{"id":554,"date":"2010-05-10T11:44:06","date_gmt":"2010-05-10T08:44:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/?p=554"},"modified":"2010-05-10T11:44:06","modified_gmt":"2010-05-10T08:44:06","slug":"keyword-research-the-core-of-your-seo-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/keyword-research-the-core-of-your-seo-strategy\/","title":{"rendered":"Keyword Research: The core of your SEO Strategy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/seo-keywords1.jpg\" alt=\"seo-keywords\" title=\"seo-keywords\" width=\"629\" height=\"294\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-570\" style=\"display:block;margin:0 auto 0 auto;\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/seo-keywords1.jpg 629w, http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/seo-keywords1-300x140.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/seo-keywords1-500x233.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 629px) 100vw, 629px\" \/>It is essential to distinguish the technical part of SEO and the strategic one. Developing a strategy in SEO involves <strong>keyword research<\/strong>. The reason is obvious; when you have a website optimized for wrong keywords the result can be real a nightmare for you and your client.<\/p>\n<p>As an SEO professional you will probably have some resources, an extended brief on what the website is trying to market or maybe some sessions with a representative of the organization.<\/p>\n<p>If you are more than lucky, in cases of website re-launching, you may have access to the metrics of the previous online presence. \u00a0This means that you will be able to make an in depth analysis of the project needs. If you don\u2019t have access on the previous Google Analytics account you can check the <strong>Search Queries<\/strong> tab of Google Webmaster Tools platform in order to see the keywords that bring more traffic on the site. Last but not least make sure you check the landing pages by using the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/free\/seo-tools\/page-analyzer-keyword-density-tool.php\">Keyword Analyzer tool<\/a>. Note the keywords with high KeywordRank and select the most relative ones.<\/p>\n<div style=\"height:10px\"><\/div>\n<p><em>Tip: Find the search traffic sources and check which keywords are generating <strong>quality traffic<\/strong>. <\/em><\/p>\n<div style=\"height:10px\"><\/div>\n<p>Before starting your research, it is very important to <strong>answer the following questions<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>What is<\/strong> and <strong>what isn`t<\/strong> the product\/service?<\/li>\n<li>What is my <strong>target audience<\/strong>?<\/li>\n<li><strong>How would I <\/strong><strong>search<\/strong> for this product\/service?<\/li>\n<li>What is the <strong>search volume<\/strong> of these keywords?<\/li>\n<li>What keywords our <strong>competitors <\/strong>are using?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div style=\"height:10px\"><\/div>\n<h2>Audience<\/h2>\n<p>When you know\u00a0 from the beginning the profile of the target audience, you can be prepared to communicate effectively in the proper frequency. In case of search you must do the same: <strong>Define the target audience<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h2>Analyze the target audience<\/h2>\n<p>By trying to correlate the demographical data with the product info, you will export some valuable information for your audience: Some keyword ideas, Jargon, product names, stakeholders etc.<\/p>\n<div style=\"height:10px\"><\/div>\n<p><em>Tip: <strong>Short surveys<\/strong> and <strong>focus groups<\/strong> are some good ideas to get the first keywords.<\/em><\/p>\n<div style=\"height:10px\"><\/div>\n<h2>Create a Keyword list<\/h2>\n<p>The first step is to start grouping the categories of the website by <strong>themes<\/strong> (an excel sheet can be valuable here).<\/p>\n<p>The second step is to take a paper and a pencil and write down your first thoughts. Think of what keywords would you type in to find this website and create a broad list of keywords and key phrases. This will be the main body of you keyword list. My suggestion here have a second look with clear mind few hours later. This will help you see clearly the strategy from a different viewpoint.<\/p>\n<h2>Use Social Media<\/h2>\n<p>Enrich your list with information found within the <strong>Social Media discussions<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<div style=\"height:10px\"><\/div>\n<p><em>Tip: Dive into the audience, search through social media and ask people where to find what you are looking for. This will help you create an additional keyword list.<\/em><\/p>\n<div style=\"height:10px\"><\/div>\n<h2>Keyword trimming<\/h2>\n<p>When the second list is ready you will come up with a wide list of keywords that you must trim.<\/p>\n<p>Real example: Here\u2019s what I found in 10\u2019 of searching on Twitter and StumbleUpon for \u201cmobile accessories\u201d:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Phone accessories<\/li>\n<li>Handheld accessories<\/li>\n<li>Mobile products<\/li>\n<li>Mobile Phone and Chargers Products<\/li>\n<li>Htc accessories<\/li>\n<li>Htc phone accessories<\/li>\n<li>Mobile case covers<\/li>\n<li>Best Mobile Products for Kids<\/li>\n<li>Accessories for Mobile Products<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div style=\"height:10px\"><\/div>\n<p>By removing keywords that aren\u2019t much <strong>relevant &amp; targeted<\/strong> will assist on creasing the probability to success.<\/p>\n<h2>Finalize the Keyword list<\/h2>\n<p>If you are following those steps, you should now have a sheet with keywords grouped by categories. Now it\u2019s time to use some technology. There are various keyword tools provide you with useful data such as search volume, trends, competition of each keyword and even more ideas.<\/p>\n<p>I suggest the tools provided by Google: Google keywords tool and Google insights for Search. They are free and easy to use:<\/p>\n<div style=\"height:10px\"><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/adwords.google.com\/select\/KeywordToolExternal\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/adwords.google.com\/select\/KeywordToolExternal<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.google.com\/insights\/search\/\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.google.com\/insights\/search\/<\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"height:10px\"><\/div>\n<p><em>Note: keyword tools are not 100% reliable so you should cross check the results with other tools or follow your instinct.<\/em><\/p>\n<div style=\"height:10px\"><\/div>\n<p>After generating your own keyword list, you can have a sneaky look on your <b>competitors<\/b>. Start by using your keywords as queries and by checking your competitors keywords on titles, description etc. Use the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/free\/seo-tools\/keyword-competition-checker.php\">Keyword Battle Tool<\/a> in order to <b>find the rankings of a list of keywords<\/b> for a number of domains. Then <b>analyze their landing pages<\/b> by using the \u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/free\/seo-tools\/page-analyzer-keyword-density-tool.php\">Keyword Analyzer tool<\/a> and see what they do in order to optimize for those terms. Try to <b>stay focused<\/b> on your business Unique Selling Proposition and avoid mentioning competitor\u2019s brand names etc<\/p>\n<p>Use the keywords wisely across the most commercial pages and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/does-the-internal-competition-affect-the-rankings\/\">avoid the internal competition effect<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It is essential to distinguish the technical part of SEO and the strategic one. Developing a strategy in SEO involves keyword research. The reason is obvious; when you have a website optimized for wrong keywords the result can be real &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/keyword-research-the-core-of-your-seo-strategy\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":569,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7,10],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=554"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.webseoanalytics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}