Researching for the right keywords is something any well-meaning business should get to do even before the SEO copywriting process begins. It requires analyzing and finding relevant keywords using a variety of different techniques and tools.
In turn, the list of keywords garnered from this research will be the guide with which the content will be made from. Keywords can range from single words, or even entire phrases!
Why should you research keywords?
In using keywords, you can’t just go on all willy-nilly coming up with words and phrases to tack onto your content and webpage.
You have to make sure that the keywords you’re using are in line with what’s in the content, what your brand represents, and what product or service you’re offering. Keyword research helps you make that connection a lot clearer.
Additionally, researching keywords also becomes all the more important when you have the understanding that sometimes similar keywords can often have wildly different conversion rates, or even mean entirely different things.
Diving deep into keyword research gives you the proper know-how to deal with those confusing contingencies.
What can you do?
Here are a couple of things that you can do to properly research keywords.
- Research your niche
Get to know the vastness of the topic that you’re working on, and get to the heart of what it’s about.
Really dive into the niche topic you’re going to be dealing with, so you can get a good idea of what the potential customers in that niche are thinking about.
Put yourself in the shoes of a customer. What is it that they want? What is it that they need? What problems do they want to solve? What parts of a product or service do they love most?
- Understand your goals
Make concrete goals. Just like anything you’ll ever commit to, business ventures require a set of goals with which to anchor all actions towards—even SEO strategies!
What is the purpose of the SEO copywriting content you’re putting out? How can your goals be aligned with the content you’re creating?
- List down seed keywords
By this, we mean that you should actually make a list. For this, you’ll have to do a lot of brainstorming.
First, break your main category into different sub-topics all on their own. Then, list down the possible seed keywords—keywords related to those sub-topics—that can help you define your story and identify potential competitors.
- Understand long-tail keywords
Apart from seed keywords, you should also look into long-tail keywords. These are, as their name implies, longer than the average seed keyword, often containing entire sentences on their own.
Since they’re descriptive and specific, they’re more likely to perfectly align with the target audience’s intentions. Although these keywords are more specific, and will thus garner fewer clicks, their conversion rate is often higher because they attract the relevant demographic.
- Make use of keyword research tools
Now, make use of the plethora of wonderful keyword research tools available on the internet.
“But wait, why couldn’t I have done this first?” you may be wondering to yourself.
Well, the answer’s easy: it’s so you don’t box yourself in by focusing too much on keywords. Now, since you’ve outlined your goals, studied your niche, understood your audience, and made your own research, it’s time to refine all of that with the tools you can find online.
Instead of the other way around where you let the tools make your progress, you make the progress with the tools.
