How To Do Keyword Research For Your Website

Keywords are the backbone of both websites and Google Ad campaigns and they dictate who your business lands in front of in the online world.

In this blog post, we’ll explore the fundamentals of keyword research, how it ties in with a website and the importance of choosing the right keywords.

What Is Keyword Research?

Keyword research refers to the process of researching data around keyword search volume, difficulty and intent. 

By gathering this data and better understanding what people are searching for on Google, you can build your website in a specific way so that Google places you in front of the right customers.

There are several tools to help with this process, including Ahrefs, SEMrush, SEranking, Google Keyword Planner and plenty more.

What Is Keyword Difficulty?

Keyword difficulty is one of the most important metrics when conducting keyword research. It is a score given to the keyword based on how difficult it is to rank on page 1 of Google for that search term. It ranges from 0 - 100 with 0 being the easiest to rank for.

Typically, anything under 20 is worth going after as it’s not too competitive, however once you start hitting 30+ for keyword difficulty it can be very challenging to hit those top few spots on Google. 

Generally higher search difficulty is a result of higher search volume as more people are targeting that keyword because more customers are typing it into Google.

What Is Keyword Search Volume?

Keyword search volume is how many people are searching for a specific keyword (generally measured monthly). The higher the search volume the more people looking for that specific product or service. 

In an ideal world you want to choose keywords with high search volume but low search difficulty, however this isn’t always possible. 

Try and choose a keyword that balances decent search volume with a keyword difficulty that you believe you can rank for.

What Is Keyword Search Intent?

Keyword search intent deals with the intent behind the Google search and what stage of the journey is a potential customer at. These are split into four categories:

Informational 

A potential customer is in the research phase and is just looking for information. This could be blog posts and articles like how to choose a roof restoration company.

Navigational
Users are looking for a specific website or page. Searches often include brand or domain names.

Transactional
Users are ready to purchase a product or service. Queries often include terms like "buy," "order," or "coupon".

Commercial
Users are comparing products or services to make a purchase decision. Queries often include terms like "best," "top," or "reviews".

Understanding the intent of a keyword is crucial because it will impact how likely the page on your website is going to convert.

If the keyword intent is informational then write blog content that answers the search as to where transaction keywords it’s important to make the checkout/enquiry process as simple as possible.

How Do You Do Keyword Research?

The actual keyword research process is pretty straightforward, however it all comes down to your understanding of the keywords and which ones you decide to use. Below is a breakdown of how to approach keyword research:

Step 1: Get Familiar With A Keyword Research Tool

Whether you like Ahrefs or SERanking, you’ll need some sort of keyword research.

Step 2: Brainstorm Keyword Ideas

Write a comprehensive list of all the different keywords, services and products relevant to the topic you are researching.

Step 3: Keyword Research

Punch all of those keywords into your research tool and collect all the relevant and similar keywords into a list.

You can also put your competitor’s websites into the tool and see what keywords they are ranking for.

Step 4: Export Keyword Data

Once you think you’ve put every possible keyword into the tool and collected all the relevant data, export the information. It can help to split into categories.

Step 5: Insert Data Into A Filterable Spreadsheet 

Put the data into a spreadsheet with columns for:

• Keyword 
• Category
• Search Volume
• Difficulty
• Intent 

Now create filters to toggle each column to help you sort through information.

I also like to colour-code the search volume and difficulty so I have a visual of everything. 

Step 6: Choose The Keywords

After analysing all of the data, choose the most relevant keywords.

How To Choose The Right Keywords

This is the most important part of the keyword research as the keywords you choose are ultimately where your website or Google Ads will show up. 

If you choose keywords with the wrong intent you won’t get the result you’re after and if you choose keywords that are not relevant you won’t show up in the right place.

When it comes to choosing keywords, try and find the most relevant keyword with the highest search volume, lowest competition and right search intent.

Relevancy is most important so ensure the main keyword you choose is as close as possible to the service or product on offer.

You can also do a quick Google search, putting in that keyword to see what results come up. This will tell you exactly what is relevant for that specific keyword and what Google is showing to someone searching for that keyword. 

If the results are the same as what you’re trying to rank for then choose those keywords. If the SERP results are different, then that’s a sign that maybe the intent behind the keyword is different or Google’s understanding of it is different.

How Does Keyword Research Impact The Website Copywriting Process?

Keyword research and website copywriting go hand-in-hand. Whether you do the keyword research yourself or a client provides you with keywords, knowing how to naturally wave keywords into your content and ensure they’re in all the right places is the secret to a website that ranks well.

Having keywords locked in before moving forward with a website build or writing copy for an ads campaign will allow you to tailor the content to include information that’s relevant to that keyword. 

By knowing the keyword/focus of each page before writing, you can research everything you need to know about a product or service and then frame the content accordingly. 

It’s important to only use keywords where relevant and still make producing high-quality and helpful content that will resonate with customers the number 1 priority. 

What Is Keyword Stuffing?

Keyword stuffing refers to including too many keywords or a keyword too many times that Google actually dislikes a page or piece of content. 

How To Avoid Keyword Stuffing

As a copywriter, it won’t be hard to identify if you’ve used a keyword too much. Just read back through your content and if it sounds unnatural or reads like you’ve deliberately tried to use the same keyword over and over, remove a few mentions until it flows well again.

Local Keywords

Local keywords are keywords that have a local search intent. This is typically someone searching for a specific service or product in their local area. Targeting these keywords can be great for businesses that provide services in a specific area, for example, roof restorations Gold Coast or electrician Gold Coast.

How Many Keywords Should You Target Per Page?

You can group keywords into buckets based on relevancy. For example, if I were building a website for a roof restoration company and we had a page for roof restorations, I could also group roof painting and roof repairs under that page because they are both part of the overall restoration process.

However, having a roof restoration page and also trying to rank it for patios and pergolas wouldn’t work. 

It’s best to have one main keyword per page, and then secondary or other relevant keywords included as you make your way down the page.

Conclusion

Whether you’re new to keyword research or you’re a seasoned pro, the main takeaway from this blog post should be to understand the intent behind the keywords you choose.

If you’re looking to get more leads through your website then go after transactional keywords you think you have a good chance of ranking for.

Try to find the highest volume, lowest difficulty, intent and most relevant to your offerings.

If you need help with keyword research, website copywriting or SEO, contact On The Move Marketing.