for it. You’ll see what I mean by the end of this guide.

In a nutshell: Proper keyword research can be the difference between a wildly successful SEO campaign that makes your business tons of money and an utter waste of time and money.

Search Volume and Long Tail Keywords

The first concept to understand about keywords is search volume .

This is what most people look at when they first start researching keywords, and also one of the worst metrics to look at.

A high search volume is very deceiving for two reasons:

• The raw number of people searching for something has very little to do with how much you can actually earn from that traffic. For example, if you rank for a keyword that gets 10,000 searches per month, but if people are just looking for information and aren’t ready to buy (hint: you’d need to define the search intent. More below.), that does nothing for your bottom line.
• Just because 10,000 people search for a keyword doesn’t mean all 10,000 people actually click on a result. Take a look at the keyword “How old is Biden”, for example—it gets 51,000 searches per month, but only 17% of those people actually click on anything. That’s because people get the answer right on Google and don’t need to click through to find it.

On the other hand, a low search volume doesn’t mean a keyword is bad or that the number you see is the number of visitors you’ll get. Virtually all pages that rank on Google for one keyword also rank for dozens, hundreds, and sometimes thousands of other keywords.

These other keywords are usually synonyms and long-tail variants. There are also Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) keywords, which I get to in a section below.

For example, take a look at this post that my wife, Kayla, wrote for The Wandering RV. She was targeting the keyword “best camping gear”, which gets around 2,700 searches per month according to Ahrefs. But as you can see in the screenshot below, it also ranks for 1,912 other keywords and even ranks on page one for “camping gear” at 32,000 searches per month!

The point of the story? While search volume is an important metric, you shouldn’t base your target keywords solely on how many people are searching for it every month (unless you’re only focused on brand awareness and/or advertising revenue on a per-impression basis).

Search Intent

Search intent is exactly what it sounds like—the intent of the person searching for a given keyword. It’s similar to the marketing concept “buyer intent”.

In other words: What is the user looking for?

Are they searching for an item they are ready to buy right now? Are they doing research before they make a purchase decision? Or are they just looking for information that has nothing to do with buying anything, but rather with a problem they may need a solution to?

Let’s look at an example of each.

High Buying Intent : A high buying intent keyword may be a product name, such as “RV rental las vegas”. If you type that into Google and look at the results, you see a bunch of ads for RV rentals and a map showing Las Vegas RV rental companies. Someone searching this is likely ready to buy, or very close.

Research Intent : These are keywords where people are still doing research on solutions, but will likely buy soon. “Best” and “Review” keywords often fall into this category, such as “best RV rental companies”.

Informational Intent : These keywords are for people strictly looking for information and aren’t ready or even thinking about buying anything. The “how old is Biden” example falls under this category. Another example that fits with RV rentals might be something like “how to travel the country with a pet”.

However, don’t think that you should only go after buying intent keywords. Informational keywords can help you build your email list and get people into your marketing funnel to eventually buy from you.

Search intent is also important to know because it affects what content ranks on Google. If you try to create a landing page to rank for an informational keyword when Google is ranking long-form blog content, you probably won’t rank even with perfect on-page SEO and plenty of backlinks because it’s simply not what the user is searching for.

For example, let’s say you want to rank for “small campers”. So you create a guide to owning small campers. However, when we look at Google, we can see that people aren’t looking for a guide, but rather, they’re looking for a list of small campers to buy.

That’s why even after you find good keyword ideas , you should always manually type them into Google and see what’s currently ranking to get an idea of what you need to create. Don’t write a massive guide when people just want a quick answer and don’t try to rank a blog post when people are looking to buy a product.

The Role of LSI and Synonyms

Earlier, I mentioned LSI keywords. This stands for Latent Semantic Indexing, and it’s a fancy way for Google to say “synonyms and related keywords”. They’re words that are commonly found together within a single topic and are semantically related to each other.

They’re important to tell the search engines what your content is about since there can be multiple meanings to the same keywords.

For example, let’s say you’re writing an article about cars. There are five different potential “cars” you could be talking about:

• Cars, the vehicles
• Cars, the animated Disney movie
• CARS, the Canadian Association for Rally Sports
• CARs, the Canadian Aviation Regulations
• (The) Cars, the American 1970s music band

How does Google know which version of “cars” you’re talking about? By LSI keywords! Take a look:

• Using the words “vehicle”, “used”, “new”, “buy”, “sell”, etc.
• Using the words “film”, “movie”, “Disney”, etc.
• Using the words “association”, “rally”, “sports”, etc.
• Using the words “aviation”, “regulation”, “administration”, etc.

While LSI keywords don’t necessarily matter during your keyword research, they are important when developing your actual content. You should include various LSI keywords naturally in your content without stuffing them, including in headings and image alt text.

You can find LSI keywords (and learn more about them) with a tool like LSI Graph .

How Do You Do Keyword Research? (Step-by-Step Guide)

Alright, now that you have a firm understanding of the important metrics behind keyword research, it’s time to actually find your very own keywords! There are three steps I follow when I’m doing keyword research for a new site, with an optional, more advanced fourth step:

• Find keyword ideas
• Check the TRUE keyword difficulty and search volume
• Determine their search intent
• (Optional) Find & utilize keyword silos

Let’s dive in!

Step 1: Find Keyword Ideas

Finding keyword ideas is the easy part. There are loads of tools that will spit out hundreds of ideas at the click of a button. It’s vetting them that takes effort, but we’ll get to that.

For now, go take a look at the “Best Keyword Research Tool” section below and pick your poison. I’ll be using Ahrefs in the examples because it’s my favorite tool and has all the bells and whistles, but the other tools can work as well.

My favorite way to find great keyword opportunities is spying on my competition. You can do this by plugging their site into any keyword tool and look at their keywords. Ahrefs has a nifty tool called the Content Gap Analysis.

Here’s how it works:

1. Plug your site into Ahrefs, then click the Content Gap link in the left-hand menu.

2. Plug in 1-10 competitors who are ranking on Google for keywords you want to rank for. You can find them by Googling those keywords and grabbing the URLs off of Google or by using Ahrefs’ Competing domains tool right above the Content gap link. Run the tool.

3. From here, you can export the list to an excel spreadsheet if you want. I like to comb through the list right in Ahrefs. If I see a keyword I might want to target, I open it in a new tab and add it to a keyword list using the + Add to button in the top right.

If you don’t have access to Ahrefs or another keyword tool that allows you to see competitor’s keywords, you can also use a tool like Keyword Shitter to give you a ton of ideas, then vet them using other free tools such as Uber Suggest.

Step 2: Check The TRUE Keyword Difficulty and Search Volume

Once you have a list of keyword ideas you’re comfortable working with (I aim for 50-100 at a time but you can do far more), it’s time to see which are even worth pursuing based on keyword difficulty (KD) and search volume.

There’s just one caveat… the search volume and KD you see in most keyword research tools are usually way off. KD in Ahrefs is solely based off the number of linking domains to the top results, which isn’t a 100% accurate depiction of the true difficulty to rank for a keyword.

This is because SEO is a complex beast, and things like domain rating (which I’ll cover shortly) and internal linking can have a massive impact on rankings. Backlinks are only part of the picture.

And the search volume? That’s not including LSI and long-tail keywords!

Remember that camping gear example I showed you at the beginning of this article that ranks for over 1,900 keywords? The main keyword only had 2,700 searches per month, yet the article gets over 5,000 visits per month. That’s because it’s ranking for other keywords besides the main keyword.

So if you see a keyword with 200 searches per month, chances are it’s really more like 500 or 1,000 if you include the related keywords that you’ll rank for.

To determine true search volume, grab the #1 result on Google for the keyword and plug it into Ahrefs or Uber Suggest to see how much traffic that page actually gets. That should give you a more accurate picture of the search volume for a given keyword.

Here’s the traffic for the #1 ranking page for “tiny campers”, a keyword that gets ~3,400 searches per month:

See how the page gets over 10k traffic, despite the main keyword getting a third of that? That’s true search volume potential.

The other metric, keyword difficulty, is also not 100% accurate. But figuring out true difficulty is usually as easy as looking at the top pages domain authority (DA), or domain rating (DR) if you’re using Ahrefs. Let me explain.

If a keyword has a difficulty score of 8, but the top ranking pages are all DR 80+, ranking your site for those keywords may be difficult if you have a low DR, despite the low difficulty score.

My advice is to aim for keywords with a 30 KD or lower if you’re under a 40 DR, then branch up as you build more links and gain a higher authority. As your DR climbs, your internal links are worth more “link juice” (or pass more “page authority” depending on what source you listen to).

But this isn’t an article on technical SEO, so I’ll leave it at that for now!

Step 3: Determine Search Intent

At this point, you should have a pretty decent list of keywords with a difficulty you’re comfortable tackling and a search volume potential you’d be happy to capture. Now it’s time to figure out what people actually want when they search for these terms and whether or not it fits in with your marketing and revenue goals.

This part is as simple as Googling each keyword on your list and looking at the top 3-5 results. Review their meta title and description, click on them to view the page, and check out the angle they took on the page.

• Are they mainly listicle posts? How-tos? Ultimate guides ? A landing page? Something else?
• How do they seem to be monetizing the page ? Are they using display ads ? Selling products as a solution to the problem? Affiliate marketing ? Just capturing emails and not actually selling anything?
• Take a look at the comments. Are people asking questions that weren’t answered in the article? Do they seem happy, angry, or neutral?

All of these questions will help you dial in on the type of post/page you need to create, how you can monetize it (or use it to capture emails/push notification subscribers/social followers), and what you can do to improve it.

As you’re going through each keyword, keep your answers to these questions in a spreadsheet or word document to keep track of which ones you’re interested in pursuing. Your final list is the list you can start pursuing!

To give you a better idea of how to determine search intent, here are a few examples courtesy of this Moz post :

Informational Intent:

• [product name]
• what is [product name]
• how does [product name] work
• how do I use [product name]

Commercial Intent (AKA Research Intent):

• best [product name]
• [product name] reviews
• compare [product name]
• what is the top [product name]
• [colour/style/size] [product name]

Transactional Intent (AKA Buying Intent):

• how much does [product name] cost
• [product name] in [location]
• order [product name] online
• [product name] near me
• affordable [brand name] [product name]

This graph from Ahrefs may also help:

Now take your list and go crank out some content! Or, you can follow one last step.

Step 4: (Advanced) Find & Utilize Keyword Silos

If you really want to do well, you can optionally take it one step further and look for keyword silos to create corresponding content silos on your site.

A keyword silo is a list of highly related keywords that you can create content around to interlink between on your site (also called the “hub and spoke” method). Here’s a visual I created to help you understand:

Essentially, you create a hub page targeting the primary head term you want to rank for, then create “spoke” pages based on related and long-tail keywords.

For example, while doing keyword research for my wife Kayla’s vegan food blog, I found a series of related keywords asking “Is ___ vegan”. People wanted to know if common foods, such as bagels, donuts, or Oreos are vegan.

To rank for these keywords, we created this hub page which links to all of her “Is ___ vegan” articles. These articles all link to one another, as well as back to the main hub page.

This inter-linking is called content siloing, and it works so well for two reasons:

• Because all the pages interlink to one another, if you build links to any of the pages, it improves page authority across all of the other pages.
• Google uses relevancy in its algorithm, and since these topics are all highly relevant to one another, it can improve your rankings further.

So how do you find keyword silos? There is no silver bullet solution — you have to be good at picking up on patterns and noticing relevancy. However, there is one trick you can use to try and find them: books.

Look for books on your topic on Amazon and browse the table of contents. Oftentimes, books are full of keyword silos: that’s what makes them a book! Think of the binding as the hub page and the chapters as the spoke pages.

Of course, as you can see in the example above, these keywords aren’t exactly what people are searching for on Google. People aren’t typing “vegan out in the world”, but rather “how to eat vegan at restaurants” or “how to eat vegan at family gatherings”. So you may have to do some sleuthing to figure out the keyword that corresponds with the chapter title in the books you find.

Once you find a potential silo, be sure to run the keywords through steps 2 and 3 before you commit to it! Just because you found a silo, doesn’t mean you should pursue it. Think logically about how all that content will fit into your business and how you can expand on it in the future.

What Is The Best Keyword Research Tool?

There are dozens, if not hundreds of keyword research tools on the market today. Some are extremely unique, but most are just slightly different takes on the same idea. So what’s the best one? Let’s break it down by free and paid tools.

Free Keyword Research Tools

There are two free keyword research tools I’ve used and recommend:

Ubersuggest

Keyword shitter.

Let’s put on hold all the conversions about Neil Patel for a second. This tool does its job and, if you’re on a budget, it can work to get you started with SEO.

Ubersuggest is basically a free, scaled-down version of Ahrefs or Moz. It lets you spy on competitor’s backlinks, see what keywords they’re ranking for, and do some decent keyword research. If you’re doing SEO on a budget, it can get the job done.

Keyword Shitter is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. You type in a keyword and get hundreds of keyword suggestions. It’s great if you just need tons of ideas, but it mostly only spits out related keywords to the one you typed in, not unique, separate ideas.

Paid Keyword Research Tools

Now we’re getting into the big-boy (or girl) tools! If you’re serious about SEO and you have the budget, these are the tools you want to use.

Keyword Insights

Keywords everywhere.

Ahrefs is hands-down my favorite SEO tool; not just for keyword research, but also for link-building, rank tracking, coming up with content ideas, and more. It has all the bells and whistles and is easily the best all-around SEO tool on the market. However, it comes at a steep price, with just the basic tool being $99 per month.

SEMrush is another great keyword research tool. It’s more affordable than Ahrefs, but it doesn’t have quite as many features. It’s more geared towards search engine marketing and PPC (thus the SEM in SEMrush). However, if you want a great paid tool but don’t want to pay the premium on Ahrefs, it’s a valid option. It even lets you try out the product for free!

Keyword Insights claims to be “the smartest way to group keywords and classify search intent at scale”… and with good reason. The tool utilizes geo-specific, live search engine result page data to cluster keywords into similar groups whilst also working out the search intent behind them.

A user simply uploads a list of keywords (as many as you’d like) and the tool will spit out a preformatted Google sheets document with the clustered keywords and the intent pulled through. Its most recent update also sorts the grouped keywords into “top-level themes” so you can see what their content hubs should be and what their spoke content might look like. The insights will also tell you which keywords you can target a single page with, or which need to be broken into multiple pages.

Keywords Everywhere is an awesome tool that used to be free and now is credit-based. The tool shows you search volume, competition, and average CPC right on Google whenever you type something in. It also shows you stats on related keywords and the “people also search” keywords. Regardless of which other tools you use, I highly recommend grabbing this one.

Want more SEO tools? Check out Kinsta’s list of must-have SEO plugins for WordPress .

Suggested Stack

So what keyword research tools should you get? My suggested stack is Ahrefs and Keywords Everywhere. Ahrefs is a complete SEO software that will help you rank your site, not just find keywords. And Keywords Everywhere lets you see search volume and keyword ideas any time you’re searching something on Google. Plus it’s free, so what’s not to like?

Here’s a quick recap of everything we’ve covered:

• Keyword research is extremely important to any SEO campaign and should not be skipped or taken lightly.
• Search volume and keyword difficulty can be deceiving. Do some deeper research by typing the keyword into Google and reviewing the results before you make a decision.
• Don’t be fooled by low search volume. Check the true search volume by reviewing the top pages search traffic using Ubersuggest or Ahrefs.
• Search intent is king. Make sure the content you’re creating matches the content people want to see (and what Google is already showing).
• Look for keyword silos. They’re can be a shortcut to ranking your pages faster.

And that’s all there is to it! If you have any questions, feel free to drop a comment below or shoot me an email. For more help with SEO, click here to read my step-by-step guide and this awesome in-depth guide on how to drive more traffic to your website.

Bill is a content marketing and SEO expert with over 6 years' experience. When he's not nerding out over Google, he loves traveling, playing video games, and spending time with his wife.

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Keyword Research is predominantly a statistical analysis of trending interests that are expressed by internet searches.

Although I realize the importance of said statistics, I am “right brained” and have struggled with being interested in numbers, all of my life. When I look at a keyword research result, the numbers tell me nothing in terms that I can understand. In fact, I’m totally bored by the concept.

I have read many posts, papers, and websites about the subject, and although not many agree with the same approach, they basically are saying the same things. b-o-r-i-n-g!

What is stopping a keyword research tool (once the stats have been gathered) from asking what it is that you sell, and then saying… well, to sell that, try concentrating on this…, and spare me the statistical analysis.

Really helpful article. Especially for the newcomers who want to be an SEO expert.

Thanks, Eva! Glad you enjoyed it. :)

What if I’m a business owner with a brand new site with no blog posts yet? How would I start this if I’m new to KW research? Are there services (real people services) that help with this or do it with me?

Hey, Johnny!

No problem! The steps with the content gap analysis are the same – you just have to manually find your competitors rather than using a tool. To do that, Google some keywords you think you want to rank for and grab the URLs of the top-ranking sites that monetize their sites similarly to you (whether that’s through ads, affiliate marketing, or selling similar products).

Paste those URLs into the content gap tool and follow along from there! Hope this helps! :)

Awesome! i am using this article to share with my students while i m teaching keyword research.

Lots of great information here ! Just wanting to introduce to a free alternative to Keywords everywhere, a chrome extension – WhatsmySERP.com/everywhere it gives you unlimited searches for volume and CPC.

Our team has launched this tool and it already has 5 star reviews and 20k+ users. I’d love for you to try it and see what your thoughts are.

I’d love to know your thoughts :)

This article is really really helpful for the newcomers. specially the one who recently started a blog or a website and Also, wants to Learn SEO.

The thing with the search intent is really important!

This was really what i was searching. perfect timing, thanks Bill such an valuable post.

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Find Keyword Ideas in Seconds

Boost SEO results with powerful keyword research

17 Best Free and Paid Keyword Research Tools for SEO

Written by Brian Dean

This is a list of the 17 best keyword research tools in 2024.

These amazing tools have helped my organic traffic grow by 28.55% over the last year:

And in this guide, I’ll reveal the world’s best keyword research tools…

…and help you choose the best one for you.

The best SEO keyword research tools for SEO have one thing in common: helping users boost organic traffic and search engine visibility .

However, each tool approaches this goal differently. Some are all-in-one SEO platforms that specialize in technical SEO, backlink opportunities, and guest post outreach.

Others focus on niche SEO opportunities, such as finding underserved and easy-to-rank keywords or topic cluster research.

We’ve updated this post to account for SEO opportunities in 2024 and guide your choice of the best keyword research tools suitable to your needs.

Let’s jump in.

What Are The Top 5 Keyword Research Tools?

Semrush works a little differently than the other tools I will show you.

Instead of entering a seed keyword and getting a long list of keyword ideas, Semrush shows you keywords that your competition already ranks for.

(These are usually outside-the-box keywords that would be impossible to find using any other tool.)

Here’s how it works:

First, enter a competitor’s domain name in the field at the top of the page.

If you’re doing SEO in a country outside of the US (for example, in Google.co.uk), you can choose to see information about that specific market. Just choose that country from this menu:

Next, take a look at the “Organic Research” section:

Here’s what the different terms in that section mean:

• Keywords are the estimated number of monthly organic visitors that come from Google.
• Traffic is the estimated number of monthly visitors.
• Traffic Cost indicates how valuable this traffic is (based on Google Ads CPC).

So if you see a domain with a lot of Organic Search Traffic but a low Traffic Cost, you know that they’re ranking for keywords that don’t convert into buyers.

But the real value of Semrush comes from the “Organic Keywords” data:

This box will show you 5 of the top keywords that your competitors are ranking for. To see more, click on “View all [number] organic keywords”.

And you’ll get a list of all of the keywords that the site or URL ranks for:

This page alone will usually give you a handful of solid keywords for digital marketing .

But if you want more ideas, go back to the “Organic Research” overview and check out the “Competitors” in the menu bar.

And you’ll see that site’s first-page competition:

When you click on one of THOSE results, you can see the exact search queries they’re ranking for.

There will be some overlap from what you just saw, but you’ll also (usually) dig up some real gems.

You can also start your Semrush search with a keyword instead of a competitor’s site:

Semrush will show you a “Phrase match report”, which is a list of long-tail keywords that include the keyword you entered:

This is really helpful for finding long-tail variations of Head and Body Keywords.

For example, if you wanted to rank for the keyword “weight loss”, you’ll quickly find that it’s simply too competitive.

But Semrush will show you long-tail variations, like the “weight loss calculator”, that is MUCH easier to rank for:

My Favorite Feature: Keyword Magic

This tool pulls keyword suggestions from Semrush’s massive database of over 25 billion terms.

Start your keyword research

Explore the largest keyword database.

Semrush is my favorite keyword research tool. Not cheap. But if you’re serious about SEO, it’s a must-have.

2. Free Keyword Tool by Backlinko

For those just starting with SEO, it can be daunting to invest in expensive keyword research tools.

That’s why we’ve created this  free keyword research tool , leveraging the extensive database of keywords from Semrush.

This tool assists in pinpointing low-competition keywords, sparking ideas for blog content, and providing insights into monthly search volumes.

This is our first free tool on Backlinko and I love using it for quick keyword research.

3. Google Search Console

Find hundreds of “Opportunity Keywords”.

The Google Search Console isn’t a traditional keyword research tool.

But it does have a feature that makes finding awesome keywords a CINCH.

The feature?

The Performance Report .

This report list out the pages on your site that get the most clicks from Google.

(And the exact keywords that brought them there)

So: how can you use this feature for keyword research?

It’s easy: use it to find “Opportunity Keywords”.

Opportunity Keywords are where you rank between #8-#20 in Google for a specific keyword.

And with little extra on-page SEO , you can find yourself with a nice rankings boost.

For example, my average rankings for the keyword “SEO tool” is 6.2.

That keyword is an Opportunity Keyword. And if I optimize my page around “SEO tool”, my rankings for that term should go up.

My Favorite Feature: Google Analytics + Google Search Console

Did you know that you can combine your Google Search Console and Google Analytics accounts?

Well, you can.

And it’s VERY helpful.

When you do, you’ll get more in-depth keyword data than you would with either tool by itself.

The Google Search Console is an underrated keyword research tool. No other tool can help you find Opportunity Keywords like the GSC.

Scrape suggested keywords from multiple sources.

Soovle gives you suggested keyword ideas from Google, YouTube, Bing, Yahoo, Amazon and more.

(All in one place.)

That way, you can find untapped keywords that your competition doesn’t know about.

My Favorite Feature: Saved Suggestions

Easily save your favorite keyword ideas with Soovle’s “drag & drop” saved suggestions feature.

Then, download your favorite keywords to a CSV file.

Soovle is one of the best free keyword research tools out there.

Get thousands of related keyword ideas within seconds.

This is a straightforward (yet powerful) tool.

So, what makes Jaaxy unique?

First off, it gives you LOTS of different keyword ideas.

(Including some that you won’t find in most other tools.)

Plus, you get helpful data on every keyword that it generates (including competition, search volume, and potential traffic).

My Favorite Feature: QSR

QSR stands for “Quoted Search Result”.

This is a fancy way of saying: “how many other websites are trying to rank for this exact term?”.

Obviously, the lower this number, the better chance you have of ranking #1.

Jaaxy is a decent freemium tool. Not nearly as good as something like Semrush. But at $50/month, it’s not a bad deal.

6. Ahrefs Keywords Explorer

Make smarter keyword decisions.

Ahrefs recently rolled out a new and improved “Keywords Explorer”.

And what I like most about Keywords Explorer is this:

It gives you SUPER in-depth information on each keyword.

Sure, you get the data you’d expect (like search volume). But you also get a breakdown of the first page competition… and how many searchers actually click on a result.

My Favorite Feature: Keyword Difficulty

Most keyword research tools give you vague difficulty info (like “easy” or “difficult”). Or a score (like “89/100”).

But Ahrefs tells you EXACTLY how many backlinks you’ll need to rank on the first page of Google.

Ahrefs is mostly known as for backlink analysis. But I have to say: it’s got a killer keyword research tool. I find myself using it more and more every week.

7. SECockpit

Keyword research for SEO pros.

This a Swiss Army Knife of keyword research tools.

Like any other keyword tool, you give SECockpit a seed keyword… and you get a list of results.

But what makes SECockpit unique is the built-in features that allow you to get A LOT of depth on search trends, organic competition and traffic estimates.

Which means that it’s a tool largely designed for SEO professionals.

Sure, newbies can get value out of this tool. But there’s no doubt that SECockpit is targeted for people that sleep, eat and breathe SEO.

If you’re brand new to SEO, the sheer number of features in this tool might be overwhelming for you. But if you’re looking for lots and lots of depth, you’ll probably get your money’s worth.

With that, here’s how it works.

When you login you’ll automatically go to your Dashboard, where you can create projects around sets of keywords…or jump right in with a single keyword search.

To start the keyword research process, click on “Start a Keyword Search”:

Then, enter a seed keyword in the field marked “Keyword Phrase”:

You can get even more results by choosing to include Google Suggest, Related Searches and synonyms pulled from Google Ads:

When you’re done, click on “save and close” and the tool will get to work:

Here’s the report you’ll get:

If you’ve ever used the Google Keyword Planner , the data here should look familiar to you.

In fact, the columns “Phrase”, “Monthly Searches” and “CPC” are pulled directly from the GKP:

(The only difference is that CPC is called “Top of page bid” in the GKP)

So: what does the other information in SECockpit mean?

Well you’ll notice a bunch of green bars under the column labeled “Niche”:

This bar is a single metric that takes into account first page competition, monthly search volume, and commercial intent. In other words, whether or not that search query is a good overall choice. The larger the bar, the better the keyword.

Next to monthly searches you’ll notice a series of orange bars labeled “Top Results”:

This bar indicates the difficulty of ranking for that particular keyword based on the current top 10 results.

And when you click on a keyword, you get a breakdown of that keyword’s search results.

When you do, SECockpit will display important competition metrics for the top 10 pages in the results… including Moz Domain Authority and total backlinks:

This is a great way to quickly size up competition without having to look one-by-one at the SERPs .

And you go back to the keywords page, you can actually add at least 20 more columns to the results:

For example, you can see a ratio of the keyword’s competition in comparison to its search volume. Or you can get a comparison of the estimated traffic you’ll get from hitting the top 3 for that keyword. And lots more.

My Favorite Feature: Filtering

You can use over 100 filters to find the keywords that you want.

For example, do you only want keywords that get searched for at least 10k times per month? Done.

Or maybe you want terms that have the best ratio of search volume and competition. You got it.

Clunky? Yes. Intuitive? Heck no. Feature-rich? Absolutely. If you want lots of advanced features, and don’t mind a steep learning curve, definitely check out SECockpit.

8. Google Keyword Planner

Tap into Google’s massive keyword database.

The GKP is pretty vanilla compared to most other keyword research tools.

So why use it?

Because the data you get from it comes straight from Google.

(So you know its legit)

My Favorite Feature: “Top of page bid”

This is how much people advertisers are bidding on a keyword.

For example, of you see a top of page bid of $10, people are spending an average of 10 bucks per click.

Obviously, the higher this number, the more commercial intent that searcher has.

The data in the GKP is the most reliable out there. That said, because it’s designed for Google Ads, using it for SEO can be tricky. This Google Keyword Planner Guide shows you how the GKP for SEO-focused keyword research.

9. KeywordTool.io

Get boatloads of targeted keyword ideas.

Here’s another Google Suggest scraper (just like UberSuggest and Soovle).

What makes KeywordTool unique?

Two things:

First, KeywordTool gives you A LOT of keyword suggestions.

For example, I just did a search for “SEO”… and got 1,394 relevant keywords.

Second, you can easily filter, drill-down or expand the results to find the right keywords for you.

My Favorite Feature: Analyze Competitors

This is a very cool feature I don’t see in many other keyword research tools.

Just enter a competitor’s site… and the tool will generate a list of keyword ideas based on that site’s content.

For example, when I pop Backlinko into the tool, I get keywords that I’d expect.

(Like “SEO” and “blog”)

But I also came across terms that I don’t use anywhere on my site… but are closely related to the type of stuff that I write about.

(Like “digital marketing” and “how to check backlinks”)

One of the best overall keyword research tools on the market. Worth a try.

10. Moz Keyword Explorer

Find keywords that will generate the most traffic.

Moz’s Keyword Explorer does an awesome job of finding “lateral” keyword ideas.

For example, take a seed keyword like “weight loss”.

Like most other tools, you get a list of closely related keywords:

But what makes Moz unique is that it’s SMART.

This means you get outside-the-box suggestions that you probably won’t find anywhere else.

My Favorite Feature: “Organic CTR” and “Priority”

These two awesome features let you know how many clicks you can expect to get from your target keyword.

Organic CTR is the number of clicks you can expect to get if you crack the top 10. For example, if a SERP has a ton of PPC ads, news results, and a knowledge graph, your CTR is gonna be low.

Priority takesCTR, search volume and difficulty into account. It’s an “overall” score of whether or not you should target a particular keyword.

So if you’re overwhelmed by keyword data, you can use this single metric to find keywords that are going to bring you the most traffic from Google.

Moz’s keyword tool is pretty darn awesome. Unfortunately, it’s not a standalone tool (you have to pay for their entire suite of SEO tools to use it).

11. Keywords Everywhere

Get search volume (and more) wherever you go.

Keywords Everywhere is a paid keyword research tool that displays keyword data on top of 10 websites …including Ebay, Amazon and Answer The Public.

That way, you don’t need to copy and paste keywords into the Google Keyword Planner. The data shows up in your Chrome browser. Very cool.

My Favorite Feature: “People Also Search For”

Get a list of keywords related to your search term… in the Google search results.

What’s cool about this feature is that you can find keywords that your target customer searches for when they’re not searching for what you sell.

For example, when I search for “SEO Tools”, I see terms like “Google Keyword Planner SEO” and “”Free SEO analysis”.

(Both of which get decent amounts of searches every month)

If you’re serious about keyword research you NEED to install this extension. It rocks.

12. Keyword Snatcher

Find 2,000 keyword ideas with a single search.

If you want a lot – and I mean a lot – of keyword ideas, Keyword Snatcher is a dream come true.

In fact, you’ll usually generate at least 2,000 keywords from a single seed keyword.

Just open up the tool and choose the sources that you want Keyword Snatcher to pull its suggestions from:

I recommend keeping them all checked so you can generate as many keyword ideas as possible.

Next, enter a seed keyword into the field and click “Get Suggestions”:

And after a long wait, you’ll get an insane amount of suggestions:

The big downside of this tool is that it doesn’t give you any data on the keywords that it generates (like search volume and keyword competition). It’s simply a keyword idea tool.

To get that information, you need to extract the list of keywords by clicking on “Download Suggestions” and saving your keyword list as a text or CSV file:

Then, copy and paste those keywords into the Google Keyword Planner.

My Favorite Feature: Word Count

This nifty sorting feature lets you focus on keywords that are a certain length.

(Like terms that are at least 4-words long)

This makes finding long tail keywords MUCH easier.

Not the best keyword tool ever made. But it’s one of the few out there that don’t require a monthly subscription.

13. Google Trends

Find new keywords and search trends.

There are two ways to use Google Trends for keyword research:

First, you can search for a specific keyword…

…and take a look at the “related queries” section.

Second, you can see if whether or not a keyword is growing in popularity.

Why is this important?

Well, let’s say you’re debating between two keywords:

“Content Marketing” and “Inbound Marketing”.

As you can see, interest for “Content Marketing” is growing fast… and fewer people are searching for “Inbound Marketing” than ever before.

This isn’t to say that “Inbound Marketing” is a bad keyword. But the fact that it’s trending down is one factor to keep in mind as you decide on your next keyword.

My Favorite Feature: YouTube Search

See whether a given keyword is growing on the world’s 2nd most popular search engine: YouTube.

If you write lots of evergreen content , you NEED to use Google Trends. That way, you can see if a keyword is going to bring you traffic over the long haul… before you write a word of content.

14. KWFinder

A powerful keyword tool that’s also easy to use. KWFinder is quickly becoming one of my go-to keyword research tools.

Because it has lots of the features that other tools have. But unlike most other tool, KWFinder is VERY intuitive.

As you might expect, this tells you how hard it will be to rank for that keyword.

But unlike most other tools, KWFinder automatically shows a Keyword Difficulty score next to every keyword.

(So there’s no need to click on every single one to see its difficulty score… which gets old fast)

At $29/month you really can’t go wrong with a KWFinder subscription. Great value.

15. QuestionDB

Find lots of question-focused keyword ideas (for free).

QuestionDB pulls question-focused keywords from threads on Reddit.

So if you’re looking for an alternative to Answer The Public, QuestionDB does the job.

My Favorite Feature: Popularity Sort the results by popularity. That way, you can create content that answers these burning questions.

When it comes to finding question-keywords for blog content, QuestionDB can’t be beat.

16. Serpstat

Analyze the first page competition.

Serpstat is a SEO software suite with tools for content, link building, and more.

Which means Serpstat doesn’t specialize in keyword research.

Even so, it still has a VERY decent keyword research tool.

My Favorite Feature: Competitors Graph This lets you visualize the sites that are competing for a given keyword (and related terms).

So if you see big bubbles for “Wikipedia” or “Amazon” it’s probably time to look for a different keyword.

Is Serpstat one of best tools on the market? No. But at $19 a month, you get a lot of pro features for your money.

17. AlsoAsked 

AlsoAsked a fantastic tool for topic cluster research.

Seasoned SEOs understand that the best way to rank for head keywords is to create topic clusters — multiple pages that talk about the topic in-depth.

AlsoAsked helps you map out these clusters and visualize how people ask questions on the topic.

For example, let’s say you wanted to rank for ‘home security cameras’ – a head keyword that has a 100,000 monthly search volume.

Plugging this keyword into AlsoAsked gives us four distinct cluster topics, divided into specific questions around each cluster.

Answering these questions in your content is an excellent method of building authoritative topic clusters — and driving tons of SEO traffic.

With API access coming soon on Alsoasked, and with an affordable pricing, it could be a tool for SEO veterans to use while undertaking massive SERP analysis across different niches and regions.

How to Do Keyword Research

This 8 step guide is the result of ten years of refined keyword research processes, which have resulted in 5x page 1 keyword rankings. For experts & newbs alike.

I’m gonna let you in on a secret: Keyword research is the most important thing you can learn about SEO. Full stop.

You might be thinking, “Whoa whoa whoa, buddy. Where’s your love for technical SEO, link building, content writing and everything else in our job description?”

Point taken. All of these components are super important.

But, I’ll argue that every one of those SEO disciplines arises (or should arise) as a result of a solid keyword strategy. This isn’t a question of whether the chicken or the egg came first. Keyword strategies come first, then content, on-page optimization, link building, then auditing the entire mess afterward for the inevitable issues we cause.

Websites are built on content, and content should originate from SEO keyword research.

But if keyword discovery and research are such a foundational part of SEO, why is it still so common to see keyword strategies that don’t work? Why do we still see SEO agencies exporting massive spreadsheets of keywords and instructing their clients to “use the target keywords throughout the site” like it’s an afterthought?

Maybe that question is unanswerable. But it’s likely a major reason that only  9% of brands feel that their content works  very well.  And it could also be the reason that   94% of content gets no backlinks , rendering it practically invisible in search.

A Strategy That’s Worked for Us

Through 10 years of testing and adapting countless techniques, we’ve locked down our keyword research. Check out our Page 1 keyword gains since following the SEO strategy methods outlined in this guide:

That’s a significant increase in Page 1 keywords or a keyword phrase after six years of completely flat results.

The net result is our website more than tripling its traffic. And it’s mostly thanks to data-led keyword research and content creation strategy. To start ranking for keywords, you must use an SEO strategy that takes into account the right keyword, the search engine being used and the target audience that will be looking up that search term.

It’s not black magic, and anyone can do it. So let’s get started.

[Infographic] 8-Step Guide to Keyword Research

How to Read This Guide

I’m going to break down every step you need to take in painstaking detail, with examples and plenty of visuals. While the best way to learn this is to actually  do it while reading , you can always bookmark the page and read a chapter at a time. The chapters are as follows:

Table of Contents

1. Statu s Check: Why Are You Doing Keyword Research in the First Place?

2. Audit What You Have.

3. Brainstorm New Keywords to Target.

4. Gather and Understand Your Keyword Metrics.

5. Select a Paid Keyword Research Tool.

6. Prioritize Your Keyword Options Based on Potential.

7. Analyze the SERP and Designate Content.

8. Write the Content.

And with that, let’s get into it.

Status Check: Why are You Doing Keyword Research in the First Place?

You need a clear understanding of why you are doing SEO keyword research before you even start. You can’t have goals to shoot for and objectives to reach if you have no clue why SEO strategy is important. To get a grasp on your motives, ask yourself:

• What am I trying to accomplish (results-wise) with my keyword research?
• Am I doing keyword research for my blog?
• Am I doing keyword research for my commercial landing pages?

Your approach to keyword discovery will differ depending on how you answer these questions. Try to think of keyword research as fitting into two broad buckets of keyword types and content:

• Commercial keywords for a product or service landing pages
• Informational keywords for a blog or resource page content.

I’ll explain.

Commercial Keywords for Product/Service Landing Pages

Commercial-intent keywords are typically used by searchers who are actively shopping for products and/or services. People looking up this type of search term have high commercial relevance to your website because they are more likely to hand you money at some point. They’ll search for things like:

Because this audience is actively looking for a specific product or service, they’ll expect to find landing pages in search results that make it easy for them to shop and compare vendors. They want to understand how you do (or don’t) satisfy their need, and they want an intuitive way to purchase a product or request more information about a service.

Think of these as revenue-generating keywords because the people searching them will likely generate the most commercial impact for your brand. To prove this point, check out our distribution of revenue-generating conversions by page type:

Our blog content occasionally generates a commercially-relevant conversion from time to time, but the overwhelming majority of commercially-relevant conversions come from product or service landing pages.

Informational Keywords for Blog/Resource Content

People use these types of keywords when they are trying to learn something, and as such, they expect to find blog content or other in-depth resources that will do a great job of answering their questions. These types of keyword phrase searches look like:

The majority of these types of searches have no commercial intent (IE they don’t imply that the searcher intends to buy anything at the moment). So you’ll need to calibrate your expectations for what you’ll get out of your blog content.

Think of these keywords as opportunities to answer your audience’s questions with awesome blog content. You want to provide enough relevance so that you sufficiently answer their question(s), and provide enough incentive to subscribe to a newsletter or browser notifications so that you can nurture them until/if the point comes when they want to buy something. By becoming a thought leader or helpful resource for people who are uninterested in a product or service at the moment, you may be top of mind for that consumer when they do decide to pull out their wallet. Essentially, lending to people’s needs can pay off in the long run and may result in new, loyal customers.

So before you get started, make sure you are crystal clear on why you’re doing keyword research, and the results you expect.

Audit What You Have (Optional: For Commercial Landing Page Keyword Research)*

If you answered the question in the previous section with “I’m doing keyword research for my commercial landing pages,” congratulations, you’ve earned yourself an audit! And sorry about that. Nobody gets excited about going through the auditing process because it can be long and detailed work.

*Note: You can do this step for blog posts, too, but often you’re better off just doing a quick check to make sure you haven’t already written for this topic. You can do this simply using Google Search Console/Semrush/Ahrefs/Moz to see if one of your blogs is already ranking for the keyword in question.

But before you research a single keyword, you’ll need a crystal-clear picture of which keywords you’re currently targeting, and how they’re performing. Otherwise, you’re shooting completely blind in the hopes that you’ll make your mark. Think about it: How difficult would it be to aim and throw a dart at a target with your eyes closed? Being aware of what SEO keyword or keyword phrase you’re working with will help you properly line up your shot and hit a bulls-eye. 

If you skip this section, let me give you some first-hand insights into what’s going to happen:

• You’ll target keywords you’re already ranking for and waste a bunch of resources creating new content for the same targets.
• You’ll “reoptimize” a perfectly good landing page for a less lucrative keyword.
• You’ll cannibalize the performance of the existing pages.

This will certainly take an entire afternoon, but I promise you’re going to save yourself a ton of work and resources in the long run if you fully audit your landing pages before doing anything else. Think of this as eating your greens before your dessert.

In order to prevent disaster (and possibly even save time!), we are going to look into three main guiding principles that will help you make smarter decisions:

• Are your current target keywords justified?
• How are the pages currently performing?
• Which other (variant) keywords does each page rank for?

Let’s go through the beginning steps of your keyword research process together. Away we go!

Step 1: Audit Your Commercial Pages

Look at all of your commercial landing pages and pull the URLs and their corresponding keyword targets into a spreadsheet. This will give you a clear overview of all the keywords you are targeting, and on which pages they are being targeted. Although this may seem like an extra step in your process, it can be a helpful guide to look back at as you complete your landing page audits.

Make sure you log your data in such a way that you can identify parent/child relationships between pages — I usually just use indentation.

Step 2: Audit the Target Keyword Metrics

Are these even good keywords? You won’t know until you run them through a tool and grab some metrics. Sometimes, the words you believe are being used in a search engine by your target audience aren’t actually the phrases they are looking up. Bulk upload each of your keyword targets into your paid tool of choice and populate the data in your spreadsheet.

It may look good at first glance, but we need more context to truly know if each target phrase is the right keyword for that corresponding page. We’ll be digging into each individual landing page to completely dissect what’s happening behind the scenes.

Step 3: Audit Your Individual URLs

Oftentimes your pages will rank for variant terms in addition to your target keyword. This situation presents an opportunity to shift your focus to a better keyword, or confirm that you’re already targeting the right keyword. Run each URL through a tool that will tell you all the keywords your URL rank for, and in which positions.

Tools like Moz, Ahrefs, Semrush and Ryte can all do this quickly and easily. Make sure you note your target keywords vs. variant keywords. I’ll do this by indenting the variant keywords underneath the target keyword like so:

Look at that: We’re not even targeting “Content agency,” yet it ranks in position 12 and has more promising metrics than a lot of our other keywords. This seems like a better target, but I still need more information before I make a decision on what main keyword to target.

Step 4: Dig into Search Console

So far we have only looked at the scraped data our SEO tools have available. These tools do what they can, but they don’t tell a complete story. Google Search Console is going to give you the most reliable, and complete set of data to help you make decisions.

As an example, take a look at the variant keywords GSC found for our homepage:

Using GSC will give you clear visibility into all the keywords driving traffic to your page. You’ll see the impressions they generate, their average position, clicks and click-through rate. Inspect each of your landing pages and make note of all pertinent metrics in order for each keyword choice to be truly effective for your website.

This adds an interesting wrinkle: “Content Creation” didn’t show up on our SEO tools’ radars, yet there it is, driving a respectable number of clicks. Furthermore, I ran the keyword through my paid tool and learned that it has the highest search volume out of all the available options.

What to Do With This Information

After you go through this SEO keyword audit, you should have a spreadsheet filled with data for each of your commercial landing pages. This data should tell you:

• Which keywords you’re targeting, and on which pages.
• If the current keyword target has search volume.
• If individual pages rank for variant terms that are better options, or if your first choice is the right keyword.
• If you need to completely rework your strategy for page(s).

You now have all the data you need to start making informed decisions. This entire exercise is done to give you a level set so that you’re not firing blindly at “new” keywords. Based on what you find, you may even be able to minimize the amount of keyword research you have to do in the next steps of the keyword discovery process.

Brainstorm New Keywords to Target

This is where you  really  get to have fun. Few parts of the keyword research process call for creativity, so for those of you less mathematically inclined, eat your hearts out: New keyword ideation was made for you.

*Note: Blog researchers can jump back in here!

And the best part of the brainstorming step is that there is  literally no wrong way to do it.  That’s because coming up with new keywords can be completed in any way that makes the most sense to each individual person. Below, I’m going to share some of my favorite techniques, all using free tools.

Tip:  Don’t second-guess yourself with any potential keyword idea. There are no bad keywords here. We will rule out weak keywords once we start adding numbers. But until then, have fun with it.

Step 1: Find Somewhere to Jot Down Your Ideas

You need a handy tool to jot down your keyword ideas. I love  RapidTable ’s tool because it’s simple, and somehow saves my information for months without logging in.

But you can also use a spreadsheet, Google’s notepad, Apple Notes or even a Google Doc. Use whatever you’re most comfortable with, as long as it’s digital and easy to copy or paste large sets of keywords.

Step 2: Choose a General Topic and Jot Down the Keywords You Would Use

You’re going to find that the language you use, the language your company uses and the language  your target audience  uses is often very different. Before we get ahead of ourselves, we’re going to start by looking at the words that you personally use.

Begin with an idea, called a “seed keyword” from which every other idea will branch out. This is the core idea, or an umbrella phrase that broadly covers the topic at large. Once you have this word written down, jot down every similar keyword you can think of related to that topic. Don’t be shy; record everything that pops into your mind whether you think it’s relevant or not. As you look through these words, you can have a better picture of how you personally use language to describe your company or the services that you offer.

This is a great start, but now we need to get a feel for  what your audience would search for.

Step 3: Survey Your Target Audience

You’ll want to get an idea of the type of language and phrases someone who is less ingrained in your industry would use to search for your topic. Oftentimes we are so immersed in our industry jargon that the language we use is way off from what your target audience would use.

This does NOT need to be scientific or drawn out, so don’t overthink this one. Here are a few simple ways you can get some quick feedback:

• Send a Google Form to your newsletter prompting them on your topic: “If you were looking for XYZ type of service, what would you search for?”
• Have a verbal conversation with someone outside of your company who is somewhat familiar with your topic.
• Ask some of your current clients what they searched for to find you, or what they would search if they don’t remember.

Even if you only get a few new keyword or keyword phrase ideas, you’ll still be in good shape because you can build on them.

Step 4: Do Some Competitive Research

Pull up your top three competitors in separate browser tabs and start navigating through their content and language. If you’re doing commercial keyword research, check the title tags of the pages in their main navigation. The keywords they’re targeting are (or at least should be) used in their title tags.

For blog topic research, jump into their blog feed and search for related topics. (Or anything that catches your eye — you may find some surprisingly great ideas.)

If your competitors have already done a significant amount of keyword research, you might as well use that already-completed information to your advantage.

Step 5: Use Free Tools to Help With Ideation

There are more keyword research tools out there than I can count, and their quality and usefulness vary wildly. So for the sake of keeping this guide manageable, I’m going to limit this list to only the free tools I use most frequently for ideation only.

Google Keyword Planner Tool

Google Keyword Planner is a terrible resource for  assessing accurate search volume , but it’s still a great tool for ideating and adding to your list.

You’ll need to create a Google Ads account, and it’s likely going to funnel you through a process where you’ll need to pretend that you’re going to create a PPC campaign. But don’t worry, you can go through the whole charade without paying a cent and still use the tool to your advantage.

Click on “Discover new keywords,” then add up to 10 seed keywords to get recommendations.

KPT will then populate a (hopefully) large list below your seed keywords that you can add to a list and export. Export the .CSV file, then copy and paste the keywords into your notepad. We’ll be adding all ideas from every tool into this one master list. And don’t worry about duplicates. Our tools will take care of that later.

Soovle is a fun  tool that will autocomplete a seed phrase  across a number of search engine options including YouTube, Amazon, Bing, Yahoo! and Google.

I rarely have use for non-Google results, but occasionally ideas pop up in the other search engines that I can use. Try a couple of your seed keywords and see if anything interesting populates that you want to add to your list. You won’t get massive lists of keywords from this tool, but it can certainly spark ideas you hadn’t considered before.

Answer the Public

Answer the Public is similar to Soovle in the way it  uses autocomplete data to give you insight  into highly related searches to your topic. Imagine ATP as a supercharged version of Soovle, with the added ability to export a .CSV for all the keyword ideas it generates, which can number in the hundreds.

Entering “Content marketing” immediately gave me 201 ideas that I can quickly export into a .CSV and add to my list. Pretty handy!

*Choose your seed topics wisely because ATP only allows you to do a few free searches per day.

Keyword Sheeter

This tool was previously named “Keyword Sh*tter,” likely due to its ability to “output” thousands of keyword ideas from nothing more than a single root keyword. On top of that, it’s really fast. Within a few seconds of entering “Content marketing” in the tool,  Keyword Sheeter  generated over 100 different search term ideas.

The free version of this tool allows you to export the full .CSV file, while the paid version will add search volume and CPC figures. We are going to be using search volume data from other tools, so we’ll just take the free ideas, thank you.

Tip:  Keyword Sheeter could potentially be the only ideation tool you use if you’re in a time crunch. The results won’t be as strong, and you will get a lot of garbage keywords, but you’ll get a lot of good keywords as well, and very quickly.

Ubersuggest

If  Ubersuggest  allowed you to bulk upload keywords and export search volume and keyword difficulty numbers, it would be a pretty complete (and formidable) keyword research tool. But it can’t, so we’ll have to settle for its very capable ideation abilities. Ubersuggest has a number of features that can help you get ideas:

“Domain Overview” shows you the keywords your competitors are ranking for.

“Keyword Ideas” will give you a list of keywords similar to the seed keyword you entered. This feature comes with the added bonus of being able to filter by search volume, search difficulty, positive and negative filters, and PPC metrics.

“Content Ideas” is a bit like a lite version of BuzzSumo, giving you a list of top blog-type content that has been written, sortable by total Facebook or Pinterest shares.

For a free tool, Ubersuggest is pretty comprehensive. Play around in here and see if you can squeeze out a few more ideas.

Ideation Conclusion

Having scraped the depths of the entire internet for a topic, your master list should be enormous at this point. Depending on your topic, you could have up to a thousand keywords or more.

Tip:  As a rule of thumb, you don’t need to have a target number of keywords in this list because it will vary greatly depending on your topic. But, looking at your list you should subjectively feel that you’ve got a healthy variation of phrases. If it feels a bit thin, it probably is.

Get ready to do math, because now we are going to dive headfirst into numbers.

Gather and Understand Your Keyword Metrics

As much as the previous step was a purely creative exercise, the next step will be 100% data-driven. We’re going to use metrics from a variety of sources to determine the viability of each of our keywords so that we can make the most informed decisions possible.

We’ll start with some conceptual ideas, then move into practical usage with tools and spreadsheets. And don’t worry, even the least mathematically inclined of you will be able to understand this.

Search Volume: The Average Number of Times a Keyword Is Searched per Month

Any paid keyword research tool will give you an estimated monthly search volume for the keywords you want to evaluate. What we’re trying to do here is find keywords that have sufficient search volume to justify investment in creating new pages, or re-targeting old pages.

For instance, it wouldn’t be wise to write a 2,000-word blog post that targets a keyword that is only searched 10 times per month. In other words, it’s not a good use of resources to target a topic that is searched so infrequently.

When considering the monthly search volume of keywords, keep in mind that you will not automatically be getting all of those clicks. Of the monthly search volume for your keyword, your share of clicks will be determined mostly by your ranking position.

Here’s a helpful graph that illustrates how your position determines your click-through rate:

Your click-through rate drops exponentially from position 1 to 5, then flattens out into the land of irrelevance from positions 6+. So, in the best-case scenario (you rank in position 1), you’ll take about 32.5% of all clicks.

You need to keep that in mind when asking questions such as, “Is a search volume of 50 enough?” Do some simple math and calculate best- and worst-case scenarios. In the best-case scenario, you’ll get 16 clicks per month in position 1. If you land somewhere on Page 2, you may not get any clicks. The important thing to remember is that, if you’re going to intentionally create new content for your landing page, you want it to be helpful for the audience, worth your time to write  and  bring you a return on your investment.

Using Tools to Gather Search Volume at Scale

We’re going to be using a number of different keyword research tools to get an estimate of the monthly search volume of each of our keywords in the list we’ve been building.

We also need to emphasize the word “estimate,” because each tool is truly guessing what that actual number is, so it’s vital that there is that understanding before implementing any new keywords.

And that number will vary wildly from tool to tool. For instance, take a look at the estimated search volume for “content marketing services” across a few tools:

Given the wide range of results (from zero to 1,100 searches per month), it’s going to be important for us to use the “search volume” metric as an estimate, not as gospel.

As long as we do that, we’re golden. In other words, it’s not about finding the exact search volume for a keyword; it’s about getting a general idea of interest and acting on the information available.

I prefer to use a combination of tools when gathering this metric. This helps me identify keywords that have more reliable search-volume estimates and I’m more likely to make an educated decision on a keyword that has a search volume with little variation between tools, than one that has enormous variation.

Looking at the chart above, if you had used only one tool, say SpyFu, you would likely overshoot the keyword’s true potential by a substantial margin. So if you’re looking for a high degree of accuracy, using more tools will give you more confidence in your choices.

Keyword Difficulty: The Level of Organic Competition You’ll Be Up Against

I’m going to argue that this is the most overlooked and crucial step that most SEOs fail to do, and for reasons I can’t quite understand. When evaluating your keyword list, you need to know whether or not you stand a realistic chance of ranking for that keyword. Without that information, you’re unsure if the work you put in to create that organic content is actually worth it.

Most reputable keyword research tools have some version of keyword difficulty as part of their keyword metric offerings, each with unique formulas and scales and  varying degrees of accuracy .

Here are a few examples of keyword difficulty scores from Ahrefs, Moz and Ubersuggest:

So What Are These Scores Telling You?

Simply put, keyword difficulty measures the average strength of the pages and their domains that rank on Page 1 of results for the keyword in question.

Moz focuses primarily on a combination of Page Authority and Domain Authority to determine difficulty scores.

• Page Authority evaluates the strength of an individual page, calculated by dozens of factors. It’s useful for comparison purposes: A page with a higher Page Authority is more likely to rank for a target keyword than a page with a lower Page Authority.
• Domain Authority evaluates the overall strength of an entire website, also calculated by dozens of factors. A site with a higher Domain Authority than another is considered relatively more authoritative and trustworthy (and more likely to rank for target keywords) than the other.

It’s important to note that these are relative metrics, meaning there is no “good” or “bad” Page Authority or Domain Authority. You may be tempted to think a Domain Authority of 84 is very good, but what if your competitor has a Domain Authority of 96? These are meant to be relative metrics so that you get a clearer understanding of which competitor has the strongest ranking potential.

Using MozBar, you can see the PA and DA of each search result:

Moz looks through the first page of results for the keyword you’re targeting and assigns a keyword difficulty score based mostly on the strength of the pages (PA) and domains (DA) that currently own spots on Page 1. This should help you understand if the competition is relatively stronger, weaker or the same as your site.

For example, if we’re trying to rank for the keyword “Inbound marketing,” we see that the keyword difficulty score is 60.

And the competitors look like this:

The average Domain Authority on Page 1 is 86. Our Domain Authority is 68. This makes us a definite underdog, punching way above our weight class. This is not likely a keyword I would target. Generally, we can compete for keywords up to a difficulty score of around 45. I’ll opt to pass on this keyword.

Fortunately, with most keyword research tools, you can batch upload lots of keywords and export their monthly search volumes and difficulty scores. This makes it very easy to sort through large lists of keywords and identify those with good combinations of search volume and difficulty scores.

You can easily export this data and manipulate it in a spreadsheet using conditional formatting and custom formulas to find the right keyword options you should target.

SERP Crowding

Let’s take stock: So far you have narrowed your list down to a set of keywords with an acceptable search volume that you can realistically rank for on Page 1 of results.

Are we done? No.

What happens if you rank in the third position for a keyword, but the page is extremely crowded with PPC, news, featured snippets and images? Your organic result gets ignored, that’s what.

As a searcher, you know exactly what this looks like. And this problem is getting increasingly pervasive. We have data that tells us  over half of all searches result in no clicks :

This rapid decline is primarily due to Google pulling content from publishers’ websites and “borrowing” it for their search engine results pages (SERPs). Looking at the trendline below, we can see that it’s becoming increasingly difficult for SEOs and content marketers to win clicks from search:

More clicks are also going to Google properties and Google Ads each year.

So what does that mean for you? It means that even if you make it to Page 1, your likelihood of getting a click continues to decline. That fact is more obvious in the instances where SERPs are littered with non-organic results.

Take a look at this SERP:

Good luck getting an organic click on that results page! We’ve got shopping, ads, a featured snippet, people also ask, videos and more ads.

Fortunately, there are a few tools out there that can help you calculate how much these distractions will influence a click. Moz uses an “Organic CTR” scale from 1-100% that estimates the percentage of clicks available compared to traditional organic results. In other words, lower scores = lots of distractions and bad for organic results. Higher scores = fewer distractions and better for organic results.

Ahrefs has a very helpful metric that indirectly addresses this issue, called “clicks per search,” or “CPS.” It’s calculated by dividing the monthly search volume by the number of actual clicks that happen after a search.

You could argue that keywords with a clicks-per-search score lower than 1.0 are scoring that way because of the information Google pulls directly onto the SERP. With answers presented right on the page, searchers have very little reason to click through to a website to search for the information they need.

This is important information to use in your analysis when evaluating keyword opportunities.

Now that we understand the types of metrics we are going to be working with, we need to choose a paid keyword research tool.

Paid tools often give you the benefit of amassing a large amount of SEO keyword data at scale (and you can’t get the data we need from free tools). This helps cut down on the time it will take you to evaluate your (likely very large) list of potential keywords.

Select a Paid Keyword Research Tool

I’d love to tell you that you can perform awesome keyword research for free, but unfortunately the metrics we need to make good decisions all cost money. But fortunately, I have plenty of experience with paid tools and can make some recommendations. Any of these resources may benefit your business and bring better results for your website traffic.

This list is completely subjective and based solely on my experience of experimenting with many (so many!) keyword research tools over the years.

I generally recommend tools based on the following categories:

• Accuracy:  How good the tool is at predicting rankability.
• Ideation capabilities:  How easy it is to build large lists of potential keyword targets..
• Batch uploading capabilities:  Can the tool import data as easily as it can export data?
• Keyword match rate:  Does this tool have search data for the keywords in my list?
• SERP analysis capabilities:  Is there a quick and easy way to view real-time SERP data for a given keyword without having to check it manually.
• Perceived value:  How well this tool accomplishes parts 1-5 of this list.
• Overall user experience:  Does it look nice? Is it intuitive and easy to use? Does it work flawlessly or crash all of the time?

With that out of the way, it’s time to geek out about paid keyword research tools. Onward:

Ahrefs  Keywords Explorer – $99 minimum monthly plan

Ahrefs is what I would consider a complete keyword research tool. It offers a ton of keyword suggestions to add to your ideation process. Additionally, it has a few unique features like clicks per search, return rate and a notably accurate keyword difficulty scoring formula for lower difficulty keywords. It also features an estimated number of backlinks and root domains needed to compete on Page 1 for a given keyword.

I’m also a big fan of the estimated traffic metric in the SERP overview section, which gives you a realistic look at what kind of overall search traffic you can expect if you target and rank for a particular topic. This is calculated by estimating traffic from the total variant keywords a specific URL ranks for, along with the ranking position for each of those keywords, search volume and estimated CTR.

This is a much more realistic way to project traffic for a keyword topic. As a matter of fact, I backtested this analysis and found this method to be 80-85% accurate in predicting actual organic traffic. Removing outliers got me above 90%. Pretty remarkable stuff for projecting traffic without writing a single word (we’ll talk about this in more detail later).

• Strong ideation and list-building capabilities.
• Batch keyword uploads.
• Unique features like Clicks per Search, Return Rate, Clicked and Not Clicked.
• Strong rankability accuracy for keywords with low difficulty scores.
• High match rate (many keywords in database).
• Awesome SERP analysis features with high traffic projection accuracy.
• Keywords without search volume won’t populate in lists with “zeros” — they just don’t show up, making it difficult to cross-reference when aggregating data from multiple tools.
• High price point puts them out of range for limited-budget content creators and SEOs.

Moz Keyword Explorer  – $99 minimum monthly plan

Moz has a special place in my heart. It was the first keyword research tool I started with nearly a decade ago. It remains a mainstay and trusted resource in my repertoire.

Moz was one of the first tools to provide organic keyword difficulty scores,  giving them a leg up against the competition . In terms of accuracy, user experience and value, Moz is a really nice tool for just about any level of SEO. Furthermore, their subscription comes with MozBar, which allows you to inspect search engine results pages (SERPs) on the fly and gives you an incredible read into the competitive landscape. There is no substitute for manually inspecting SERPs for difficulty.

Moz also has a unique feature that helps you determine keyword priority by combining search volume, difficulty, SERP crowding and a subjective relevance score (My Score AKA is this keyword actually relevant to my business?), making it easy to sort through massive quantities of keywords in one go.

Their platform is also one of the most user-friendly and approachable tools you will find, making keyword research accessible to just about anyone. The early authority in SEO, Moz is a company of great, passionate people who have built a tool that reflects their values.

• 100% keyword match rate.
• Strong degree of keyword difficulty accuracy.
• Unique prioritization scores for easy sorting.
• Keyword CTR is a unique metric.
• Keyword list summaries.
• Keyword difficulty scores are generated dynamically.
• Real-time data that refreshes often.
• Great SERP analysis features.
• Keyword ideation feels less useful than other tools.
• High price point puts them out of range for limited budget content creators and SEOs.

KWFinder  – $29 monthly plan (steeply discounted to $19.90/mo for annual payment)

I’ve only been using KWFinder for a couple of years, but I’ve absolutely fallen in love with it. Initially, you may be drawn to the brilliantly simple user experience, but your appreciation will grow as you notice how it incorporates a cluster of additional features from other tools, making it one of the more humble offerings out there.

If you look carefully, you’ll see it includes a SERP analysis section with features from Moz and Majestic SEO, earning major points for consolidating data. Among many other metrics, you’ll find:

• Domain Authority.
• Page Authority.
• Citation Flow.
• Trust Flow.

It also includes an API that pulls in shares, inbound links and its own Link Profile Strength indicator.

Note that the tool also has up-to-date search volume trends and a respectable ideation section including related keywords, autocomplete keywords and questions.

The amount of easy-to-use features, along with very accurate keyword difficulty scoring comes with a shockingly affordable price tag of $49/month (and available as low as $29.90/month if billed annually). This easily puts KWFinder at the top of the pile for value, making it my top recommendation for low-budget startups and bloggers, independent content creators and burgeoning SEO consultants. This tool is the Little Engine That Could, giving users a ton of value for very little cost.

Get this tool before they realize that they are charging about ⅓ of the yearly billing price as some of their competitors and bump the price up.

• Very accurate keyword ranking predictions.
• Pulls in metrics from external sources.
• Awesome UX.
• Affordable, highest bang-for-your-buck.
• Data is presented in a way non-SEOs can understand.
• Up-to-date trending data.
• Real-time data refresh.
• Respectable SERP analysis feature.
• One of the weaker  ideation tools.

LongTailPro  – $59.99 monthly plan

Big thanks to the folks at LTP for shooting me over a license so that I could demo their tool for this review.

LTP is a pure keyword research tool, offering all the main features you look for with an intuitive UX. Unlike some of the other pure keyword research tools out there, its ideation capabilities are quite strong. You could likely put together a respectable list of keywords together using only this tool.

LTP has a couple of standout features that really set it apart from the competition. All of the tools reviewed will generate a keyword difficulty score for your keyword; it’s a minimum requirement, but LTP is the only tool that will evaluate your site and tell you which keyword difficulty scores are relatively high or low for your site.

All the other tools present keyword difficulty scores without the added context of how that score applies to your actual website. LTP effectively removes the guesswork for deciding whether or not your site can rank for a keyword.

Another great feature of this keyword research tool is LTP’s SERP analysis, which generates both Page and Domain Difficulty scores for the competition ranking in SERPs.

Similar to how Moz inspects SERPs for Page Authority and Domain Authority, LTP consolidates these metrics into one overarching Keyword Difficulty score. This makes quick scans through SERPs a breeze. The SERP analysis also incorporates a cluster of other metrics including Majestic Trust Flow metrics, domain age and link profiles.

Two of my other favorite features are SERP Availability and a “strongest competitor” evaluation. The SERP availability metric is yet another way to evaluate SERP crowding, but with the most user-friendly dashboard I’ve seen. LTP shows you exactly what information will be siphoning away clicks, and by how much.

The “strongest competitor” evaluation shows you which site is going to be the most difficult to beat in SERPs.

• Relative keyword difficulty scores.
• Consistent keyword difficulty scores across keywords and competitor domains and pages.
• Great SERP crowding visualization.
• Strong ideation features.
• Strongest competitor analysis feature.
• Issues with kerning/text formatting in results feels a little sloppy.
• Backlink analysis is very inaccurate (at least for Brafton.com).

SpyFu  – $16 monthly plan

SpyFu has some deep roots as an SEO tool, going all the way back to 2006. When I first discovered them, their main focus was delivering competitive analyses. You could plug in a competitor’s website in order to get an overview of the keywords they rank for and the keywords that overlap with your site (keywords you compete for).

Over the years they have quietly created a full-blown SEO tool that includes plenty of keyword research features. As you can see in the price tag, their solution is the cheapest monthly option I’ve used. Similar to KWFinder, you get a lot of benefits for a little cost. In my opinion, their most impressive feature is the single keyword analysis that has an insane amount of useful data about the keyword, including estimated clicks (similar to Ahrefs’ CPS), PPC recommendations, SERP position history and a SERP overview including domain strength.

While I do appreciate the appealing price tag (particularly for SEOs and content writers looking to get their feet wet), what you save in price you give up in accuracy. And there is an added frustration that the tool’s database isn’t comprehensive enough, returning results for only 80% of the keywords I batch-uploaded. I just retested with a batch upload of 93 keywords and only got 54 matches (58%). It’s very difficult to do keyword research when your tool doesn’t have data on your keywords.

My experience with SpyFu is that it’s a nice starter tool on a budget.

• Very affordable plan.
• Excellent single keyword analysis with insightful metrics.
• Keyword “grouping” into content types is a useful list feature.
• Batch upload functionality.
• Easy to navigate and understand.
• Also includes access to many SEO analysis features.
• Questionable keyword difficulty accuracy.
• Low match rate on batch uploads.
• Data isn’t refreshed in real-time, nor is there an option to do so.

Semrush  – $129.95 minimum monthly plan

Semrush has come a long way over the past couple years with their keyword research capabilities, putting them in the upper tier of tools.

I was previously frustrated with Semrush’s inability to easily batch-upload large sets of keywords in order to quickly generate and export search volume and difficulty scores. Getting the information I needed was less straightforward than other tools, requiring me to grab some information from one part of their keyword research tool, and grabbing the missing information from another part of the tool. And vice versa. Part of the problem, unlike the other keyword research tools on this list, is that they have yet to seamlessly integrate all of their keyword research functionality into one intuitive section.

That said, they’ve made great strides in this area with the Keyword Overview section, which allows you to batch upload a maximum of 100 keywords. The output is more intuitive, has a high match rate and lets me easily export a .CSV file.

As an added bonus, Semrush does a great job with its SERP analysis of individual keywords, providing comparable data to Ahrefs:

In recent years, Semrush has done such a great job catching up with — and passing some of their competition — that they have earned a well-deserved place on this list.

• Easy to navigate and understand, good UX.
• Respectable keyword difficulty accuracy.
• Consolidating keyword tools into one section would be ideal.
• Max of 100 keyword uploads means you’ll likely need to do multiple batches.

Paid Tool Conclusion

While no single SEO tool is completely accurate when reporting monthly search volume and keyword difficulty, using any of these tools will get you worlds closer to making informed decisions about what keywords are the right keywords for your specific website rather than not using one at all. When selecting one of these tools, the real decision comes down to budget. When making your decision on what paid SEO tool to implement into your technology stack, it’s best to look at your company’s unique needs and base your choice on which tool will help you meet those the best.

So, no, there’s not just one right answer when it comes to the best keyword research technology, but there are tons of amazing choices to use. 

If you’re working for an organization that will be doing a substantial amount of keyword research on a monthly basis, you may want to consider a higher-powered tool like Ahrefs, Moz or Semrush. If you’re a content creator or single person organization looking for something budget-friendly but without all the bells and whistles, you can get by just fine with LTP, KWFinder or SpyFu.

Now it’s time to put that data to use.

Prioritize Your Keyword Options Based on Potential

Status check:  At this point of the keyword research process, you have a large list of keywords that you’ve uploaded into your keyword research tool. Our next step is to export all of our data into a spreadsheet and find the highest potential keywords.

Step 1: Export Your Data Into a .CSV File

Each of the tools listed above allows you to export the full set of keywords you imported along with each keyword’s metrics. Export the .CSV.

Step 2: Create a Spreadsheet

Any spreadsheet tool you like to use to organize data is perfectly fine, whether it’s Google Sheets, Apple Numbers or Microsoft Excel. As long as the tool has sorting and conditional formatting options, you are good to go.

You’ll want to ensure that you have a minimum of the following columns:

A. Keyword –  you’ll be entering the actual keyword being evaluated. B. Intent Type –  In the next chapter, you will be determining if the keyword type is informational, commercial or navigational. C. Content Type –  In the next chapter you will also be determining the type of content that should be written for the keyword. D. Search Volume –  Enter this data directly from your .CSV export. E. Difficulty –  Same as above, enter this data directly from your .CSV export. F. SERP Data –  If you’re using Ahrefs or Moz, enter the CPS (clicks per search) data or Organic CTR data. If you’re using neither, leave blank.

Your empty spreadsheet should look something like this:

Use conditional formatting for each of the search volume, difficulty and CPS/Organic CTR columns. You’ll want higher search volume and CPS/Organic CTR metrics to appear green, and lower numbers to appear red. Do the opposite process that you used to find keyword difficulty, with lower numbers being green and higher numbers being red.

Step 3: Enter Your Data

Copy/paste the data from your .CSV file into the spreadsheet. If you’ve set up your conditional formatting properly, your spreadsheet will start looking pretty colorful.

Bonus Step:  Keyword search volume is rarely an accurate indicator of the amount of search traffic a page will drive if you create a blog or landing page targeting it. Pages generally rank for many related keywords, each driving traffic to the same page depending on the keyword’s search volume and your page’s ranking position.

Try using the tool, Ahrefs to get a better feel for actual search traffic potential.

Here’s how:  We can see that the keyword “content marketing agency” is searched 4,000 times per month in the U.S.

But the pages that rank in the top-10 results for “content marketing agency” rank for an average of 267 total keywords. Furthermore, those keywords drive an average of 1,290 visitors per month.

So if we look at this from the perspective of “how much traffic can this topic drive?” – rather than “How much traffic can this single keyword drive?” – your forecasting will be much more accurate. As a matter of fact, using Ahrefs to backtest this theory on our existing landing pages yielded 80-85% real-life traffic accuracy. 80-85% accurate traffic forecasting without writing a single word is an SEO’s dream scenario.

This is a manual process and, if you have the time to do it, I highly recommend the investment. Add another column to your spreadsheet and add this data.

Step 4: Find the Best Combination of Metrics

We are looking for keywords with the best combination of high search volume, low difficulty and (optional) strong SERP data. I usually start this process by eliminating keywords that I’m positive I won’t be targeting. You can use your inductive reasoning skills for this, on top of the previous research into what keywords have been the most common or appear the most helpful in potential results. 

I’ll immediately disqualify keywords with zero search volume by marking the cells red. I’d recommend not deleting the keywords because if you revisit this list in the future you’ll want to know the keywords you’ve already eliminated. You’ve already done the research into what the right keywords are, and found which keywords don’t work — this can save you tons of time if or when you need to complete this process again in the future. 

I’ll then disqualify keywords with disproportionately high keyword difficulty scores. As discussed previously, I know we don’t generally rank on Page 1 for keywords with Moz difficulty scores above 35, so I’ll eliminate all of those right off the bat.

Now that you have a more manageable list, you can start scanning for keywords that have strong metrics and a high level of relevance to your brand. As I go along, I’ll generally highlight my favorite keywords light blue.

Once you finish, you should be left with at least a few interesting keywords that you want to further qualify in the next step. We should be left with only high-potential keywords that our tool(s) indicate we can a) rank somewhere meaningful and b) have sufficient search volume to justify investing in content creation. This process can give you confidence that you will find results with each of the words that you select, making it easier for you to put time and energy into content creation because you know that it will be worth it. 

Now that we have a shortlist, we’ll need to add a human element to the qualification process.

Analyze the SERP and Designate Content

We’re 90% of the way to the finish line. Congratulations on making it this far! At this point of the exercise, we’re now left with only relevant keywords, each with substantial search volume and plenty of ranking potential.

But without this next step, everything we’ve done will fall flat on its face.

We need to manually inspect SERPs for each potential keyword, then designate how we’re going to use each keyword (if we decide to use it).

Tip:  Keyword difficulty scores can send false positives or false negatives. Imagine seeing data like the following for your target keyword:

• Target keyword:  “best DIY projects”
• Search volume:  500
• Keyword Difficulty:  32 (easy)

Looks great, right? Well, not necessarily. Keyword difficulty scores are averages and don’t give very much context around the data. What if the ranked results look like the following:

• Position 1:  Domain Authority  99, Page Authority 76.
• Position 2:  Domain Authority  92, Page Authority 67.
• Position 3:  Domain Authority  89, Page Authority 71.
• Position 4:  Domain Authority  23, Page Authority 22.
• Position 5:  Domain Authority  17, Page Authority 19.
• Position 6:  Domain Authority  21, Page Authority 23.
• Position 7:  Domain Authority  27, Page Authority 9.
• Position 8:  Domain Authority  12, Page Authority 3.

While the keyword difficulty score reported to you is technically accurate, it reads as a bit of a false positive because you’ll likely rank no better than position 4, which is respectable, but there is a big difference between a CTR of 32.5% and 6%.

The above scenario happens frequently and can drastically influence whether or not you decide to target a keyword. You can save yourself a lot of time (and heartbreak) by plugging the keywords into SERPs and deciding if the results are actually delivering positive outcomes.

Step 1: Manually Investigate SERPs for True Difficulty

Let’s revisit the keyword difficulty section of this guide. Any of the paid tools you’ve chosen calculate average keyword difficulty scores by evaluating the actual pages  – and their domains – that rank on the first page of results for a keyword. But you need to keep in mind that keyword difficulty scores are just a best guess by that tool.

There is no replacement for manually inspecting results with your own eyeballs. Not only will this give you a higher degree of accuracy, but it can give you insight into where your landing page will likely rank.

When you’ve managed to narrow your larger list down to a small number of top candidates, manually look through the results and use your common sense. Are you trying to outrank Amazon, Wikipedia and Forbes for the top 3 positions?

Probably not.

Add metrics to your investigation by using the SERP inspection tools available in your paid tools, reviewed previously.

Step 2: Investigate SERPs for Intent and Content Matching

Google is an incredible sorting mechanism, rearranging the types of content searchers are interested in clicking on when they search for something. Typically, searches can be broken down into three main categories: informational, commercial/transactional and navigational (we touched on this subject early on in the guide).

We are going to talk about matching informational and commercial types of keywords to appropriate types of content.

Informational

About 80% of all searches are informational, meaning searchers are typically seeking more information about a particular subject matter or topic. These people are not intending to buy anything, just glean knowledge from the sources available to them. Typical content that results from informational searches:

• Resource pages.

Google is constantly evaluating how people are interacting in search results for keywords and rearranging the results based on how searchers vote with their clicks. Google is striving to match informational searches with content that best provides the information the person is looking for, which typically means blogs and guides.

Commercial/Transactional

10% of searches are commercial/transactional, meaning searchers are shopping for products or services. These people are likely to intend to buy or request more information on any sort of product or service. Typical content that results from commercial/transactional searches:

• Product landing pages.
• E-commerce sites.

Similarly to informational searches, Google also strives to match commercial searches with content that makes it easy for searchers to review a product or service and purchase or request a demonstration, usually a product or service landing page. 

Hypothetical “Mixed-Intent” Example

Searching “best project management software” results in 5 blog posts comparing the best project management tools, and 5 product landing pages from companies that provide project management software.

If Google sees that 99% of all clicks are going to the blog articles, the search engine will determine that this is the type of content searchers most likely want to read, and may shuffle and deliver those types of results to the higher positions and move the content that does not satisfy that intent toward the bottom of the page. Essentially, if your landing page or blog are constantly clicked on, Google will catch on and bring that page up whenever someone is looking for the service, product or information that you’re offering your audience. 

If the content you create doesn’t match the intent of the searcher, it doesn’t matter how strong your Domain Authority and Page Authority are; you’ll never survive in the top results.

You need to ensure that you write the type of content that your target audience wants to read. So by looking through Google’s search results and paying attention to your deliberate and strategic research, you will see a constantly self-correcting mechanism of the types of content searchers “voted” for with their clicks.

Investigate the SERPs for each keyword and determine whether your target keyword is informational, commercial or a mix of both. 

Step 3: Designate How You’re Going to Use the Keyword

The next step is a natural extension of the previous step. Taking this list and simply “using these keywords throughout your site” is a complete waste of time and will accomplish nothing. You need to determine exactly how you’re going to use each keyword. This part of the keyword research process is all about strategy. Writers can’t just stuff keywords in the content in the hopes that the search engine will rank the content. You have to plan where your keywords will work best within the content both for readability and optimization of the piece. Based on the results from the previous step, this should be fairly easy.

Go through your top keywords and choose the type of content you will want to create for each keyword.

Bonus Step:  Consider how you will write the content for your target keyword. If you noticed SERPs contain lots of results with list blogs, you should strongly consider doing something similar. If you noticed most results use a heavy amount of graphics in their content, it’s possible that searchers are looking for just that.

At this point, you should be left with a shortlist of all the keywords you want to go with. You’re ready to start writing!

Write The Content

Google has come a very long way with understanding how well content satisfies the intent of a keyword. It also understands how thoroughly you covered all subtopics the searcher might want to know about. This further underscores the significance of selecting the right keywords when creating content – specifically, by making sure you truly know the intent behind the queries you’re targeting with that content.

However, Google’s evolution is a predominantly positive development for content creators, because it gives them an opportunity to “punch above their weight class” when targeting keywords.

For instance, in the olden days of SEO, Google primarily relied on link profiles for pages and domains along with on-page SEO factors to determine what should get prime positioning in search results.  In other words, high-reputation websites could win keywords on the backs of their reputation alone, rather than the quality of their content.

Google was more mechanical back then — it relied on link data and the things you said the page was about via on-page metadata rather than the content that was actually presented on your webpage.

While Google still uses these indicators to a point, it is now more likely to award prime placement to the highest quality content rather than just going with the most reputable site. This is great news for you, because it allows your hard work to be recognized and delivered to people on Page 1. So what that means for us is that we can often beat powerhouse websites if we create better content that truly satisfies searcher intent.

Writing for Depth of Topic Coverage

I’ve  spoken about this  at length, shown  live examples  of how this works in real-time, and shown how you can  add depth to existing pieces  to gain better rankings.

With all of the information that was just given to you, this is the gist of it: If you want to write a piece of content on a topic, you should find out what all of the supporting topics are that you could cover to make the piece more thorough. Become the subject expert when doing your research, so consumers can come to you with complete confidence and trust. Ideally, you don’t want to give the searcher any reason to find more information from another website. You want to be the Wikipedia for that subject matter.

You can get this information manually, or by using a high-powered tool like  MarketMuse , or a writer-friendly tool like  Clearscope . These tools will show you how well you covered all the potential sub-topics searchers are looking for and what areas you may need to improve in.

se these tools to create an intuitive content brief that you can hand to a writer who can then create the most thorough piece of content on the web for that topic. Once your content is published and indexed, expect it to take  100-150 days  to start generating results. Even with all of the research, time and energy that you’ve put into your website, it still takes time for that content to be recognized and distributed.

It’s a lot of work, right? Keyword research definitely is a science of a thousand details, but it’s what you need to do to be successful and exactly why it needs to be taken seriously.

And once your content is published, you’re still not done.

You need to evaluate your content in search visibility reports in Google Search Console and look for opportunities to  re-optimize content . Focus on:

• The queries your page ranks for.
• Average ranking position for keywords.
• Impressions.
• Click-through-rates.

If the page is underperforming (ranking poorly for target keywords and/or driving very little traffic), you may have to try another target or re-check your on-page optimization.

If the page is performing, now you have a whole new project to start: evaluating whether or not the page is effectively converting visitors and contributing real commercial value (but let’s save that for another day).

Ready to level up your website game and create optimal digital content?  Let’s work together!

The Content Marketer

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Home » Grow Online » Future-Proofing Your SEO: How to Do Keyword Research

Future-Proofing Your SEO: How to Do Keyword Research

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Without good SEO , people won’t be able to find your website or online store. That’s why SEO keyword research is so important, no matter if your site is built using a website builder or a CMS. People search for a specific word or phrase and search engines direct them toward related content. And, hopefully, that’s your website’s content.

In this article, we’ll go over the keyword basics, learning what they are, why they’re so critical to websites, and how to do SEO keyword research yourself. Let’s get started!  

What Is Keyword Research?

Keywords are the words and phrases people type into search engines to get information. They help search engines understand the content on a web page so that they can decide if it’s relevant to the query.   

When you strategically use these keywords in your website content, you drive up your site’s visibility. This helps search engines drive traffic to you.  

SEO keyword research is simply the act of finding and analyzing the search words that people enter into search engines, then using those terms in your website, content-making, and marketing. SEO keyword research helps you immediately understand what your potential customers are looking for online, and target them to guide them back to you. 

Why Is Keyword Research Important?

Keyword research can guide your content strategy. If done properly, you’ll get insight into the habits, choices, and preferences of your audience . This helps you get a better idea of how to get your audience’s attention and best solve their problems.  

Keyword research can guide your content, product development, and marketing. Your business should be creating products and content that your target audience will find valuable.  

There’s so much noise online, so we understand it can be difficult to stand out from the crowd. But by using the most relevant keywords, you help users find your content. You’re speaking their language, and you’re making a roadmap that leads them straight to your website.  

When Should Keyword Research Be Used?

Once you understand how to find keywords for SEO, you have a lot to gain. The great thing about keyword research is there there are plenty of applications for it, including:   

• SEO Optimization: When you use the right keywords in your website content, meta descriptions, and tags, those rankings go up, and so does organic traffic to your site.  
• Content Strategy: Keyword research can tell you about the topics that interest your audience. You can create content around these keywords, attracting even more visitors. Targeted content means relevant information that keeps your audience on your site, and that means more visibility on your pages and a higher chance of conversion.  
• Paid Campaigns: When you’re ready for paid advertising campaigns like Google Ads or social media ads, keyword research gives you the best words to use. This expands the reach of your ads and ups the return on investment (ROI).  
• Long-Tail Keywords: These are longer and more specific phrases that have less competition. When you go for long-tail keywords, you’ll rank higher for specific queries. Generally speaking, the more specific a product search query, the more likely the visitor is to convert. For instance, “best website builders” is fairly broad, but “best website builders for food delivery businesses” is a specific query that leans toward a purchase.   

How To Conduct Keyword Research: The Main Steps

By now you might be chomping at the bit to get into how to find keywords for SEO. Here’s a handy step-by-step list to walk you through the process of SEO keyword research:  

Finding Keywords  

Of course you want to find keywords for SEO! You can begin by brainstorming possible keywords that are relevant to your business and audience. If you were searching to find your business or looking for related information, which keywords would you naturally use?  

Analyzing Keywords  

Once you’ve formulated a list of possible keywords, it’s time to use tools to analyze them (we’ll discuss these in more detail in the next section). Pay attention to search volume (how many people search for the term), difficulty (how competitive is the keyword), and relevance to your business.  

Considering User Intent  

When choosing your SEO keywords, consider the audience’s intent behind using them. For example, if people search for “best website builders”, are they looking for an expert opinion or are they ready to sign up to a platform? The keywords you prioritize can depend on the user journey and the stage the reader is at.  

Comparing Keywords  

Have a look at which keywords your competitors are using and ranking for. What are they missing? Are there any gaps in the market that you can take advantage of? What is everyone talking about? What’s trending? Where can your content rank highly?  

Targeting Keywords  

After finding and analyzing your keywords, the next step is to pick the most promising keywords to use in your content. With your research, you should be able to determine which keywords work best for your audience and website.  

Prioritizing and Optimizing Keywords  

Go beyond just picking the right keywords. Prioritize those keywords depending on their SEO impact. Some terms will perform better than others, so we recommend tailoring your content around these.   

Verifying Search Intent  

Now, make sure that your keywords match the audience’s searches by regularly reviewing your keywords. Popular keywords change over time, so adapting and targeting new search terms will help your website rank well and meet your audience’s needs.  

Tools for Keyword Research

You might be wondering how to do keyword research for SEO – as in what type of help is available?   

For accurate SEO keyword research, we recommend using a dedicated SEO tool to help determine and analyze your targeted terms. Here are a few of the most popular options:  

Ahrefs  

Ahrefs is a comprehensive SEO keyword tool with a huge keyword database and accurate search volume data. Its “Keyword Explorer” tool gives you keyword data including keyword difficulty, search volume, and clicks-per-search.   

You’ll also get the top-ranking pages for a specific keyword and insights into how many backlinks would help your pages rank better.  

Semrush  

Semrush has robust SEO keyword research capabilities, a user-friendly interface, highly-detailed keyword reports, and competitor analysis (to help you analyze your competitors’ keywords and strategies).   

We recommend using its “Keyword Magic Tool”, which will cover all of your basic keyword research needs. It helps you find the right keywords by showing the broad match, phrase match, and exact match keywords, along with their search volume, trend data, and difficulty score.    

Google Keyword Planner  

Google Keyword Planner is not only a free tool, but it’s extremely powerful because its insights come directly from Google, the world’s most popular search engine.   

Though it’s technically meant for paid search campaigns, it finds keywords related to your business or industry and gives search volume and competition-level info for each keyword.  

Moz Keyword Explorer   

Moz’s Keyword Explorer is a great tool for SEO keyword research thanks to its predictive metrics, which can let you know which keywords are worth targeting in the first place. No more wasted time!   

It gives you a wide variety of data, including monthly search volume, difficulty, priority, and click-through rate. And it also suggests related keywords and which websites are high-rankers for the target keyword.  

KWFinder  

Are you a small business with limited resources? KWFinder has a user-friendly interface and focuses on finding less competitive keywords . That means you can be a big fish in a smaller pond instead of competing against the big sharks.   

KWFinder finds those long-tail keywords with low SEO difficulty so that you can spot good opportunities. On top of that, it will give you keyword suggestions, search volume data, and information on trends.   

How To Maintain Keyword Rankings

SEO keyword research isn’t a one-time thing. Once you’ve done the hard work of finding, analyzing, and implementing your keywords, you’ve got to keep your rankings as high as possible.  

That means part of how to do keyword research is to regularly revisit your SEO keyword research , lightly (or completely!) refresh your content, keep checking out what your competitors are doing (and what they’re missing), and stay on top of SEO trends.  

As we’ve discussed, knowing how to do keyword research for SEO is an essential part of a successful SEO strategy. You want to drive appropriate visitors to your website – all it takes is knowing the best keywords to target them effectively, and how to use them across your website and content.  

SEO keyword research is a goldmine of information that every website should tap into, giving you all the insights you need to target your ideal audience.   

When you understand your audience’s language and meet them where they are, you can boost your visibility, drive traffic to your site, and ultimately, grow your online business.  

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• How to Do Keyword Research for Your Blog or Website

The Beginner’s Guide to Finding The Best Keywords for SEO

There are many critical elements that must be considered when starting a blog or building a website , and to be successful online, you need to make sure that all of them are done right. 

One of those essential elements is keyword research because choosing the right keywords is one of the main factors to increasing the number of visitors your website will get.

This guide will provide tips on properly structuring your keyword research, and you can adjust it to your specific needs.

Why do you need to do keyword research?  

A lot of new bloggers don’t even consider doing keyword research, and because of this, they struggle to get visitors to their blog, no matter how hard they try. Others simply go after keywords that are the most popular (but also very competitive) and end up failing to rank well in Search Engines. 

The keyword research process will also help you to answer the following questions:

• What information are people searching for? 
• What keywords do they use to find that information? 
• How many people are using certain keywords?
• What type of information do they want (searcher intent)? 

Skipping over this part is not an option, as you won’t be able to grow your blog as fast as you want to without these steps. You have to do keyword research to find keywords that will work well and help your blog rank higher in the search engine results pages (SERPs). It’s not a simple thing to do, as all blogs and target markets are different.

You will need the right SEO tools and accurate knowledge that will help you to start this process correctly and go through it smoothly. 

First of all, you need to understand why you need a strong keyword strategy for your blog. The keywords you target are an extension of your organic traffic that will allow you to attract readers with a genuine interest in what your blog has to offer. 

Organic traffic can be the most valuable asset for your blog, and you need to get as many visitors as you can to grow your blog.

Initial keyword research (find seed keywords)

If you are familiar with your niche you can skip this step and go right into finding the core keywords process.

Brainstorm to find niche topics and main keywords

Without thinking about anything else, start your niche decision process by writing down all of the things that interest you. These can be personal interests or professional interests.

• Start by thinking about the things you enjoy doing, or would enjoy doing if you had the chance. For example, you are an amateur photographer. Photography blogging could be a great niche. You can share your photos, your detailed knowledge, or your experience with camera technology.
• Next, think about the things you would enjoy learning. For example, you’re interested in taking up cooking classes. Even if you don’t have the time or budget to start cooking classes, you can start a food blog where you analyze recipes you find online. You could also discuss how to choose the perfect ingredients, and weigh the benefits of organic versus GMO ingredients.
• Finally, think about the things you are already diving deep into. For example, let’s say that you are an adult that is going back to finish your college degree. You’re going to do a lot of research about on-campus versus online degree programs, which university to choose, how to get back into the swing of studying, and so on. These are great topics for a niche blog about higher education.

Picking a niche is a challenging process. But, during this exercise, you will get a better sense for the topics that resonate with you. The ones that you are most passionate about are the best candidates for your niche blog .

For example, let’s say you are starting a blog about golf. The first keywords that come to your mind are ones that you would use in a Google search:

• golf for beginners

These would be your seed keywords and broad topic ideas. Next, you will have to find more specific keywords that offer attractive opportunities.

Discovering core keywords: What people search for? 

There are a number of ways to do keyword research to discover core keywords for your project. I will cover a few options including using free and paid tools.

Keyword research: Using Google Keyword Planner to find keywords (free)

The Google Keyword Planner will be a great help when you start creating a list of keywords that you want to target. This tool can help you to quickly create a large keyword list.

Here are the steps you need to take:

Note: You don’t have to run a real or an active ad campaign in order to use this tool. 

Step #1 : In order to use Google Keyword Planner:  You need to log in to or create a new Google Ads account (you need to have a Gmail account in order to log in).

Step #2 : Find the “Keyword Planner” tool. 

Once you login into your Google Ads account, on the main page menu bar click “Tools & Settings” and click the “Keyword Planner” link.

Step #3 : Select the “Discover new keywords” tool. 

You will see two different options: “Discover new keywords” and “Get search volume and forecasts”.

These two tools can generate thousands of keywords. But, keep in mind that these tools are designed for advertisers, not for SEO purposes. They have a number of features that you won’t need. 

Click on the “Discover new keywords” tool, and you will see a screen where you can start entering your main keywords to generate some more keyword ideas. 

Step #4 : Enter the main keywords you’ve selected. 

This is where you enter “seed keywords”, and this is the primary field that you will use. You can enter one or more keywords here.

Let’s enter “seed keywords” (golf tips, golf swing, golf clubs) that we used in the example above and look at the results.

Step #5 : Generate results to get the list of keywords. 

This tool will give you results based on the keywords you inputted into it. You can review the list of generated keywords and, if necessary, change your searched keywords.

Inside the results page, you will see more information such as “Avg. monthly searches”, “Competition”, and more. I’ll talk about these points later.  

Now, you can download the list with keyword ideas to sort them later.

This is a bread and butter tool that you will use to generate your keyword ideas.

Keyword research: Using Ahrefs or any other tool to find keywords 

You have more tools that you can use to find more keyword ideas. Some of them are free, freemium, or paid.

I believe that by using Google Keyword Planner, you can get a list of keyword ideas that are more than enough to explore. But, in case you want to check other tools, I’ll show you how you can do it with Ahrefs. This keyword research process will look similar to other premium tools. 

Here are the steps you will need to take:

Step #1 : Visit Ahrefs and create an account. 

If you don’t have an account on Ahrefs, you will have to create one. They offer a free trial period of 7 days for $7.

Step #2 : Log in to your account.

Once you log in, you will see the Keywords Explorer main page with a field where you can enter your seed keywords similar to Google’s Keyword Planner tool. Hit the search button.

Step #3 : Explore all of the features of this tool. 

Inside the results page, you will see different keyword research options. 

An Overview screen will show you parameters for the keywords that you enter. You can click and check available options. For example, by clicking “Search suggestions”, you will get a huge list of keywords to explore.

Step #4 :  Review and download a list of keywords. 

Inside the “Search suggestions” tab, you will see a bunch of new keywords that the tool has generated for you. You can also download that list by clicking the “Export” button.

This list should give you plenty of keyword ideas to look into and consider. 

Keyword research: Getting keyword ideas by checking competitors

This is an effective advanced tactic that you can use to find the right keywords within your niche. This option is offered with paid tools such as SEMrush and Ahrefs site explorer .

As an example, I will demonstrate how to check your competition with Ahrefs and discover keywords that they rank for. These results will give you a clear idea about which keywords you can go after and what type of content you need to create.  

Step #1 : Log in to Ahrefs and open Site Explorer . 

Pick a domain name (URL) of the website you want to check. In our case, we will check the golfdigest.com website.

Open the Ahrefs Site Explorer tool and enter the URL of the domain you want to check.

Step #2 : The tool will run a report and extract data. 

You will receive in-depth details of that website including their backlinks profile and search traffic. By clicking on the “Organic keywords” section, you can see the rankings of this site and keywords ideas.

This exercise will help you to find more keywords and determine what keywords you should go after. You can also download the list of all keywords that your competitor is ranking for. 

Note : This tool also comes in handy when you want to check what websites are ranking for certain keywords. Plus with this tool, you can dig deeper into your competitors. 

Gathering search volumes: How many people search for it?  

Similar to the keyword research process, you can access search volumes using different tools. 

I want you to understand that any tool you use will give you rough and estimated numbers of search volumes. However, it will give you a better idea of what keywords have higher search volumes and what keywords you should go after.    

Getting search volumes from Google Keyword Planner

As we mentioned earlier, Google Keyword Planner will show you the range of monthly searches (ex. 1k-10k). You can get exact search volume for specific keywords if you are running an active Adwords campaign (paid advertisement). 

But, even exact search volume fluctuates, and Google will show the estimated average number of searches. It’s helpful to see the exact number of searches. However, there is nothing wrong with using ranges to choose keywords.

Let me show you how you can extract the exact search volume from Google without creating an Adwords campaign for a specific keyword. 

Step #1 : Inside the Keyword Planner main page, select the “Get search volume and forecasts” tool. 

Step #2 : Enter your seed keywords into the tool and click “Get started”. 

Step #3: Get average monthly searches. 

The tool will run through your keywords and show you the average monthly search results for all of the keywords that you’ve entered. 

Step #4 : You can also click the “Forecast” tab. 

The tool will run a report for all of the keywords that you’ve entered and give you forecasted numbers. 

This tool works similarly to the “Discover new keywords” tool, except that it will also show you the forecasted number for your campaign where you can see the number of impressions  

As I mentioned earlier, this tool is not perfect and it was not designed to be used for SEO purposes. However, with this tool you can get some basic keyword research done. 

Getting search volumes from Ahrefs (or any other premium tools)

By now you know that there are some paid tools available online that can do a better job for SEO keyword research. You can use them to find keywords and check search volumes. These tools will show you numbers based on the algorithm they use, and they will be estimated figures.

For example, here is what you get if you try Ahrefs keyword explorer:

As you can see, these numbers differ from what you get from the Google tool. However, they give you a rough idea of the search volume.

More tools are available, and you can consider them from the list provided below.

Understand the importance of long-tail keywords

Before we get to the part about how you can determine the value of your keywords, first you must understand which keywords are the most valuable and why it’s all about long-tail keywords. It is true that you can choose keywords that have from 500 to 5,000 searches per day. However, these big terms account for less than 25% of the searches on the whole web.

Over 70% of the keywords that people search for are located in the “long tail” search. This long tail area has millions of searches that can happen a couple of times any day, but these searches make up most of the daily searches.

We will describe the three different categories that keywords usually divide into – head, body, and the long tail.

• Head – these are single-word keywords with huge search volumes (for example, “golf” or “food”). These terms are broad, and people might be searching for various things using these keywords (for example, someone searching for “golf” might be looking for golf classes, golf clubs, or the rules of the game).
• Body – these keywords are 2-3 word phrases that get decent search volume (1,000 to 2,000 searches per month) and are more explicit than the head (for example, “golf lessons” or “food classes”).
• Long tail – these keywords are 3 or 4+ words long and are very specific (for example, “cheap golf lessons for kids” or “food classes for Japanese cuisine”). These terms don’t have a lot of search volume, but statistically, they make up the majority of searches online.

As a rule of thumb, when you choose Body keywords and optimize your content around them you will usually rank for related long tail (4-8 words) keywords. That’s how you get natural traffic to your website.

How to find long-tail keywords

The easiest and probably the most efficient way to find relevant long-tail keywords is to use Google suggestions. Let us show you exactly how you can do it.

First, when you type selected keywords into Google search, look at the autosuggestions.

Second, when you perform the search, scroll down to the results page and look at the “Searches related to…..” suggestions.

You can perform this technique with different variations of keywords and pick the terms that are best suited to your needs.

Keyword research: Evaluate competition and difficulty

To further evaluate the keywords ideas, you will have to look at how competitive they are and how difficult it will be to rank for these keywords.

You can make an educated guess with the Google Keyword Planner tool by looking into two parameters: Competition and Suggested bid.

• Competition – this indicates the number of advertisers bidding on that keyword: Low, Medium, and High. Useful to evaluate how competitive the keyword is.
• Bids – great way to understand the idea of monetization potential for the keyword. This will also give you an idea of how difficult it might be to rank for these keywords.

With this data from Google, you can make an educated guess. If you want to get a deeper understanding of the competitiveness and difficulty of the keywords, you will have to use a paid tool such as Ahrefs Keywords Explorer.

Here is how this report will look:

• KD –  “Keyword Difficulty is an estimate of how hard it would be to rank in Top 10 Google search results for a given keyword. It is measured on a nonlinear scale from 1 to 100 (low difficulty to high difficulty).”
• CPC – Cost Per Click shows the average price that advertisers pay for each ad click in paid search results for a keyword.

Understanding searcher intent: What people search for  

Search intent (also called user intent) is known as the main goal users have when typing a query in search engines. 

There are 4 main types of searcher intents: 

• Navigational – people search for a specific page or website. 
• Informationa l – people search for specific information such as definitions or recipes.  
• Transactional – people search for something when they are ready to make a purchase. 
• Commercial investigation – people search for the comparison of products or reviews.  

Determine what keywords to focus on

If one of your goals is to make money online , it’s important that you select commercial intent keywords. 

These keywords can be divided into three classes:

Buy Now keywords

These are keywords that people use before making a purchase. Here are words that tend to be part of these types of search queries:

Product keywords

Product Keywords are searches that focus on a particular product category, brand name, or service. People using these phrases are in the early buying stage. Product keywords tend to include:

Informational keywords

The bulk of keywords online are “Informational keywords.” It’s natural for people to look for information before starting the buying process. Information keywords tend to include words like:

• Best way to

Popular keyword research tools

We’ve mentioned some instruments in this guide, but here we will give you a longer list of tools that you can test when doing keyword research.

• Ahrefs keywords explorer

Ahrefs is a refined SEO tool that comes with a state-of-the-art web crawler. The company’s crawler is optimized for speed, and it ranks just behind Google’s crawler. Thanks to this tool, Ahrefs can deliver detailed analysis reports in a matter of minutes.

• SEMrush keyword search

When it comes to the best SEO tools out there, SemRUSH definitely deserves a spot at the very top of our list. Its applicable use list is vast and ranges from analyzing content and discovering niche keywords to examining and understanding the competition’s SEO strategy.

• Moz explorer

Moz PRO is another all-rounder on our list. It is a great tool to help you boost your search engine visibility and rank. Moz PRO is advertised as a complete SEO toolset. We have to agree that this is an accurate statement. Moz PRO is all about crawling the web, gathering data, and compiling it into actionable reports.

KWFinder, the SEO software by Mangools, is your go-to keyword research tool. It is one of the easiest SEO tools to use on the market. Comprehensive software solutions can be hard to use when it comes to finding high volume and low, competitive keywords. With Mangools KWFinder, it’s easy to do.

• SpyFu  

SpyFu is a tool built for only one purpose – spying on your competition. This tool is very simple and easy to use. All you have to do is enter the competitor’s website URL and receive valuable metrics. You can see all of their keywords and filter out the most profitable ones. You can also use SpyFu to discover your competitor’s ads for paid and organic search.

• Wordtracker

Wordtracker is a tool that can easily fuel your keyword research efforts. It takes the keyword research game and steps it up by factoring in a number of relevant metrics including PPC, SEO, competition SEO strategy, and Google data. You can discover related terms to your initial keyword ideas, see if the targeted keywords are competitive or not, and combine data from different sources to get the most accurate reports.

SE Ranking is a complete SEO suite. It comes with all of the essential tools to devise data and result-driven SEO strategies. This tool was developed with ease of use in mind. All of the features are easy to find in their minimalistic and intuitive dashboard.

• LongTailPro

Discovering long-tail keywords is not as easy as it sounds. Finding the right tool to do so can prove even more challenging. LongTail Pro targets the long-tail keyword niche and does it successfully. This tool can help you find less competitive long-tail keywords with good search volume. With LongTail Pro, it’s all about profitability.

• Answer The Public  

If you have trouble coming up with content ideas, you should consider seeking advice from Answer The Public. This tool constantly keeps tabs on what people are searching for online. If you input the keyword that you are interested in, it will return useful questions or phrases people type into the search engines related to that keyword.

Once you’ve done all of the things mentioned above, you can set your keyword strategy in motion, but this doesn’t mean that your work ends there. A good keyword strategy requires an adequate follow-up which includes monitoring and tweaking things constantly.

These are the essentials that you need to know about creating a proper keyword strategy for your blog. Remember that choosing the correct keywords is essential for a blog to succeed, but this is just one of the aspects to work on, and you cannot neglect other important factors.

8 comments on “How to Do Keyword Research for Your Blog or Website”

That is the exact information I was looking for. Thanks Ogi for sharing your experience on keyword research.

You’re welcome Rajat. Hope it helps!

As a complete newbie to blogging, this information has been tremendously helpful! Thank you for helping me to think and see things in a different way.

You’re welcome Lili. Glad I was able to help!

Well, this is quite helpful as far as the content, blog and keywords are concerned but I was expecting a sample of content writing/blog. Nonetheless, it was informative. Thank you.

Thanks Nasira…glad that you found it useful!

This is super helpful! Thank you!!!

Thanks Kay. All the best!

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More From Forbes

Seo strategy: a guide to seo success in 2024.

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Co-Founder of fishbat media, LLC. , Keynote Speaker, SEO Specialist. Featured in Newsday, Street Insider, and hundreds of other publications.

I still remember how exciting it was when I finally figured out how to use SEO for a local bakery I worked on back in the late '90s. Their website was barely visible on page 10 of the search engine results. But with a concentrated SEO strategy, we ranked them on the first page for "best cupcakes in Long Island." This increase in website traffic and client inquiries proved SEO's revolutionary impact.

So, what is SEO? It means optimizing your website for search engines and making your website visible to the right people at the right time. This is why, no matter the size of your business—whether it's a local bakery or a full-size food manufacturer—you need an effective SEO strategy to compete in today's information-savvy digital market.

My intention here is to help you create a successful 2024 SEO strategy. I'll cover the latest trends, key processes and actionable recommendations to help you navigate SEO's ever-changing landscape.

Understanding SEO In 2024

In SEO, it's important to always be one step ahead of the competition. As an example, one big trend that is changing the digital world right now is the rise in popularity of voice search. According to a 2018 Backlinko study , snippets provide an astounding 40.7% of the results returned by voice searches. As a result, it's no longer optional to optimize your website for voice search. To help achieve this, use long-tail keywords and natural language. And keep your site secure—the same study shows that 70.4% of the results pages for voice searches have HTTPS links.

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Video is also becoming more popular as a means to get information, which makes it a useful tool for making content more interesting and better for users.

Of course, it's important to put the user experience (UX) first in any SEO plan. Google and other search engines favor user-friendly websites with good interface design. Part of this is making sure the website loads quickly, works well on mobile phones and is easy to use.

Building A Successful SEO Strategy In 2024

In addition to keeping up with SEO trends, there are steps you can take to make your SEO strategy work in 2024.

Step 1: Set your goals.

Having well-defined goals helps you laser-focus your SEO efforts. In fact, determining what constitutes a successful SEO campaign is a powerful but often overlooked step. Is it bringing 20% more people to your website? Boosting your visibility for local search terms? Getting more online sales? If you have clear goals, you can track your progress, measure how well you're doing and change your plans as needed.

Step 2: Do your (keyword) research.

You need to conduct keyword research to find out what your ideal customers are looking for online. To do this, you can use SEMrush and Google Keyword Planner, among others, to find profitable keywords, research their search volume and assess the competition.

Say you have a website with baking tips and are having trouble with your next blog post. You found that a lot of people search for "easy cake recipes" every month through keyword research. These keywords can then be used in the post's title, headers (H1, H2) and meta description. This will make it more likely that your content will show up in search results for key terms your target customers are looking for.

Step 3: Optimize your on-page content.

The next step, after deciding which keywords to utilize, is to make your website user- and search-engine-friendly. Among these are:

• Page Titles: Create short, descriptive page names that describe the page's content accurately and include relevant keywords.

• Meta Descriptions: Create compelling and useful page descriptions to encourage users to click on your website.

• Headings: For better reading and content organization, use descriptive headers (H1, H2, etc.).

• Image Alt Text: Put descriptive keywords in the alt text aspect of the images you're using.

• User Experience (UX): Ensure your website is responsive, loads quickly and is easy to use on mobile devices to provide a pleasant experience for your users.

Step 4: Create content.

Good content is the bedrock of an SEO strategy in 2024. Your content should do three things: inform, engage and set your website as an authority in the field.

When evaluating a website's content, Google emphasizes E-E-A-T—expertise, experience, authoritativeness and trustworthiness. Because of this, it is critical to make an honest attempt to be creative.

Think beyond the box, do your own research, and sprinkle in some tales where appropriate to offer fresh perspectives. Moreover, acknowledging the author and their qualifications helps establish credibility and trust with your readers. By following Google's guidelines and writing content that people want to read, you could boost site traffic and establish yourself as an industry expert.

Step 5: Build backlinks.

Think of building backlinks—that is, links from other websites to yours—as gathering recommendations. These increase your website's trustworthiness and ranking potential by showing search engines that people are confident in you.

For example, I helped a local eco-friendly apparel manufacturer boost their web presence by concentrating on quality information rather than unethical approaches. We created a blog post about sustainable fashion to demonstrate the brand's environmental responsibility. This automatically drew backlinks from eco-friendly blogs and online magazines with similar opinions. This method generated high-quality backlinks, boosting authority, traffic and brand exposure.

Keep in mind that if you concentrate on making content that is worthy of links, the backlinks will come.

Optimizing For SEO Success In 2024

Staying on top of SEO trends and algorithm changes is imperative. But remember that SEO is a long-term process. By following the above tactics, having clear goals, and monitoring and altering your strategy, you can unlock SEO's power and succeed against continually changing SERP algorithms.

You can stay ahead by subscribing to industry magazines, following Google updates and attending pertinent webinars or conferences. However, if you feel overwhelmed, do not hesitate to consult a seasoned SEO agency for assistance.

Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?

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13 Tips for Choosing the Perfect Domain Name

Published: May 27, 2024

Choosing the right domain name for your company is so important — ultimately, it’s how your audience will find and remember you.

The best domain is a custom domain that works for you. Sometimes, the best domain name for you might break some best practice rules. I’ve got websites built on domains that follow best practices, including those with keyword-rich domains, and other domains break the best practice rules big time; they’re even hard to spell.

With over 700 million domain names registered , it can be hard to find one that’s unique and functional. But, in this article, I’ll help you find a custom domain that will help your website stand out from the crowd and possibly even boost your SEO. I’ll help you choose and buy a domain while sharing the insights and tips I’ve learned along the way.

Table of Contents

What Makes A Good Domain Name?

How to choose a domain name for your business, how to choose a domain name for your blog, domain name generator, establish brand identity by picking the perfect domain name.

The best domain names balance memorability, longevity, and sometimes SEO. There’s a lot to think about when choosing the right domain name, but before I get into all those steps, let’s first identify what makes a good domain.

Ideally, you’ll pick one domain name you’ll stick with forever. This might seem scary, and it’s okay to change your domain later, but it’s better if you don’t — so don’t take this decision lightly.

The reason why longevity matters is because you want a domain name that’s stable to avoid confusing your audience.

There’s another lesser-known reason, and it’s related to SEO: a domain name builds authority. Basically, an older domain with high-quality content becomes trusted by Google and is theoretically easier to rank. The longer you spend with a domain and the more you build it up, the bigger the potential loss if you change it.

Again, you can change your domain, and there are lots of things you can do to protect that built authority, but the absolute best practice is to choose a domain that you can stick with.

SEO Considerations

As well as authority, your domain name can help bolster your SEO efforts. Domains including a keyword can help websites rank.

You want to balance the benefits of using the keyword in the URL against using a brand keyword. I’ll discuss the nuances of choosing keyword-rich domains later including when I think it’s appropriate and when to stay with the brand name.

Memorability

Your domain name is how your audience will find and remember you. The best domain names are memorable to your audience so they can easily find you again.

If you are ready to establish a presence online for your business, you’ll want to choose a domain name that matches your brand. This way, customers can easily find and trust your site. There are a few steps you can keep in mind when choosing your domain name.

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4. Stay unique, specific, and on-brand.

With all of these things to keep in mind, it can be hard to brainstorm a domain name that is clear and concise while also remaining unique and true to your business.

But it’s certainly doable. Keep your business name and what you sell at the forefront of your mind, and dig into your niche to ensure that your domain name attracts the online audience you want.

I always find it hard to come up with domains. I usually have to go through a few versions of ideas and get knocked back a lot by the time I’ve searched its availability to find it’s taken.

Nowadays, I use ChatGPT to help me brainstorm domain name ideas. Using a fake scenario, here’s an example of what I’d ask ChatGPT.

I asked ChatGPT, “Can you help me come up with the best domain name for a new blog? I want to share my budget travel adventures.”

ChatGPT came up with some great starting points.

Domain names are hot commodities, but they are also pretty affordable. As long as your idea isn’t trademarked or already in use, grab it before it’s gone! You can always change it later if you decide it just isn’t working.

I understand that this is a lot to digest. But just as there are generators to help you find excellent hashtags and keywords, there are also tools to help you find domain names (in addition to using ChatGPT).

You can take some of the keywords and brand-related words you’ve brainstormed through the above tips and add them to a domain name generator, which will use those words and related words to create lists of available domain names.

Even if you don’t pick a domain name exactly from the generator, it can help inspire your team to find a domain name that is perfect for your business or blog. Here are some of the top domain name generators to try.

Don't forget to share this post!

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7 Proven Ways to Grow With Apple Search Ads: Benchmarks and Best Practices for 2024 

Posted on May 28, 2024 by Anastasiya Starovoytova - Blog

Anastasiya Starovoytova

Anastasiya Starovoytova is a Content Manager at SplitMetrics

Growth is the end goal of almost every app marketer.

To achieve it, we master different paid user acquisition (UA) channels. Apple Search Ads is one such platform that can help acquire high lifetime value (LTV) users. Just like any channel, it keeps evolving, meaning industry benchmarks and best practices also change. So, whether you’re a seasoned marketer or just dipping your toes into Apple Search Ads, there is always something new to learn.

This post is all about that — learning. Get ready to delve deep into the latest Apple Search Ads benchmarks and life hacks that will help your Apple Search Ads campaigns rise to new heights in 2024.

Handle account structure with care

When starting with Apple Search Ads, focus on setting up your account correctly. There are two main ways to do this: the semantics-based approach and the value-based one.

Let’s start with the semantics-based approach. This is a proven method for most advertisers.

• Split your account into five campaigns: Brand, Generic, Competitors, Discovery, and Proxy.
• Add keywords as an exact match in all campaigns except Discovery, where Broad and Search Match are used to mine keyword ideas.
• Run Brand campaigns to retain users and counteract competition.
• Target all age ranges and genders in Generic and Competitors campaigns to avoid missing out on traffic.
• Target iPhone and iPad users together in Generic and Competitors campaigns, adjusting bids only if necessary.
• Use Proxy campaigns to test the downstream performance of keywords from Discovery.
• Allocate budget to branded keywords first, then distribute remaining budget across mid- and lower-performing keywords.
• Target three user types: new users, returning users, and all users in separate ad groups for Brand, Generic, and Competitors campaigns.
• Divide theme ad groups based on user intent into audiences: new, returning, and all users, and share the same keyword list within each theme.

The second approach is  value-based. Here, we group keywords based on how valuable they are to your target audience. Stick to these rules:

• Organize keywords into campaigns based on their value to you as an app marketer.
• Create the recommended structure: Brand campaign, Discovery campaign, and Tiered campaigns (usually with three tiers).
• Allocate your maximum bid to the Brand campaign to attract users interested in your brand, potentially leading to high-value conversions.
• For Tier 1 campaigns, identify keywords that bring high LTV users and set a competitive bid to maximize impression share.
• Use Tier 2 campaigns to target users with medium value, with a bid lower than Tier 1 but higher than Tier 3.
• Set the lowest bid for Tier 3 campaigns, as these users have the lowest value for your business.
• In the Discovery campaign, match the bid with Tier 2 or Tier 1 campaigns to compete effectively and discover new search terms.
• Consider creating a Probing/Proxy campaign to test discovered keywords’ conversion rates, using Exact Match keywords from the Discovery campaign.
• Implement a budget waterfall strategy, prioritizing spending on high-value keywords first and gradually allocating resources downward to mitigate risks and maximize profits.

Before you move forward, make sure you fully understand these approaches. Remember: A structured account reduces statistical dilution and self-competition, providing a clearer understanding of your performance.

Now, let’s get into some best practices.

1. Automate and optimize

Optimizing Apple Search Ads is crucial for maximizing performance.

Start by eliminating potential data discrepancies between Apple Search Ads and your mobile measurement partner (MMP). This is easily done by integrating a  third-party tool like SplitMetrics Acquire , which streamlines data gathering and allows you to see all metrics in a single dashboard.

This is how Auto Trader , a digital marketplace for buying and selling new and used vehicles, achieved growth with SplitMetrics Acquire. It previously struggled with manual optimization, finding it time-consuming and challenging to keep up with changes.

SplitMetrics Acquire provided automated tools to weed out non-performing keywords and optimize bid strategies. With SplitMetrics Acquire, Auto Trader saw a 15% increase in downloads, a 25% decrease in cost per download, and a 51% increase in tap-through rate.

You can experience the convenience  for yourself by signing up for a totally free plan by SplitMetrics Acquire.

2. Do keyword research on a regular basis

Finding high-performing keywords is an ongoing job.

The best you can do here is invest your time and energy into thorough keyword research. Here are some tips:

• Analyze competitors’ keywords, both organic and bid-on, to gain insights.
• Utilize Search Match to connect ads with relevant search queries on the App Store.
• Leverage third-party tools like SplitMetrics Acquire, equipped with a Keyword Planner for comprehensive keyword analysis. You can also install a free Chrome Extension to view Search Popularity numeric values and max possible impressions right in your Apple Search Ads and SplitMetrics Acquire accounts.
• Explore new keyword suggestions directly on the App Store’s search section.
• Enhance your keyword list by picking up synonyms for your high-performing keywords. AI tools like ChatGPT can be pretty helpful here.

You can choose to follow only one strategy from this list, but to get as many valuable keywords as possible, it’s best to use multiple keyword sources.

3. Enhance relevance and explore ASO/Apple Search Ads synergy

Ensuring relevance is a must in Apple Search Ads.

Optimize the app’s metadata, including the title, subtitle, and creatives, to enhance relevance. Make sure they all highlight your app’s value proposition and contain keywords relevant to your category. Doing so will help streamline keyword visibility in Apple Search Ads.

In turn, Apple Search Ads can support your app store optimization (ASO) efforts by providing keyword conversion data, daily installs volumes, and more.

4. Keep an eye on Apple Search Ads benchmarks

Monitoring Apple Search Ads benchmarks helps you stay competitive in the market.

You can see how your performance stacks up against competitors and adjust your bidding strategy, ad creatives, and other parameters based on what’s working well for others in your industry.

What’s more, Apple Search Ads benchmarks can indicate the overall state of this user acquisition channel. Here’s an example:

In the first six months of 2023, the average tap-through rate (TTR) for Apple Search Ads search results was 10.22%, surpassing the 9.93% recorded in the second half of 2022. This data is from the latest Apple Search Ads Search Results Benchmarks Report by SplitMetrics .

The report features comments from industry experts that explain the reasons behind this increase. In particular, they name a higher adoption rate of custom product pages and new ad placements in the channel.

For app marketers, this knowledge can be pretty helpful. It’s a signal that you should try out custom product pages and new placements yourself.

5. Use custom product pages

If you haven’t started using custom product pages, think again.

They offer several benefits for ad campaigns in search results:

• App marketers can experiment with different value propositions to see which works best.
• Ad campaigns can display messages tailored to the needs of diverse audiences, enhancing relevance and engagement.
• App marketers can segment their audience and run targeted campaigns for each segment.
• Customizing ads for specific markets with cultural differences in mind allows for more impactful campaigns.
• App marketers can easily create dedicated ads for holidays and other events.

Moreover, custom product pages are essential for Today tab campaigns, serving as both destinations and sources of creatives for ad backgrounds.

6. Explore different Apple Search Ads placements

In 2024, understanding how different Apple Search Ads placements impact your paid UA strategy is essential. Utilizing all four placements can help maximize reach and improve conversions.

Search results ads are great for capturing user demand and can be paired with Search tab ads to enhance brand awareness. Today, tab ads further elevate brand visibility, influencing user decisions when they encounter the app in search results. Additionally, product page ads offer opportunities to showcase app offerings right on competitors’ pages.

Being reasonable is key here. Ensure that expanding to new placements is in line with your budgeting first.

The bottom line

With industry benchmarks and best practices, you can ensure your Apple Search Ads campaigns are on the right track.

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Thousands of NHS patients to access trials of personalised cancer ‘vaccines’

Thousands of cancer patients in England are set to gain fast-tracked access to trials of personalised cancer vaccines following the launch of a world-leading NHS trial “matchmaking” service to help find new life-saving treatments.

The NHS today announced it has treated its first patient in England with a personalised vaccine against their bowel cancer, in a clinical trial part of NHS England’s new Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad .

In a national first, father-of-four Elliot Phebve received the developmental jab at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, one of several sites taking part in the colorectal cancer vaccine trial sponsored by BioNTech SE.

The German biotechnology company will tomorrow (1 June) present new preliminary data at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual conference in Chicago on how measuring circulating tumour DNA could potentially help early detection of colorectal cancer.

The vaccine trial involving Elliot is one of several that will be taking place in NHS trusts across the country to treat different types of cancer. Thousands more patients are expected to benefit from NHS England’s new Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad, which will enable those wanting to participate in clinical trials to be fast-tracked to one of the nearest participating hospitals.

Patients who agree to take part have a sample of their cancer tissue and a blood test taken. If they meet a clinical trial’s eligibility criteria, they can be referred to their nearest participating NHS site, meaning patients from hospitals across the country will find it easier than ever to take part in groundbreaking research.

The investigational cancer vaccines evaluated in the colorectal cancer trial are based on mRNA – the same technology used for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine – and are created by analysing a patient’s tumour to identify mutations specific to their own cancer. Using this information, medics then create an experimental individualised cancer vaccine.

The developmental vaccines are designed to induce an immune response that may prevent cancer from returning after surgery on the primary tumour, by stimulating the patient’s immune system to specifically recognise and potentially destroy any remaining cancer cells.

The investigational cancer vaccines being jointly developed by biopharmaceutical companies BioNTech and Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, are still undergoing trials and have not yet been approved by regulators.

Higher-education lecturer Elliot, 55, had no cancer symptoms and was diagnosed through a routine health check with his GP.

Following blood tests, he was immediately invited to Manor Hospital in Walsall and triaged to a hospital ward to receive blood transfusions.

A computed tomography (CT) scan and a colonoscopy confirmed he had colon cancer and Eliott had surgery to remove the tumour and 30 cm of his large intestine. He was then referred to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham for initial rounds of chemotherapy and to take part in a clinical trial.

Eliott said : “Taking part in this trial tallies with my profession as a lecturer, and as a community-centred person. I want to impact other people’s lives positively and help them realise their potential.

“Through the potential of this trial, if it is successful, it may help thousands, if not millions of people, so they can have hope, and may not experience all I have gone through. I hope this will help other people.”

Thirty hospitals in England are already signed up to the pioneering Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad – one of the biggest projects of its kind in the world – with more sites joining the platform over the coming months.

The scheme aims to expand and work with a range of partners in the pharmaceutical industry to include patients across many cancer types who could potentially join a vaccine trial, such as those with pancreatic and lung cancer.

Amanda Pritchard, NHS chief executive, said : “Seeing Elliot receive his first treatment as part of the Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad is a landmark moment for patients and the health service as we seek to develop better and more effective ways to stop this disease.

“Thanks to advances in care and treatment, cancer survival is at an all-time high in this country, but these vaccine trials could one day offer us a way of vaccinating people against their own cancer to help save more lives.

“The NHS is in a unique position to deliver this kind of world-leading research at size and scale, and as more of these trials get up and running at hospitals across the country, our national match-making service will ensure as many eligible patients as possible get the opportunity to access them.”

Trials have already enlisted dozens of patients, although the majority of participants are expected to be enrolled from 2026 onwards.

Professor Peter Johnson, NHS national clinical director for cancer at the NHS said : “We know that even after a successful operation, cancers can sometimes return because a few cancer cells are left in the body, but using a vaccine to target those remaining cells may be a way to stop this happening.

“Access to clinical trials could provide another option for patients and their families, and I’m delighted that through our national launch pad we will be widening the opportunities to be part of these trials for many more people, with thousands of patients expected to be recruited in the next year.”

Principal Investigator for the trial at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, Consultant Clinical Oncologist, Dr Victoria Kunene, said:  “The investigational cancer vaccines are based on mRNA and are created by analysing a patient’s tumour to identify mutations specific to their own cancer. Using this information, we can create an individualised investigational cancer vaccine, but it is too early yet to say if these will be successful, though we are extremely hopeful. Based on the limited data we currently have of the in-body response to the vaccine, this could prove to be a significant and positive development for patients, but more data is yet needed and we continue to recruit suitable patients to the trial to establish this further.”

Executive Director of Research and Innovation at Cancer Research UK, Iain Foulkes, said: “It’s incredibly exciting that patients in England are beginning to access personalised cancer vaccines for bowel cancer.

“This technology pioneers the use of mRNA-based vaccines to sensitise people’s immune system and in turn detect and target cancer at its earliest stages. Clinical trials like this are vital in helping more people live longer, better lives, free from the fear of cancer. If successful, the vaccine will be a game changer in preventing the onset or return of bowel cancer.”

Last year, the Government signed an agreement with BioNTech to provide up to 10,000 patients with precision cancer immunotherapies by 2030.

BioNTech has already begun conducting clinical trials in the UK, and the NHS launch pad is helping to accelerate the identification of eligible patients for those trials in England.

The vaccines being tested as part of the trials aim to help patients with different types of cancer and, if successfully developed, researched and approved, cancer vaccines could become part of standard care.

The NHS is working in partnership with Genomics England on the launch pad, with work already helping patients access the latest testing technologies and ensures they are given more targeted precision treatments for their cancer.

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How to Conduct Industry Analysis with Social Media

May 31, 2024   •   7 min read

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What is social media industry analysis? 

Why should you conduct social media industry analysis  , how to conduct industry analysis with social media , consumer sentiment analysis, keyword research , trend analysis, doing a meaningful industry analysis with social listening, top 4 social media industry analysis models.

Social media industry analysis is a strategic process that involves the continuous monitoring and interpretation of data from social media platforms to gather insights about your competitors and your industry. This powerful practice not only helps you understand your competitors' strategies better but also offers a unique perspective for making informed decisions that can set your business apart. As the digital realm continues to shape business operations, the ability to decipher complex social media data and trends has never been more critical. It helps in understanding emerging industry trends, shifts in consumer sentiment and opportunities that might otherwise remain concealed. This depth of insight can guide your business in tailoring its social media marketing strategies to engage its audience effectively and stay ahead of the competition for the foreseeable future.

As mentioned earlier, social media industry analysis is crucial for your business as it gives you the winning edge over the competition with many benefits that can help you be a frontrunner in your domain. Here are some of those advantages: 

Strategic planning: You can use industry-analysis insights to make data-driven decisions and develop successful strategies. You’ll also know which initiatives to allocate your resources to for optimal results. 

Consumer engagement: Industry analysis is essential for understanding your target audience's preferences and behaviors. This knowledge enables you to create highly engaging content that resonates with them, fostering strong connections and building brand loyalty . 

To conduct effective industry analysis, let's explore the practical steps and key parameters you should consider. 

Social media audit

Conduct a thorough social media audit of your brand's social media profiles. Evaluate your performance by analyzing posting frequency, content quality, engagement rates and follower demographics. This analysis will establish a baseline for improvement and guide your strategy.     Here's an example of a social media audit template from Keith A. Quesenberry's book Social Media Strategy: Marketing and Advertising in the Consumer Revolution : 

Social media competitor analysis 

Social media competitor analysis involves identifying your primary competitors and analyzing their social media strategies. Pay attention to the type of content they produce, their engagement tactics, posting frequency and follower growth trends. This in-depth analysis enables you to uncover specific tactics and strategies that are driving their success, giving you a blueprint for your improvements.  

A competitive insights and benchmarking tool, like that of Sprinklr’s, can help you map the details much better on this front, as shown below: 

Perform social media sentiment analysis of your audience's data to identify recurring themes and adjust your content and engagement strategies. This will help you understand your customers' feelings towards your brand and products, allowing you to respond empathetically to enhance their experience. Using an AI-powered social listening tool will allow you to gain a deeper know-how of customers’ sentiments.  

Leverage keyword research to understand what topics and phrases are trending in your industry. This knowledge can guide your content creation and ensure that you stay relevant. By incorporating trending keywords and phrases into your content, you position your brand as a relevant and informative source for your audience. 

Stay informed and proactive about industry trends by analyzing social media trends . This will help you understand the behavior of customers better and their preferences when it comes to brands.

Staying updated and strategically leveraging industry and consumer trends will also establish your brand as a leader and innovator. You can use a tool like Sprinklr’s Audience Insights to instantly discover your customers’ affinities and interests.  

Additionally, you can better understand audiences who engage more with your competitors and on specific content themes, and the insights you gain from this, you can use to implement strategies that increase customer mindshare. 

Share of voice 

Determine your brand's social media share of voice (SoV) compared to competitors to gauge its industry presence and growth. Monitoring this metric helps increase industry influence, visibility and relevance to your target audience. When it comes to measuring this metric, a competent social listening tool will do the trick by giving you a detailed, easy-to-understand and visual representation of your brand’s SoV.

Also Read: 9 ways to boost your brand's share of voice on social media  

As we’ve already stressed, the foundation of effective industry analysis is social listening . This method entails actively monitoring social media conversations, both within and beyond your brand's network.  

Here's how to conduct meaningful industry analysis with social listening: 

Recognize what your consumers and competitors are saying  

Gain insights into the opinions, comments and feedback circulating on social media. Understand whether sentiments are positive or negative and identify recurring themes. This in-depth analysis helps you pinpoint potential issues, address concerns and capitalize on positive feedback.  

Find and research pertinent industry conversations

Engage in discussions that are relevant to your industry. By participating in these conversations, you not only stay current but also connect with your target audience effectively. Engaging in industry conversations allows you to share your expertise, establish authority and build trust within your community.  Learn More: How to build an online customer community (+benefits)   

Speak with your clients

Engage with your customers on social media. Address their concerns, acknowledge their feedback and build strong relationships. This not only strengthens brand loyalty but also provides valuable insights into customer preferences, allowing you to continually refine your products and services.  Also Read: Your ultimate guide to building customer loyalty in 10 easy ways  

Understanding share of voice

Determine how much of the industry conversation your brand occupies. Understanding whether your share of voice is growing or declining can provide insights into your brand's reach and impact. A growing share of voice indicates an expanding influence in your industry, while a declining one signals areas for improvement and adjustment. 

Understand business sentiments

Conduct sentiment analysis to gauge the overall sentiment surrounding your brand and industry. Are people generally satisfied with your industry's products or services or are there issues you should address? This analysis offers a comprehensive view of how your brand is perceived and can guide your social media reputation management efforts.  

Maintain and track growth

Analyze social media KPIs , such as followers, engagement, reach and impressions, to understand your brand’s growth. You can also use this data to measure the effectiveness of your strategies and identify areas for improvement. By monitoring growth, you can adapt and optimize your social media initiatives for continued success.   Interesting Read: How to measure social media engagement effectively .

To conduct a thorough industry analysis using social media, prioritize the following key techniques: 

SWOT analysis: SWOT analysis is a comprehensive approach that helps businesses evaluate their internal and external factors. In the context of social media industry analysis, this analysis method examines: 

Strengths: Identifying what your brand excels at in social media marketing, like strong engagement or content quality. 

Weaknesses: Recognizing areas where your social media strategy lags, such as low follower growth or insufficient content variety. 

Opportunities: Discovering potential avenues for growth, like emerging platforms or untapped target demographics. 

Threats: Recognizing external factors that might hinder your social media performance, such as competitive challenges or changing algorithms. 

PESTLE analysis: PESTLE, in social media analysis, stands for: 

Political: Considering government regulations and policies that could impact your social media activities. 

Economic: Evaluating the economic climate and how it affects your social media budget and marketing strategies. 

Social: Analyzing societal trends and cultural influences relevant to your target audience. 

Technological: Examining how technological advancements may affect your social media strategies and tools. 

Legal: Being aware of legal issues, like data privacy regulations or intellectual property concerns in your social media campaigns. 

Environmental: Identifying eco-friendly practices and environmental factors relevant to your industry. 

Competitive forces model: This model, often referred to as Porter's Five Forces, assesses competitive intensity within an industry. It considers:

Threat of new entrants: Analyzing the ease with which new competitors can enter the industry, which can impact your social media competitiveness. 

Bargaining power of suppliers: Understanding how your social media strategy can be influenced by your content providers or platforms. 

Bargaining power of buyers: Assessing the power of your social media followers and how they influence your brand. 

Threat of substitutes: Identifying potential alternatives to your social media offerings and how they affect your competitiveness. 

Rivalry among existing competitors: Analyzing the competition in your industry and how it affects your social media strategies. 

Blue ocean strategy: To excel in social media, you need to create a unique and innovative strategy that sets you apart from your competitors. This involves finding new approaches that create uncontested market space and make your competition irrelevant. Key components of this strategy include: 

Value innovation: Offering unique and valuable content that attracts and engages your audience. 

Reconstructing market boundaries: Identifying unexplored niches or demographics in social media where your brand can thrive. 

Tipping point leadership: Encouraging leadership that drives changes in your industry and sets you apart on social media. 

Fair process: Ensuring transparency and fairness in your social media interactions, building trust and brand loyalty. 

Final thoughts   

Social media industry analysis has become a mandate for businesses to thrive and succeed in the ever-evolving digital age. It provides a wealth of data and insights that can be used to navigate your business in the right direction and get an edge over your competitors. 

By understanding what your competitors are doing and how your audience perceives your industry, you can adapt your strategies and make data-driven decisions that lead to success. 

With tools such as Sprinklr Social and Sprinklr Insights , you can delve into comprehensive industry analysis and craft strategies specifically tailored to your sector's distinct characteristics and requirements. To learn more about the comprehensive industry findings that Sprinklr can bring to you in an easily accessible way, book a demo today. Want to find out first-hand? 

Frequently Asked Questions

You can perform industry analysis on social media through social media audits, competitor benchmarking, sentiment analysis, trend monitoring and other effective means. This will help you gain relevant insights so you can make informed decisions and stay ahead of the competition.

Market analysis for social media involves assessing your industry's landscape, understanding consumer behavior and identifying market trends by leveraging data from various social media platforms and third-party platforms, like Sprinklr .

Social media greatly impacts the industry by shaping consumer behavior, serving as a marketing and advertising platform, influencing industry trends and facilitating real-time brand engagement. To achieve success in the industry, it is crucial to understand and harness the power of social media.

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Article Author

Kunal Arora

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May 21, 2024

Unseen details of human brain structure revealed

At a glance.

• Researchers generated a high-resolution map of all the cells and connections in a single cubic millimeter of the human brain.
• The results reveal previously unseen details of brain structure and provide a resource for further studies.

Fully understanding how the human brain works requires knowing the relationships between the various cells that make up the brain. This entails visualizing the brain’s structure on the scale of nanometers in order to see the connections between neurons.

A team of researchers, led by Dr. Jeff Lichtman at Harvard University and Dr. Viren Jain at Google Research, used electron microscopy (EM) to image a cubic millimeter-sized piece of human brain tissue at high resolution. The tissue was removed from the cerebral cortex of a patient as part of a surgery for epilepsy.

The team began by cutting the tissue into more than 5,000 slices, or sections, each of which was then imaged by EM. This yielded about 1.4 petabytes, or 1,400 terabytes, of data. Using these data, the researchers generated a 3D reconstruction of almost every cell in the sample. Results of the NIH-funded study appeared in Science on May 10, 2024.

Analysis of individual cells in the sample revealed a total of more than 57,000 cells. Most of these were either neurons, which send electrical signals, or glia, which provide various support functions to the neurons. Glia outnumbered neurons 2-to-1. The most common glial cells were oligodendrocytes, which provide structural support and electrical insulation to neurons. The one cubic mm sample also contained about 230 mm of blood vessels.

The reconstruction revealed structural details not seen before. The researchers analyzed a type of neuron, called triangular cells, that are found in the deepest layer of the cerebral cortex. Many of these adopted one of two orientations, which were mirror images of each other. The significance of this organization remains unknown.

The team used machine learning to identify synapses—the junctions through which signals pass from one cell to another. They found almost 150 million synapses. Almost all neurons formed only one synapse with a given target cell. But a small fraction formed two or more synapses to the same target. In at least one case, more than 50 synapses connected a single pair of cells. Although rare, connections of seven or more synapses between cells were much more common than expected by chance. This suggests that these strong connections have some functional significance.

The results illustrate just how complex the brain is at the cellular level. They also show the value of connectomics—the science of generating comprehensive maps of connections between brain cells—for understanding brain function.

“The word ‘fragment’ is ironic,” Lichtman says. “A terabyte is, for most people, gigantic, yet a fragment of a human brain—just a miniscule, teeny-weeny little bit of human brain—is still thousands of terabytes.”

The team has made their dataset available to the public. They have also provided various software tools to help examine the brain map. The hope is that further study of the data, by this team and others, will yield new insight into the workings of the human brain.

“This incredible advancement—the ability to capture and process over 1,000 terabytes of data from the brain—wouldn’t have been possible without a study participant’s generous donation and the important partnerships between neuroscientists, computer scientists, and engineers,” says Dr. John Ngai, director of NIH’s BRAIN Initiative. “These collaborations are central in our aim of building a full map of the human brain so we can bring cures closer to the clinic.”

—by Brian Doctrow, Ph.D.

Related Links

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References:  A petavoxel fragment of human cerebral cortex reconstructed at nanoscale resolution. Shapson-Coe A, Januszewski M, Berger DR, Pope A, Wu Y, Blakely T, Schalek RL, Li PH, Wang S, Maitin-Shepard J, Karlupia N, Dorkenwald S, Sjostedt E, Leavitt L, Lee D, Troidl J, Collman F, Bailey L, Fitzmaurice A, Kar R, Field B, Wu H, Wagner-Carena J, Aley D, Lau J, Lin Z, Wei D, Pfister H, Peleg A, Jain V, Lichtman JW. Science . 2024 May 10;384(6696):eadk4858. doi: 10.1126/science.adk4858. Epub 2024 May 10. PMID: 38723085.

Funding:  NIH’s Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies® (BRAIN) Initiative, National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), and National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB); Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research at the Broad Institute; National Science Foundation; Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity.

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The Science and Technology Directorate's (S&T’s)  Silicon Valley Innovation Program  (SVIP) was pleased to host the annual Demo Week conference on May 21-22, 2024, in Alexandria, VA. This two-day event featured keynotes from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) leadership, expert panel discussions on artificial intelligence (AI) and the EU Digital Markets Act impact on U.S. startups, and presentations and technology demonstrations from across SVIP’s startup partners. 

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