What is Keyword Research in SEO

Last updated on December 10th, 2023 at 07:31 pm

Keywords are highly important for successful SEO. The fact is that you will get low traffic if people aren’t really searching for your content, regardless of your efforts and investment.

Going by this, learning keyword research is vital to your SEO strategy. Any mistake you make in this regard can be very expensive.

Choosing irrelevant or incorrect keywords can result in a complete waste of precious time and investment.

If you are a novice in the world of SEO, you are likely trying to figure out the meaning of keyword research and its importance. This article will help you immensely.

Without further ado, let’s get started.

Contents show

What is Keyword Research?

Keyword research is concerned with identifying relevant search queries that your target customers enter into a search box in search engines when finding services, items, information, and products.

The Importance of Keyword Research

As mentioned earlier, if your web page has a topic nobody searches for online, it will get zero traffic from Google.

This is an error that a lot of site owners make, making it responsible for nearly 90% of web pages online receiving little or no traffic from Google, as a new study has shown.

Why is Keyword Research Important for SEO?

With areas like backlinks and core web vitals increasingly the focus of site optimization, a lot of people neglect how important keyword research is to SEO.

In this section, we will explain why keyword research should be key to your content creation or SEO campaign.

Discover What People Search for Online

As a content creator, an easy way to know what users are looking for online is through keyword research.

This is key because it assists you in determining quickly if you should invest time and resources in a topic or idea.

Most importantly, your content creation strategy should revolve around targeting keywords people use to search for information.

It is a waste of time to create content based on a “guess” or “assumption” of the search behavior of your target audience.

Gain Insight into the Competitive Landscape

Through keyword research, you can learn about the competitive landscape by gaining insight into your competitors.

For example, if you have a topic or idea you wish to create content about.

Keyword research will give you access to which domain is already ranking for that specific keyword.

Furthermore, keyword research gives you information that will help you decide if it is difficult or easy to rank on the first page of search engine results pages.

Discover Low Competition Keywords

Keyword research helps you uncover low-competitive keywords and content opportunities.

By doing this, you’ll improve the chances of your page driving more organic traffic and visitors via search engines.

As a new site owner, keyword research will help you determine which keywords are not worth your efforts because high-authority domains already rank for them.

Today, there are a lot of keyword tools that can help you identify low-competition keywords and filter the ones that are very competitive.

Learn More about Search Intent

Google has explained that its main mission is to organize information from around the world and make it available and helpful for anyone who needs it.

This is why Google delivers highly relevant results each time someone searches on their platform. To improve your site’s performance on Google search results pages, your content has to be relevant to the user’s search intent.

This is why you have to figure out the search intent for keywords. You would want your content to meet the user’s goal of utilizing a particular keyword to search for information.

Keyword research assists in learning about the search intent behind a target keyword.

Through the search results that come up as a target keyword, you will have an idea of the results Google believes to be highly relevant to that search query.

For instance, if you are planning content for the key phrase “digital marketing tools“, you can perform a search on this on Google to see which domains are ranking for it and learn about the search intent.

Free keyword research tool

Here are the best free tools for keyword research:

Answer The Public

Answer The Public can assist you in gaining insight into the topics people are searching for. All you have to do is input a generic topic, select the country you wish to target, and click “search.”.

For instance, a search for the word “chatbot” will produce 147 content ideas and keyphrases in the form of questions.

While it does not reveal the search volumes of keywords, the red circles on the interface will indicate whether they receive low, high, or average monthly searches.

Google Keyword Planner

Google Keyword Planner is an effective tool for pay-per-click keyword research. It is available for free use (even for those who aren’t interested in Google Ads). So you don’t have to feel worried about exceeding limits or paid upgrades.

There are two major features of Google Keyword Planner. They are effective for performing detailed search volume research as well as for exploring new keywords.

You can get keyword ideas by searching for a keyword or phrase. The tool will produce keyword ideas together with data about their search volume and how it fluctuates over a specific period, competitor insight, impressions, and bids.

The tool also has a filter option that will help you categorize your keyword list and get an in-depth understanding of the viability of your specific keyword.

There’s also a “forecast” feature that simplifies the process of budgeting and strategizing for paid ads.

ChatGPT

Launched in 2022, ChatGPT has become an invaluable marketing tool. Despite its limitations, it can add value to your keyword research strategy in four ways.

They are:

Formulation of Keyword strategy
Getting information on search intent for specific keywords
Finding related keywords.

Generating long tail keywords.

For instance, if you ask for a table of long tail keywords related to “ai chatbot,” here’s what it generates:

Keyword Generator

Ahrefs Keyword Generation is a free tool that generates around 150 keyword ideas. Simply input a topic, select the country you want to target, and click “Find keywords.”.

For instance, if you search for the word “chatbot,” you will have access to about 100 highly popular keywords, as well as their difficulties and volume:

You will also be able to check out a list of popular questions relating to the keyword:

The keyword difficulty is helpful because it reveals how hard it is for you to rank for that specific keyword.

Google Trends

Google Trends shows how popular a keyword is over a specific period. You can also see related breakouts and rising searches, making the tool very helpful for searching for trending keywords.

For instance, search for “Chat GPT,” and it will show you a big increase in the popularity of the search term.

Next, if you navigate to the “related topics” section, check for keywords like “AI ChatBot”, “Artificial intelligence,” and “OpenAI – artificial intelligence company.”.

Other keyword research tools are too slow to add trending keywords to their metrics. This implies that Google Trends is a valuable tool for checking out which topic is trending before the rest of your competition.

SEO Keywords Example

In this article, I will show you a few keyword examples that can positively impact your SEO strategy.

Short-Tail Keywords

These types of keywords are broad, generic, and highly popular. They generally consist of 1 or 2 words. Some examples are:

Travel agency
Cats

Online Marketing
AI chatbot
Summer dress

Short-tail keywords are characterized by high search volume and high competition.

Long-Tail Keywords

They have relatively lower competition when compared to short-tail keywords. They also consist of three or more words.

Some examples of long-tail keywords include:

The cheapest Travel agency in New York
How much do cats cost?

Online Marketing Tools for free
Can an AI chatbot improve my business?
Top Summer dress styles

As you can see, long-tail keywords are more specific and longer in length. They also have a lower search volume.

Brand Keywords

These keywords have a relationship with a brand, product, or service. They include:

Google
Walmart shoes.
KFC menu

Colgate Toothpaste
The latest iPhone price.

How do I Choose SEO Keywords?

Here are a few factors to pay attention to when choosing SEO keywords:

Relevance

You have to choose keywords that have some relevance to your website, brand, services, or products.

Search Volume

Also, pay attention to keywords with a high search volume. It is an indication that there is high interest in the keyword, and people are searching for it.

Competition

The keyword competition has an impact on how well a website can rank for it. Keywords with high competition are hard to rank for. And it is not very suitable for a new website.

Long Tail Keywords

An important feature of long-tail keywords is that they have lower competition and search volume. So, if you have just launched your website or are an SEO newbie, you might want to consider them.

FAQ

What is the best keyword research tool I can use for free?

They include:

Google Trend
ChatGPT
Google Keyword Planner

What are the most searched keywords online?

They include YouTube, Google, Weather, Amazon, and Gmail.

What are the major factors that you can consider before choosing a keyword?

While carrying out SEO keyword research, there are major factors you can pay attention to. They are user intent, search volume, and keyword relevancy.

Conclusion

Keyword research is the key to getting traffic for relevant search phrases. It is compulsory for every website that wants to perform well on Google Search Results.

In this article, I explained the definition of keyword research and how it can add value to your SEO strategy.