Keyword Research: How to Find the Best Keywords for Your Campaign
Keyword Research: How to Find the Best Keywords for Your Campaign
Keyword research is the process of discovering valuable search queries that your target customers type into search engines like Google to look for products, services, and information. Keyword research is essential for SEO because it helps you ensure that there is a search demand for whatever you want to write about. If you pick the right keywords, you can rank well in Google and get a consistent stream of highly targeted visitors to your website.
But how do you find the best keywords for your campaign? How do you know which ones are worth targeting and which ones are too competitive or irrelevant? How do you prioritize your keyword list and create a strategy to rank for them?
In this blog post, we will answer these questions and show you how to do keyword research step by step. We will use Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer, a powerful keyword research tool that can generate thousands of keyword ideas and provide useful metrics and insights for each one. Here’s what we will cover:
- How to brainstorm “seed” keywords
- How to generate keyword ideas from seed keywords
- How to analyze keyword difficulty and search intent
- How to target keywords on your website
- How to prioritize keywords for your campaign
Let’s get started!
How to brainstorm “seed” keywords
Seed keywords are the starting point of your keyword research process. They define your niche and help you identify your competitors. Every keyword research tool asks for a seed keyword, which it then uses to generate a huge list of keyword ideas.
If you already have a product or business that you want to promote online, coming up with seed keywords is easy. Just think about what people type into Google to find what you offer. For example, if you sell coffee and coffee-making equipment, then your seed keywords might be:
- coffee
- coffee beans
- coffee maker
- espresso machine
- french press
You can also use your competitors’ websites or brands as seed keywords. For example, if you sell similar products as Starbucks or Nespresso, then you can use their names as seed keywords and see what other keywords they rank for.
You don’t need too many seed keywords to start with. Just a handful of them will do. The goal is to find the most relevant and popular topics in your niche that you can target with your content.
How to generate keyword ideas from seed keywords
Once you have your seed keywords, you can plug them into Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer and get thousands of keyword ideas in seconds. Keywords Explorer has several sources of keyword ideas, such as:
- Phrase match: Keywords that contain your seed keyword as a phrase.
- Having same terms: Keywords that contain all the terms from your seed keyword in any order.
- Also rank for: Keywords that the top-ranking pages for your seed keyword also rank for.
- Search suggestions: Keywords that Google suggests as you type in your seed keyword.
- Questions: Keywords that are phrased as questions.
- Newly discovered: Keywords that were recently added to our database.
For each keyword idea, you can see various metrics, such as:
- Keyword Difficulty (KD): An estimate of how hard it is to rank in the top 10 for this keyword, based on the number and quality of backlinks that the ranking pages have. The higher the KD score, the harder it is to rank.
- Search volume (global and country-specific): The average number of monthly searches for this keyword in the selected country or worldwide.
- Clicks: The average number of monthly clicks on the search results for this keyword. This can be higher or lower than the search volume, depending on how many people click on multiple results or none at all.
- Clicks per search (CPS): The ratio of clicks to searches for this keyword. This shows how engaging the search results are for this keyword.
- Return rate (RR): The average number of times a person searches for this keyword again within a month. This shows how often people repeat this search query.
- Cost per click (CPC): The average amount that advertisers pay for a click on their ad for this keyword. This shows how valuable this keyword is for businesses.
You can use these metrics to filter and sort the keyword ideas according to your goals and preferences. For example, if you want to find low-competition keywords with high search volume and clicks, you can set the KD score to below 10, the search volume to above 1000, and the clicks to above 500.
You can also use advanced filters to include or exclude certain words or phrases from the keyword ideas. For example, if you want to find only keywords that contain the word “best”, you can use the “Include” filter and type in “best”.
You can also use the “Group keywords” feature to group similar keyword ideas together and see the total metrics for each group. This can help you find the most popular subtopics within your niche and avoid targeting too many overlapping keywords.
How to analyze keyword difficulty and search intent
Keyword difficulty and search intent are two important factors that you need to consider before targeting any keyword. Keyword difficulty tells you how hard it is to rank for a keyword, while search intent tells you what kind of content the searchers are looking for.
Keyword difficulty is based on the number and quality of backlinks that the ranking pages have. Backlinks are links from other websites that point to a page. They are one of the main factors that Google uses to determine the authority and relevance of a page. The more backlinks a page has, especially from authoritative and relevant websites, the higher it tends to rank in Google.
Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer shows you the KD score for each keyword, which ranges from 0 to 100. The higher the score, the harder it is to rank. Generally, you want to target keywords with low KD scores, especially if your website is new or has few backlinks.
However, KD score is not the only thing that matters. You also need to look at the ranking pages themselves and see how well they match the search intent of the keyword. Search intent is the goal or purpose behind a search query. It can be classified into four main types:
- Informational: The searcher wants to learn something or find an answer to a question. For example, “how to make coffee” or “what is espresso”.
- Navigational: The searcher wants to find a specific website or page. For example, “starbucks” or “nespresso capsules”.
- Transactional: The searcher wants to buy something or perform an action. For example, “buy coffee beans online” or “coffee maker reviews”.
- Commercial: The searcher wants to compare different products or services before making a purchase decision. For example, “best coffee beans” or “coffee maker vs espresso machine”.
To rank well for a keyword, you need to create content that matches the search intent of the keyword. You can use Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer to see the search intent for each keyword, based on the type and format of the ranking pages.
For example, if you look at the keyword “best coffee beans”, you can see that most of the ranking pages are blog posts that list and compare different types of coffee beans. This means that the search intent for this keyword is commercial, and the best way to target it is to create a similar blog post.
You can also use Ahrefs’ SERP overview to see more details about the ranking pages, such as their title, URL, backlinks, traffic, and more. You can use this information to analyze your competitors and see what they are doing well and what they are missing.
For example, if you look at the SERP overview for “best coffee beans”, you can see that some of the ranking pages have more backlinks than others, some have more traffic than others, some have more words than others, and some have more images than others. You can use these insights to create a better content that outranks them.
How to target keywords on your website
Once you have a list of keywords that you want to target, you need to create content for them and optimize it for SEO. This means that you need to use your keywords in strategic places on your website, such as:
- Title tag: The title of your page that appears in the search results and browser tabs. It should include your target keyword and be catchy and relevant.
- Meta description: The snippet of text that appears below your title in the search results. It should include your target keyword and a call-to-action that entices people to click on your page.
- URL: The address of your page on your website. It should include your target keyword and be short and descriptive.
- Headings: The subheadings of your page that divide it into sections. They should include your target keyword and related keywords and be informative and clear.
- Content: The main body of text on your page that provides value to your visitors. It should include your target keyword and related keywords naturally and cover the topic in depth and detail.
- Images: The visual elements on your page that support your content. They should include your target keyword and related keywords in their file names and alt texts.
You can use Ahrefs’ Site Audit tool to check how well your pages are optimized for SEO and find any issues or errors that need fixing.
How to prioritize keywords for your campaign
The final step of keyword research is to prioritize your keywords and create a strategy to rank for them. You can’t target all the keywords at once, so you need to focus on the ones that have the most potential and value for your business.
