What is keyword research?
Keyword research is the process of finding and analyzing search terms that people enter into search engines with the goal of using that data for a specific purpose, often for search engine optimization (SEO) or general marketing. Keyword research can uncover queries to target, the popularity of these queries, their ranking difficulty, and more.
Why is keyword research important?
Keyword research helps you find your SEO sweet spot ā the overlap of keywords that arenāt too hard to rank for and keywords that you can confidently produce excellent content on. It also identifies the queries that your target audience is actually searching on Google.
I talked to HubSpot Growth Manager Amal Kalepp, who says that keyword research ādetermines who your competitors are and which area of the search landscape you can rank for. Doing keyword research and understanding where your blog or website sweet spot is ā thatās what gives you rankability.ā
Insights from actual search terms can inform your content strategy as well as your larger marketing strategy.
Your Purranormal Detective Agency may have the best ghost-detecting kittens in the business, but if nobodyās searching for ācat paranormal detectiveā (they arenāt; I checked), you arenāt going to have much luck ā or traffic ā if you base your content strategy on that keyword.
People use keywords to find solutions when conducting research online, so if your content successfully gets in front of your audience, you stand to gain more traffic.
Therefore, you should be targeting those searches with content that features those keywords in a meaningful way.
Additionally, inbound methodology focuses less on creating content around what we want to tell people. Instead, we should be creating content around what people want to discover.
In other words, our audience is coming to us for helpful content that provides the answers theyāre looking for. And it all begins with keyword research.
Benefits of Keyword Research
Conducting keyword research has many benefits, the most popular being:
Marketing Trend Insight
Conducting effective keyword research can provide insights into current marketing trends and help you center your content on relevant topics and keywords your audience is looking for.
Traffic Growth
When you identify the best-fitting keywords for the content you publish, the higher youāll rank in search engine results ā and the more traffic youāll attract to your website.
Customer Acquisition
If your content meets the needs of your users, adding a strong call-to-action will lead them into the buyer journey from the awareness stage to the point of purchase.
By researching keywords for their popularity, search volume, and general intent, you can tackle the questions that most people in your audience want answers to.
For instance, the Purranormal Detective Agency would do better to produce excellent content on the broader topic of paranormal investigators, which has a monthly search volume (MSV) of 800.
Keywords vs. Topics
āSearch intentā is something I frequently hear about from HubSpot SEOs. Thatās because the reason a user types in a particular keyword matters ā a lot.
Our content has to solve usersā problems. If you found your way to this article via the search term āSEO keyword strategy,ā we have to anticipate your questions on this topic. And then answer them.
SEO is evolving at breakneck speed, but keyword research is still foundational to search intent. It tells you what topics people care about and how popular those topics actually are among your audience.
The operative term here is ātopics,ā plural. By researching keywords with a high volume of monthly searches, you can identify and sort your content into topics or buckets that youāll use to create content.
Then you can use these topics to dictate which keywords you look for and target.
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Elements of Keyword Research
There are three main elements to conducting keyword research.
1. Relevance
Google ranks content for relevance.
This is where the concept of search intent comes in. Your content will only rank for a keyword if it meets the searchersā needs.
In addition, your content must be the best resource for the query ā Google wonāt rank your content as highly if it doesnāt provide better value than its competitors.
If youāre starting an SEO business specializing in small businesses, you might assume that āSEO tips for small businessesā would be the most relevant keyword. But take a look at the Ahrefs keyword research dashboard:
āSEO tips for small businessesā has an MSV of 300 and a high keyword difficulty. Its parent topic, āsmall business SEO,ā has an MSV of 2,500 and a very high keyword difficulty.
2. Authority
Google provides more weight to sources it deems authoritative.
You can become an authoritative source by enriching your site with helpful, informative content and promoting that content to earn social signals and backlinks.
Both HubSpot.com and the HubSpot Blog are well-established sites, and we work hard to make sure we provide the content our readers are searching for. As a result, the root domain and subdomain have very high domain authority:
If youāre not seen as authoritative in the space, or if a keywordās SERPs are loaded with heavy sources you canāt compete with (like Forbes or The Mayo Clinic), you have a lower chance of ranking.
3. Volume
You might rank on the first page for a specific keyword, but if no one ever searches for it, you wonāt see any traffic. It’s like setting up a shop in a ghost town.
Volume is measured by MSV (monthly search volume), which means the number of times the keyword is searched per month across all audiences.
Compare Ahrefsā results for ācat detective agencyā versus āparanormal investigatorā:
Even though kitten detectives are your businessā differentiating factor, absolutely not a single soul is trying to locate a cat who can sniff out their resident poltergeist.
āParanormal investigatorsā isnāt a wildly popular search term, but it gets significantly more volume than ācat detective agency,ā so itās a much better keyword to try to rank for.
Kalepp says that one of the common mistakes people make is assuming that a higher MSV is better. āāInstagram marketingā might seem like the best choice to rank for because it has millions of searches,ā she says. āBut it makes it much more difficult to rank for that.ā
āYou might have better luck with something like āInstagram marketing for small businessesā ā and then that can be your niche.ā
She says that you could get āa lot more traffic ranking for a keyword that has a lower MSV and lower competitionā than one with a high MSV.
How to Research Keywords for Your SEO Strategy
- Make a list of important, relevant topics based on what you know about your business.
- Fill in those topic buckets with keywords.
- Understand how intent affects keyword research and analyze accordingly.
- Research related search terms.
- Use keyword research tools to your advantage.
Iām going to lay out a keyword research process you can follow to help you come up with a list of terms you should be targeting.
That way, youāll be able to establish and execute a strong keyword strategy that helps you get found for the search terms you care about.
Step 1. Make a list of important, relevant topics based on what you know about your business.
To kick this off, think about the topics you want to rank for in terms of generic buckets.
Youāll come up with about five to 10 topic buckets you think are essential to your business, and then youāll use those topic buckets to help come up with some specific keywords later in the process.
If youāre a regular blogger, these are probably the topics you blog about most frequently. Or perhaps theyāre the topics that come up the most in sales conversations.
Put yourself in the shoes of your buyer personas. What types of topics would your target audience search that youād want your business to get found for?
HubSpot, for example, might have general topic buckets like:
- āSEOā (201K)
- ābloggingā (60.5K)
- āCRM softwareā (49.5K)
- āsocial media marketingā (405K)
- āemail marketingā (22.2K)
- ālead generationā (18.1K)
- āinbound marketingā (8.1K)
- āmarketing analyticsā (6.6K)
- āmarketing automationā (6.6K)
- āAI marketingā (4.4K)
The number in parentheses is the MSV, according to Ahrefs.
That data allows you to gauge how important these topics are to your audience and how many different sub-topics you need to create content on to be successful with that keyword.
To learn more about these sub-topics, we move on to step two.
Step 2. Fill in those topic buckets with keywords.
Now that you have a few topic buckets you want to focus on, itās time to identify some keywords that fall into those buckets.
These are keyword phrases you think are important to rank for in the SERPs (search engine results pages) because your target customer is probably conducting searches for those specific terms.
For instance, if I took that last topic bucket for an inbound marketing software company ā āmarketing automationā ā Iād brainstorm some keyword phrases I think people would type in related to that topic.
Those might include:
- AI marketing tools
- marketing automation tools
- how to use marketing automation software
- what is marketing automation?
- how to tell if I need marketing automation software
- lead nurturing
- email marketing automation
- top automation tools
The point of this step isnāt to come up with your final list of keyword phrases; you just want a brain dump of phrases you think potential customers might use to search for content related to that particular topic bucket.
Weāll narrow the lists down later so you donāt have something too unwieldy.
Keep in mind that Google is encrypting more keywords every day, so another smart way to generate keyword ideas is to determine which keywords already bring users to your website.
To do this, youāll need website analytics software like Google Analytics, Google Search Console, or HubSpotās Sources report, which are available in the Traffic Analytics tool.
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Drill down into your websiteās traffic sources and sift through your organic search traffic bucket to identify the keywords people use to arrive at your site.
Repeat this exercise for as many topic buckets as you have.
Remember, if youāre having trouble brainstorming with relevant search terms, you can always head on over to your customer-facing colleagues in sales or service. Ask them what types of terms their prospects or customers have questions about.
Those are often great starting points for keyword research.
Here at HubSpot, we use the Search Insights Report. This template is designed to help you do the same and bucket your keywords into topic clusters, analyze MSV, and inform your editorial calendar and strategy.
Featured Resource: Search Insights Report Template
Step 3. Understand how intent affects keyword research and analyze accordingly.
User intent is now one of the most pivotal factors in your ability to rank well on search engines like Google.
That means itās vital that your web page addresses the problem a searcher wants to solve rather than simply including the keyword the searcher used.
So, how does this affect your keyword research?
Itās tempting to take keywords at face value, but they can have many different meanings.
And because the intent behind a search is so important to your ranking potential, you need to be extra careful about how you interpret the keywords you target.
Letās say youāre researching the keyword āhow to start a blogā for an article you want to create. āBlogā can mean a blog post or the blog website itself, and the searcherās intent behind that keyword will influence the direction of your article.
Does the searcher want to learn how to start an individual blog post? Or do they want to know how to launch a website domain for a new blog?
If your content strategy only targets people interested in the latter, youāll need to determine the keywordās intent before using it.
To verify a userās intent, itās a good idea to simply enter this keyword into a search engine yourself and see what types of results come up.
I did a quick search for āhow to start a blog,ā and it looks like most users are searching for info on how to start a website with a blog, not an individual blog post:
Make sure the type of content Google is displaying relates to your intention for the keyword.
Step 4. Research related search terms.
This is a creative step you may have already thought of when doing keyword research. If not, itās a great way to fill out those lists.
If youāre struggling to think of more keywords people might be searching about a specific topic, take a look at the related search terms that appear when you plug a keyword into Google.
I searched Google for āAI search grader,ā a new free product from HubSpot. At the bottom of the first page, I can see that users are also searching specifically for a free AI search grader.
These keywords can spark ideas for other keywords you may want to take into consideration.
Want a bonus? Type in some of those related search terms and look at their related search terms. Looking at the related search terms for āAI search grader free,ā I can see that people are also searching for the best AI search grader.
Step 5. Use keyword research tools to your advantage.
Keyword research and SEO tools can help you brainstorm more keyword ideas based on exact-match keywords and phrase-match keywords based on the ideas youāve generated up to this point.
Some of the most popular ones include:
1. Ahrefs Webmaster Tools
Some of the best SEO reports and keyword research Iāve seen have come from SEO experts using Ahrefs Keywords Explorer.
Their webmaster tools offer plenty of detail into any verified domains you own if youāre looking for an overview of backlinks and organic keywords.
2. SE Ranking
I found SE Ranking was not quite as user-friendly to dive into as some of the other options.
When I typed in my keyword ākeyword research,ā I was prompted to set up a free seven-day trial, and it immediately asked for the domain I wanted to track.
While it gave me some good intro data, I had to do some digging to get to the keyword research and keyword suggestion tools. However, when I found them, the resulting data was comprehensive and gave me lots of great ideas.
Itās free and doesnāt require setting up an account.
3. SEMrush Keyword Magic Tool
Semrush is one of the most comprehensive SEO companies out there, so I wasnāt surprised to find that their keyword magic tool was comprehensive as well.
While you do need to set up an account, itās free. Then, you can type in your keyword, get a list of similar keywords, and sort based on how specific you need your results to be.
Keyword Research Template
Build your SEO strategy with this free template.
- Search Volume
- CPC
- Ranking
- Keyword Difficulty
Download the Free Template
Learn moreDownload our free keyword research template.
4. Ubersuggest
Iāve been a fan of Ubersuggest for quite some time. You get up to three free searches a day, and itās so easy to use.
In addition to finding out specific keyword performance, you can find related keywords and do a quick reverse search to find out what your site is already ranking for.
Itās one of the easiest, most comprehensive free options, if you donāt mind the limitations of the free searches.
5. Free Keyword Research Tool
I found Ryrobās keyword research tool easy to use. When I plugged ākeyword researchā into the āExplorerā tab as my keyword, it gave me several related keywords that could be solid blog topics.
Then, when I shifted to the āIdeasā tab, it gave me other keyword cluster ideas that are more likely to be specific search terms that I might want to include in future articles on keyword research.
6. Google Keyword Planner
Googleās tools are always gold. Theyāre free, and itās always good to get the info straight from the horseās mouth. Once you sign in with your Google account, you can search for keyword ideas based on the keyword or your website.
7. Keywords Everywhere
Keywords Everywhere comes highly recommended, but itās not a free tool.
Itās a browser extension and it takes a little more setup than browser-based options. The lowest price tier, ābronze,ā is $2.25/month and limits you to 100K keywords annually.
Since itās a browser extension, every time I do a Google search, I get data about related keywords and similar searches, which gives me lots of ideas for new content.
For the price and the detail, itās one of my favorite tools.
8. KeywordTool.io
Using KeywordTool.io is exactly what they promise in the headline. When I typed in ākeyword research,ā I got a list of 502 keyword ideas.
Although I only see search volume, trend, CPC, and competition for the first five, I can see all of the keywords, which provides a solid search starting point.
9. KWFinder
KWFinder is another easy tool. While I quickly found that an account is needed to get started, itās free and quite easy to dive in. I was able to quickly start finding the top keywords.
10. SearchVolume.io
When I plugged in a handful of keywords into SearchVolume.io, after doing a quick āAre you a human?ā check, the monthly search volume immediately popped out.
A quick cross-comparison with other tools showed that the data was consistent with other platforms.
11. Rank Tracker
Rank Tracker by SEO PowerSuite is a solid tool for monitoring SERP data and doing keyword research.
There are a lot of great features, but Rank Tracker works best as a tool to rank relevant keywords, identify keyword gaps, and autocomplete phrases on different search engine tools.
Rank Tracker allows you to see all the phrases a particular domain ranks for, along with search volumes and keyword difficulty.
Their keyword gap tool allows you to determine which keywords competing websites are ranking for that you might be missing out on.
Rank Tracker also integrates with Google Search Console and Keyword Planner, providing a free version for unlimited testing.