If you have any hopes of succeeding in SEO, then you have to have an immaculate understanding of keywords. Keywords are really the holy grail of SEO and they will play a very vital role in determining whether you will rank well in the SERPs or will languish in the last and insignificant pages. Finding keywords for your website or blog however, is not as easy a task! You have to understand your niche pretty well and filter out the redundant phrases that will not help your SEO campaign thrive. You ought to understand the perfect keyword density to use in your work that will not affect the overall quality of the work. It really is not as easy job but professionals have done it in the past and so can you.
Talking of professionals, we sought the help of a professional SEO expert to understand how Keyword research is conducted. We talked to Tony Guo, who is a successful SEO expert and Google partner who has been in this online business for more than a decade now. We talked to Tony on Keyword research and finding the right keywords for your website, and he was kind enough to provide some of the tips he uses in his work. Here are 10 tips on how to find Google keywords as provided by Tony Guo;
1. Understand your niche
The first step towards choosing the right keywords for your website is to always understand your niche fully. Understand the fundamentals and dynamics of the niche and what people will essentially be looking for in the niche. Research on the niche and read what other bloggers have to say about the niche.
2. Think like a customer
If you were a user looking for information in your niche, what would you search for? Always think like a customer if you are to find the right keywords to use in your website. Put yourself in the shoes of the user and you will come up with tons of keywords to use in your website.
3. Use advanced keyword research tools
The beauty of finding the right keywords for your website, is the fact that there are advanced tools designed to help you achieve this. There are thousands of tools that will help you determine the relevance and quality of the keywords and phrases. Tony Guo recommended the likes of Ubersuggest and Moz Keyword Explorer. They present very important information on the keywords and will help you choose only the best keywords for your website.
4. Use long tail keywords
According to Tony, long tail keywords attract targeted traffic more than the shorter version keywords. They aren’t as competitive as short-tail keywords and will help your content and websites rank highly on the SERPs.
5. Find Semantic Keywords
Semantic keywords always do the trick because search engines can relate information better nowadays. When searching for keywords using the Google Keyword Tool, always ensure that the Broad Match box is checked and this will result in queries that are similar to your main keyword.
6. Look at keyword trends
When looking for the right keywords for your website, make sure you keep an eye on the keyword trends. The keyword trends show not just the current search volumes of a certain keyword but a history of how often the keywords was sought after in the past. These trends are important in determining whether a keyword’s use is on the rise or going down the drain.
7. What opportunities will the keyword present?
Make sure you understand the opportunities that a specific keyword presents and the effect it will have on your website. The keyword opportunity shows the potential returns that you are likely to get from a set of keywords. The potential returns are presented in form of page visits and clicks. You ideally want a keyword that shows promise and will help your campaign move in the right direction
8. Location-based keywords
One of the best way you can use to beat competition for a specific keyword, is to incorporate location into the keywords. When the competition for a certain keyword is too high but the opportunities it presents are still reasonable, you need to include location to your keyword string just to help your campaign stand out from the others.
9. What are your competitors using?
The other way to find keywords for your website is to look at what it is that your competitors are using in their campaigns that is making them flourish. Investigate the keywords that are doing well for them and tweak them a little bit for them to look different. You will realize that this works miracles and soon you will topple your competitors from the top spots.
10. Aim for profitable keywords always
When looking for the best keywords to incorporate into your website and SEO campaign, you want keywords that will add value to your campaign. You therefore need to prioritize the keywords with a good return in terms of traffic driven. Use Google Analytics to determine the amount of traffic generated by specific keywords and prioritize those keywords with good returns.