With the different advancements in the world of technology these days, information is literally at the edge of your fingertips. With just one click of a button, you can access articles, podcasts, videos, and books about topics you’re passionate about. Type in some words in the search box and you can find answers to your questions within seconds, unlike the old times where you need to go to the library and search through card catalogs for books that may or may not contain the information that you need. The words you typed in the search box to find valuable information are called keywords, and they play a huge role in search engine optimization (SEO). The process of finding these keywords is called “Keyword Research”.

Keyword Research is same as Market Research pic.twitter.com/0yKZTOfkhq

— Ashwarya Infotech (@ashwaryainftch) October 18, 2016

In the world of marketing and advertising, keyword research is the process of using keywords to identify words or search terms that people put in the search engine. Knowing about the top search terms that the target market uses plays such a huge role in creating content and marketing strategies. This is the very reason why keyword search is identified as the foundation of SEO- it functions as a compass and it tells you, point blank if you’re making any progress in your business or not. It’s also useful in helping you know more about the desires, fears, and thoughts of your target market, based on the questions they ask via the search engine.

While it’s no secret that having the ability to play with words can easily appeal to a client, using the right keywords will get you the right people. It’s not about how many site visits you get at the end of the day. Rather, it’s about getting the right people to click the link, visit your website, and know more about your products and services.

Best Tools for Keyword Research

For experts in the field of search engine optimization, the top two best keyword research tools are SEMrush and Google Keyword Planner. SEMrush can give you all the possible keywords for your (or your competitors) site by adding the URL. This is a much easier process compared to seeding every possible keyword before starting the research. SEMrush gives you all the short-tail and long-tail keywords that you can use to attract the right people and to beat the competition. SEMrush has a 14-day free trial so you can explore its features. If you want to continue using SEMrush, you’ll need to pay $150.

Those who want to use a free keyword research tool may explore Google Keyword Planner since all they need in order to use it is to have a Google AdWords account. The advantage of using Google Keyword Planner is it’s directly integrated with the world’s largest search engine. The downside to using this tool is you won’t know how your site or your preferred keywords are doing.

Here are a Few Tips on How to Find Relevant Keywords:

• One of the important steps to do keyword research is observing and identifying search terms that are often used by your target market. Create a general list of topics that are relevant to your business. Rank these topics and pick out your top ten. Now, think of search terms related to each of the top ten topics – this will help you come up specific keywords. Think of the questions that a potential buyer will ask when they visit your website.
  Hop on to Google and look for related search terms. Type in the keywords you came up with in step one and look at the results that appear after the search.
• Create a keyword strategy by mixing long-tail keywords and head terms to increase the possibility of someone finding your site. Head terms are more generic and are often used during keyword searches while long-tail terms are more desirable and specific. You’ll be capturing a large audience by adding these two in your keyword strategy.
• Check out the competition and look how their keywords are being ranked. While their keywords may be of no value to you, knowing how their search terms are being ranked is an excellent way to help you evaluate if your keywords are effective.
• Now that you have a long list of possible keywords for your site, use the keyword research tool to filter out the ones that will benefit your business. Remember, at the end of the day, it’s all about having keywords that will give your business short term and long term gains.