People that are new to doing keyword research within their niche can sometimes be easily misled by a lot of the information they find on the internet. This leads to ineffective keyword research and wasted time. To bring some clarity to those of you who are still learning the proper techniques of keyword research, we will cover the information you should be gathering to make informed decisions on which keywords to target.
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Keyword Statistics
The first and most important aspect of keyword research is going to be gathering the right statistics. You should start out by finding out how many times the keyword gets searched per month. This tells you whether or not it is worth looking into. If there is only a few searches a month, this tells you that it probably won't be beneficial to target that keyword. On the other hand, if a keyword is extremely popular, it is probably going to have a lot of competition, making it nearly impossible to rank. Your target keywords will most likely be keywords that are not too popular, but still get enough search for it to be beneficial for you.
Another big part of viewing the statistics of the keywords is comparing the current monthly searches to previous months. You will need to know if the keyword is going to be beneficial for you in the future or not, so if you see and continuous increase in searches per month, you know that it is going to continue to be a good keyword for a long time. The last thing you want is to spend a lot of time and effort on a keyword, then finally rank high, only to find out that no one searches for it anymore.
Broad Range of Keywords
Don't limit the keywords you research, the more keywords, the better. If you are using a keyword research tool, you are probably already getting keyword suggestions and a long list of potential keywords you can target. You can use these to get a better idea of which keywords are going to bring you the best quality traffic and also which ones will be easier to rank on.
If you continue to research the same keywords over and over, you could be missing out on a lot of opportunity. You will also be missing out on finding new trends that your target audience is searching for. The sooner you can figure out a new trend is becoming popular within your niche, the faster you will be able to jump on the opportunity.
Researching the Competition
The next big part about keyword research is knowing the other people who are competing to get ranked on those same terms you are interested in. Like I stated earlier, the more popular terms usually have more competition, so it is always best to know who your competition is and what it will take to out rank them. There are free keyword research tools available that will be able to give you lists of around the top 10 competitors for a certain search term. Once you have determined that you are willing to spend the time and resources to peruse a keyword and outrank your competitors, then the hard part begins.
Different Strategies
Now that you have all of the information you need to make a decision, you have plenty of different strategies to choose from. Every website is different, so depending on the type, your budget, and a few other factors, you might choose to target low competition keywords or take your chances at popular keywords.
Most people who own a website will only target keywords that have seen an increase in popularity for 6 months, while other owners like to take their chances on the keywords that have seen a recent decrease. It all just depends on your preference and how you want to run your campaign. After you have done research for a while and get the hang of it, you will no longer have any trouble finding keywords that fit your website type. You just need to be patient and continue to practice proper keyword research techniques as much as possible so you get better faster.
on
Thank you for the article. There is so much conflicting information on the net. I am new at the webpage and SEO marketing. Your are article is one of the better ones I’ve found and has cleared up some of the issues I’ve had looking for keywords. I know it’s very important but I have put it off, not knowing where to start. Now I know, we need more articles like this for the newbies like myself.
on
This is a great article for those looking to finally use SEO to their advantage. I use keyword research in my blogging, but also in my work-at-home ventures as a freelance writer. I think business owners, website owners, and bloggers alike could take a lot from this post. I am going to have to read the other posts you linked up here. You seem to be pretty well versed on this topic. I think there is a lot that could be learned from you.
on
Hey Ness,
Great article. Pretty much covers everything you need to know about the fundamentals of keyword research.
Solid KW research is very important but I also advise people to look at more than just keywords when researching a new niche project.
It’s important (as you rightly mention) to evaluate the competition, look at what products you can target for the KWs you’re going after, check whether you can offer a unique angle on the topic / keyword that everyone else isn’t already writing about and various other factors.
I recently wrote an ‘ultimate guide’ that I think your readers will find useful. It covers all the steps for finding a profitable niche.
http://www.nichehacks.com/ultimate-guide-finding-niche-market/
Let me know what you think and I hope it helps your readers delve further into niche research.
on
Well done article!
I know for myself that I usually do all of my keyword research before even getting started to building a website. It actually is a great way to figure out what kind of content you are going to create as well, as you may come across keywords that you never even thought of that are popular for your nice. Practice definitely makes perfect in keyword research.