You may have heard marketing folk discussing keywords, or you may have been asked to supply your content writer with keywords. So, what does that mean?
Your business website is where customers or clients go to find out information about what your business does. This doesn’t just happen; they need to be directed there. Clients will be directed to your site when they perform a Google search with the right keywords.
Keyword Research is where it all begins
People type questions into their search engine to solve a problem or find out information. If your website has keywords that correspond with that question, they will be led straight to your business.
Your marketing professional or copywriter will be able to work with you to come up with viable keywords for your business.
“Keyword research is the process of finding and analyzing search terms that people enter into search engines with the goal of using that data for a specific purpose, often for search engine optimization (SEO) or general marketing. Keyword research can uncover queries to target, the popularity of these queries, their ranking difficulty, and more.” – Hubspot
Step 1.
Make a list of topics and questions you want your business to answer. When you have around 5 topics you can start listing the keywords that relate to each topic. There will be some overlaps.
For example: If your business was a Melbourne painting and decorating business you might have the following topics:
- Exterior painting – commercial
- Interior painting – commercial
- Interior painting – domestic
- Exterior painting – domestic
- Fences and pergolas
Step 2.
Once you have your topics, start brainstorming and come up with questions you think your potential clients might type into Google.
- How much does exterior painting cost?
- How much do exterior painters charge per day?
- How much does it cost to paint a brick house exterior?
- What is the average cost of commercial paint jobs in Australia?
- etc
Step 3.
Once you have your list of questions (which will be quite extensive) you then need to narrow down the keywords. The keywords that come from your questions will be what your copywriter or marketing professional will use in your web content and social media posts.
This step is where you verify users’ intent. The user is the potential client searching for a solution to a problem. An easy way to check is to type the chosen words into a search engine and see what comes up. For instance, the keywords I have selected from my painting questions are:
- exterior painting Melbourne
- interior painting Melbourne
- commercial painting Melbourne
- painters Melbourne
- painting contractors Melbourne
Next, use Google to your advantage by typing in your keyword or phrase and scrolling to the bottom of the search results to see a list of related searches. This list can help you add to your growing list of keywords and phrases.
Step 4.
Make use of SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) tools to come up with more keyword ideas. Some websites can help you with this. The following sites have a free component, but you will need to subscribe if you want more features. These are three sites I have investigated. There are many more available depending on your requirements.
Ahrefs – https://ahrefs.com/keywords-explorer
Semrush – https://www.semrush.com/analytics/keywordmagic/start
Google Keyword Planner – https://ads.google.com/home/tools/keyword-planner/
Utilizing SEO tools such as the ones listed above can help you cut down your keyword list to those that are truly relevant to your business.
Finding keywords can feel a little overwhelming at times, but once you get to know your own business and what people are looking for, you can start directing more organic traffic to your website. Get in contact today to chat more about keywords and how a well-worded blog post or concise website content can convert to more business.
