Keywords are the bottom line in Search Engine Optimization. Without the RIGHT keywords, you cannot go anywhere or else your efforts can go waste. Hence, if you are looking to learn SEO then the first basic you need to learn is how to do keyword research.
Things Required
- Computer
- Internet Connection
- Paper and Pen in some cases
Step 1 – Free Keyword Research Tool
The beginning of the keyword research starts from using the free keyword research tools like Wordtracker and Google’s Adwords Keyword Tool. Obviously, there will be some basic phrase, term or keyword related to your niche in your mind. This is the word used to do generate a list of about 100 or more keywords from these tools.
Step 2 – Region Targeted
In any keyword research tool, you have to keep in mind which region or country you are targeting. This is very important because the list of keywords generated will change accordingly. So set the country/region you are targeting accordingly in the keyword research tool.
Step 3 – Identifying Long tail Keywords
Once you have obtained a list of various keywords used on the search engine for searching in your niche. It is time to identify and select the long tail keywords from the list. Long tail keywords generally have low search volumes and hence low competition. So targeting them will earn your site high SERP’s.
Step 4 – Competition Analysis
Enter all the keywords into Google and analyze the top results for the keywords and phrases they have been optimized. It will help you find the kind of keywords used by your competitors in meta tags, title tags, headings, sub headings and paragraph of their content.
Step 5 – Create Content
This step can make or break the whole purpose of keyword research. You need to generate content around the keywords you have researched so that you are able to dominate your niche. For this, you will need articles, blog posts, press releases, reviews, guests posts, videos, social content, etc. All this type of content is used in building useful links for your site.