Keyword Research Training

Agenda

3

Overview

Intro to keyword research

Keyword research methodology

Keyword seasonality

4 - 12

13 - 21

22 - 24

25 - 38

Using research in content

39 - 42

Summary

What is the purpose of this training?�

To understand:

• What keyword research is & why its important ​
• Seed and modifier keywords​
• How to conduct keyword research​
• Selecting keywords​
• Keyword localisation​
• Keyword seasonality

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Following this training, you will receive:

• This document
• A chapterised session recording

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Introduction to Keyword Research

Glossary

What is keyword research?

Keyword research is the process of understanding the words or topics a target audience uses when conducting a digital search.

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The process involves uncovering relevant keywords then analysing, categorising, comparing, and prioritising the best opportunities for websites.

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This helps to uncover chances for on-page improvements and new pages or content ideas. It also ensures we avoid creating content about topics that have little search interest and therefore unlikely to generate traffic.

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What are seed keywords?

High

Low

High

Low

Search Volume

Keyword Difficulty

“advertising agency” (Seed)

A seed keyword is a keyword which is put into a keyword research tool to find other relevant keywords.

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Seed keywords tend to have high monthly search volumes, high competition and can be difficult to rank well for.

What are modifier keywords?

High

Low

High

Low

Search Volume

Keyword Difficulty

“advertising agency london” (Modifier)

“pay per click advertising agency” (Modifier)

Keyword modifiers are adjectives, adverbs, shopping terms and any other kind of word that will bring the searcher more specific results.

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Modifier Keywords are typically longer phrases with lower search volume and can be easier to rank for.

“advertising agency” (Seed)

Why use keyword modifiers?

1. Increase likelihood of ranking for relevant keywords

2. Reach a more relevant audience

3. Target purchase-ready prospects

Longer-tail keywords can have less competition and can be easier to rank well for.

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Greater relevancy increases the chances of a user clicking through to your site.

Modifiers can typically be relevant to users at the decision-making stage.

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This means they’re more likely to convert and make a purchase.

Short tail keywords

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• Search terms that are made up of no more than three words.

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• They refer to very broad topics rather than specific ones.

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• Often used as seeds from which you find longer variations.

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• Characteristics: Broad, 3 words max, higher search volume, highly competitive

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Keyword: ‘digital marketing’

Search Volume: 27,100

High

Low

High

Low

Search Volume

Keyword Difficulty

Long tail keywords

Keyword: ‘creating a social media strategy’

Search Volume: 110

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• Longer and more specific keyword phrases that visitors are more likely to use when they’re closer to a point-of-purchase

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• Often used as modifiers from which you can create tailored content.

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• Characteristics: Specific, more than 3 words, lower search volume, less competitive

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High

Low

High

Low

Search Volume

Keyword Difficulty

Keyword research and the user journey

Initial Focus

Capture more searchers in the earlier stages of consumer research, from very early stages of awareness to considering action.

Transactional.

Searches specific to an action.

Keyword Research Methodology

Finding keywords

Brainstorm ‘seed’ keywords

Find Competitor Keywords

Find niche keywords/topics

Use your keyword research tools

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

The Keyword Discovery Process

Keyword mapping: steps

The process of assigning or mapping keywords to specific pages on a website based on keyword research. Based on your mapping process you can then make specific on page SEO recommendations to help make the page more relevant to the mapped keywords.

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Step 1

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Use one query to identify a larger set of Keywords

Step 2

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Group keywords that answer the same question

Step 3

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Check if existing landing pages target your keyword list

Step 4

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Place keywords against landing pages

Keyword mapping: example

Note: URLs are for demonstration purposes

Categorising keywords

Sorting keywords according to their meaning in different thematic categories.

Benefit 1

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Allows for more focused keyword targeting

Benefit 2

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Saves time when planning and executing content campaigns

Benefit 3

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Allows you to target customers at each stage of the user journey

Benefit 4

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Can focus optimisations on sections of your site

Categorising keywords: steps

Step 1

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Filter the keywords based on the topic. Look for a common keyword that they all have

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Example: "Grooming tips for Poodles"

Step 2

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Assign the keywords a secondary category (as a bare minimum).

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Using an example from step 1, “grooming tips for poodles" could be placed within ‘grooming'.

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Step 3

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Add columns for qualifiers, and search intent. The latter will range from:

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Transactional, Informational, and Navigational

Keyword research example

Note: Data is purely for demonstration purposes and is not reflective of real performance or website structure

Localising Keyword Research

When optimising your content for other markets, simple translation is not enough. 

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You need to consider the cultural context of your keywords.

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Remember, each country has its own unique cultural search behaviour.

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Keyword Research

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Utilise the existing region-specific research or conduct your own.

Think of as many micro-moments as you can and find keywords that cover this area

Keyword Mapping

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Assign relevant keywords to content pages.

Think about the user journey. Does this page and the keyword match the user’s intent?

Target & Translate

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Target the metadata (URL, page title, meta description, etc) 

Translate content into relevant language.

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Content Gaps

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Use insights from the keyword research to fill cultural/ social content gaps and increase organic traffic.

Local Linguists

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Use a native or local linguist for cultural and social suitability of translations.

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Localising Keyword Research

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Keyword Seasonality

What is search volume seasonality?

How seasonality informs SEO

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Looking at when search interest peaks for topics, you can find out which topics you should focus optimisations on ahead of time.

After selecting a segment to target, look at the keywords within this category. Consider how to optimise existing landing pages or areas where new content could be created.

Both optimising content and creating new content can improve your ranking organic position. This can drive more traffic, clicks and impressions.

Using Research In Content

Selecting a Keyword to Target

Relevant to audience type the page is targeting

Relevant to the searcher’s intent

Has an acceptable search volume

Keyword targeting matches on-page body content

Selecting the correct keyword for the page’s purpose, target audience, and inline with site goals is crucial to establishing a strong SEO base.

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When choosing a keyword, always remember:

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Page titles

• Describes to users and search engines the contents of a page.
• Words within the title are used by search engines to decide whether to rank pages for certain queries.
• This makes page titles a direct ranking factor and key SEO consideration.

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Page titles: best practices

Features the target keyword

Summarises the topic of the page

Close to 580 pixels or approx. 55-56 characters

Unique across the domain

Not the same as the H1

Clear, succinct and easy to understand

Meta descriptions

Meta descriptions: best practices

Features the target keyword

Summarises the topic of the page

Close to 980 pixels or approx. 150 -160 characters

Unique across the domain

Includes a call to action

Clear, succinct and easy to understand

Image alt text

• Used by search engines to understand the image.
• Improves accessibility for visually impaired users or for users who haven’t fully-loaded the page.
• Allows for increased image search related queries as search engines can better understand image media.
• Your alt text should be keyword targeted and no more than 10 words.
• Remember to describe the picture to someone as if they can’t see it.

Header tags

Header tags: best practices

Features the target keyword

Maximum of one H1 per page

Keep to around 60 characters long

Unique across the domain

Not the same as the H1

Relevant and succinct to the page’s topic

• Body content needs to contain the target search terms throughout, but it should flow naturally and make sense to a user.
• You should always write for users but keep search engines in mind when optimising for target keywords.
• A greater keyword density can improve a page’s relevancy to rank for a target keyword (but be careful of keyword stuffing).

Body content

Body content: best practices

Place target keywords within the first 200 words of copy.

Consider using mixed media to engage the reader.

Useful and informative

Sounds natural to a user

Target no more than 5 different keywords per page.

1-2 occurrences of the target keyword(s) per 100 words of copy.

Improved User Experience:

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• A well-crafted URL provides both humans and search engines an easy-to-understand indication of what the destination page will be about.

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Organic Rankings:

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• URLs are just a minor ranking factor search engines use when determining relevance. So only include the keyword if it makes sense.

URLs

URLs: step-by-step optimisations

Step 1

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When writing or building out a piece of content, you will have a target keyword in mind

Step 2

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Using that target keyword, within reason, incorporate that within the URL string you would like the page to possess.

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Example

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Target Keyword is: “Multisearch”

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The URL structure could be:

/insights/how-will-googles-multisearch-technology-change-the-way-we-search

Anchor text

Anchor text is the visible characters and words that hyperlinks display when linking to another location on the web.

• Target relevant keywords in the anchor text but use variety in the phrasing.
• Ensure it sounds natural.
• Relevant to the linked-to-page.
• Avoid generic phrases such as ‘Click here’, ‘Find out more’, etc.

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Summary

Recap of what we’ve covered

You now understand:

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• Why keyword research is important to your organic strategy

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• The 4-step process to discovering keywords.

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• Why seed keywords are the foundation

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• How to use seasonality to inform SEO optimisations

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• How to categorise your keyword research.

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Learning resources

• Semrush – The Ultimate Keyword Research Guide for SEO

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• Ahrefs – How to Do Keyword Research For SEO

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• Hubspot - https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/how-to-do-keyword-research-ht

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• Moz - https://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo/keyword-research

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Any questions?