If you’re involved in digital marketing, then you know how fast online move. What’s popular today isn’t so tomorrow. You need to be constantly updating your skills and at the latest content trends to stay ahead of the competition. With that in mind, let’s look at 2017 best practice for keyword research.
Basically, there are two types of keywords. Some are meant for earning more business and some for generating more traffic. For example, if you want to sell a product, you should use phrases with “buy” or “cheap”. And if you want to create awareness for your business and establish your brand, then phrases with “how to” are most suitable.
For short-term goals, targeting the money keywords is your best bet. For long-term goals, you need to use both types of keywords as it will increase your sale as well as build trust with buyers which is necessary for brand enhancement.
The length of a keyword is very important in determining the search volume of a particular phrase. Generally, shorter keywords have higher search volume than longer ones. Based on the length, there are three types of keywords. They are short-tail keyword (1 to 2 words), medium-tail keyword (3 to 4 words) and long-tail keyword (more than 4 words).
Short-tail keywords are the most used ones. They generally contain a main word depending on search results. It’s very difficult to rank with such keywords as they have high competition, but if you can get ranked for one, then you can receive a huge boost in traffic.
Medium-tail keywords are primarily targeted by most businesses. They don’t have as much search volume as short-tail keywords, but they are easier to rank within a reasonable timeframe.
Long-tail keywords help you rank quickly. They are often ignored because of their low search volume, but if used wisely they can bring you a lot of engagement.
1. Related Searches
The first step to keyword research should be to get suggestions from Google. When you start typing something in the search engine, it automatically suggests related keywords that you might be interested in. You can also find a related searches section at the bottom of the page.
2. Wikipedia
Another helpful platform to get keyword ideas from is Wikipedia. It’s considered the best encyclopedia available and thus, a great source for keyword ideas. If you enter a keyword in its search engine, you will get a table of content with relevant topics and sub-topics. Using the suggested related topics as keywords when creating content for your website will boost your ranking.
3. Forums Like Quora and Yahoo Answers
Forums like Quora and Yahoo Answers have become quite popular for providing the best answers to the most searched queries. So, by becoming a regular visitor of these platforms, you can get ideas about people’s interests and what can bring a lot of traffic to your site.
4. Google Trends
Google Trends can tell you about trending topics in a particular area. Search volume of a keyword is not static after all. It’s always changing and therefore using Google Trends can prove very beneficial. If you find that the number of searches of your selected keyword is rising, then there’s a high chance of getting a lot of engagement by creating content focussed on that keyword. The tool can also gives you some additional keyword ideas.
5. Google Keyword Planner
The most popular tool to do keyword research is Google Keyword Planner. It’s a part of Google AdWords, generally used for analyzing the search volume, competitiveness and price for each keyword. The data it shows is primarily based on the paid search. Still, you can use it for getting keyword ideas.
There’s nothing definite in SEO. You can’t be 100% certain when it comes to digital trends. All you can do is to make educated guesses and keyword research demands and lot of that. Therefore, explore everything you think beneficial for your business.