SEO Keyword Research
How to Use Keyword Research to Get Inside the Heads of
Your Audience
Keyword Research
how to write traffic-attracting online content, using simple, proven techniques.
5 essential ways that keyword research can help you serve your audience better as a writer, using the power of research to discover the most powerful keywords in your writing. This results in higher traffic (because you target popular searchers) and content that stands a better chance of rising to the top of Google.
What is Keyword Research?
Every month, over 100 billion internet searches are made. This number will
likely increase (it jumped 40% from the year before). Every one of those
searches are gathered, sorted, analyzed, and made available to you. If 10
people search for “tomatoes and basil gardens in Boston,” you can find that
information. Last week, I gave you the assignment of using the Google
Keyword Tool (search “Google Keyword Tool” and you will find it). While
there are plenty of other tools, both paid and free, the Google Keyword Tool
is a good place to dip your toes in the big ocean of keyword research.
Keyword research is a big topic. It is an essential part of SEO and writing
online. I will probably actually write another unit on it. But like everything
online, it is better to start and get going, rather than reading for 3 years and
then beginning.
So if you have played around with the keyword research tool (or any other
free or paid keyword research tool), you are ready to start. If not, then play
around with Google’s Keyword Tool for a few minutes before reading this
important module.
Portrait of the Writer as a Creep
Yes, I do spend a fair share of my time creeping on the various searches that
people make. People make these searches alone, their obscure little
questions that they send out into the world via search engines like Google
and Yahoo, and I come, sifting through the data, making notes, and peering
into the private lives of people.
But behind all of the data that search engines collect is a simple human fact.
People are trying to find you. They are searching for answers. They are
searching for solutions to their problems (“A good wedding photographer in
Houston?”), they are looking for people like them (“sites about being an
army wife?”) and looking for human connection at the end of a search made
in the privacy of their browser.
Keyword research is market research. It gives you insight into the private
lives of your audience. It helps you see what they want, what they are
searching for.
But I’m an artist. Not a sleazy marketer!
At the deepest level, keyword research has nothing to do with sleazy
marketing, even if it is a primary tool of many questionable money-focused
online sites.
Keyword research is simply the science of seeing exactly what people want,
their problems, their desire. And then helping them answer those questions,
fill those wants, work through or fulfill their desires.
For a writer, this is powerful stuff. Keyword research helps you to better
serve your audience.
That’s because at one point in your career, all writers have to make a
important decision: do you write to please your own ego? Or do you write to
be the voice for other people who might not be able to write as well as you,
connecting them, helping to solve their problems, telling a story that they
share?
moment, and to help, entertain, and connect with an audience, then
keyword research is just a unique new technology that you would be an idiot
not to use.
If you write for your own ego, buy a moleskin and stop reading this course.
Because if you are truly only interested in writing for yourself, you don’t
need the internet. The internet is filled with people. And they are spending a
big majority of their time using search engines, looking for answers for
things in their life they’d like to learn more about, improve, or simply
connect with another group of people like them.
And that’s what really lies behind all of the billions of searches and graphs of
data. People. Billions of people asking questions, looking for things.
It’s your job to answer.
So here are 6 basic steps to do keyword research that helps to better make
an impact with your audience. The goal of keyword research is to become
that perfect answer, that site that solves perfectly the problem in the mind of
the internet reader.
Let’s learn a bit about how to do that.
1 Before you do anything
Keyword research will give you billions of little pieces of information about
what people are searching for.
But before you get caught up in the tiny details of “what” people are looking
for, you need to answer another more human question: who is looking?
The reason why this is important is because you want to target certain types
of searchers for certain types of sites.
For example, let’s say that you run a site about wedding photography in
Boston. You want to sell your services. That’s the reason why you started the
site.
But if you do keyword research and just start looking at vague searches like
“photography” and “weddings,” you have just started up an impossible hill.
You decide to start writing articles about “photography and weddings,” or
maybe even you notice that “cool photographer” is a popular search and so
you start throwing that into your web content.
The problem with this type of research and strategy is that even if (and you
won’t) get on the first page of Google for “cool photographer” it won’t make
that much difference for your photography business. That’s because people
searching for “cool photographer” are probably looking for a cool
contemporary photographer to study.
In other words, you have just found.....a photographer looking for some info
on a big name photographer. Even if you get 500,000 of these people
visiting your site every month, there is a small chance of you getting any
business for your local photography business.
The point isn’t that it wouldn’t be bad to rank for a big volume keyword like
photography. It would, in the end, help your other rankings. But assuming
you don’t have the next year of your life, thousands of dollars, and endless
energy devoted to ranking for a big search term, you need to be very careful
about where you direct your research and energy.
So the best thing to do to start is to think: Who do I want to visit my
site?
Make a list of your ideal reader or customer. And then you can use keyword
research to find the language and search patterns of those people.
#2 Hey! Get off my site!
Who do you want to visit your site?
The terrible myth of online writing is that a steady stream of people are out
there floating around, hopping from site to site, and eventually some of
them trickle down onto your site.
This is not true.
Keyword research shows that behind every internet search is a person. And
that person is looking for something. They only land on your site because
they think that you might have the answer that they are looking for.
That’s why, before you ever do any keyword research you need to
simply think about the type of person you want to visit your site.
This needs to be very specific. If a high school English teacher reads my site,
I get a little unhappy. Clearly, I am doing something wrong. I have “English
major” as part of my keyword lexicon, but I don’t want to have high school
English teachers finding my site. I want young academics, frustrated
academics, university and college professors looking for change.
I don’t mean to sound like a snob. I don’t really mind if a high school English
teacher reads my site. What I am more concerned about is that they are
arriving through search engines.
They aren’t my target. I didn’t create the site for them. They are there by
accident and that shows that I need to do a better job targeting my research
and content to better fit my ideal reader.
So who is your ideal customer? Your ideal reader?
Once you figure that out, it becomes easier to bring people onto your site.
You can figure out the main keywords they use to find sites similar to yours.
You can find out the big problems that they are trying to solve with search
engines (such as “Should I do a PhD in English?” or “What is the biggest way
to save money with a Wedding?”).
So don’t think general. Think of a specific person that you want to visit.
Chances are they have friends with similar interests, similar language,
similar problems.
3 What are they searching for?
Once you have a clear idea of who your ideal customer or reader, you need
to figure out their search patterns.
The key insight of SEO is to match the language of your webpage with
the language of the people searching.
That’s why it is important to first figure out who your ideal visitor is. Let’s
say, your website is about “how to get freelance editing jobs.” It’s hard
enough to get to the top of the pile for a keyword phrase like “freelance
editing jobs,” so you don’t want to make things harder for yourself by trying
to rank for a word like “editing.” While “editing” is a related word, it is also
super competitive to rank for a word like that. So in order to get the most
return from your energy, you need to think more specific. Don’t just target
“people interested in editing” but target “young university grads with English
majors who are interested in getting into freelance editing jobs.”
In other words, instead of writing articles about “editing,” you want to write
articles about “how to get your first freelance editing gig,” interview
successful freelance editors, and review books about making money from
editing.
That’s because your ideal visitor is using that language to search for your
site. Everyday, they are waking up, going to their computers, and looking for
the answers to questions like: How can you break into freelance editing?
Freelance editing and money? Successful career as a freelance editor?
If I have any big advice, it’s to be helpful. People will thank-you and come
back, share and promote your site.
What questions are people asking out there related to your site? What
keywords are they using?
4 Make A List.
Okay. So you have some ideas about the types of things people are looking
for. Now, it is time to make a central keyword list.
Actually, you are going to have two lists.
The first list are your dream keywords. The big volume keywords that you’d
love to rank for.
Let’s do an example. Let’s say that you want to launch an editing service.
You want to target stressed out college students. The ones you see on
Craigslist, yelling “HELP! I need a paper edited by tomorrow!”
As you can tell, we don’t want to waste our time on general keywords. It
would be nice to have the #1 site for “editing,” but realism is important. We
also know that a stressed out college student with a paper due in 24 hours
probably aren’t going to type “editing” into the computer. They are going to
use a different set of terms, a different set of keywords.
So we make a list of the words we’d eventually like to rank for. This is our
dream list, and it reflects the language we think stressed out college
students who are looking for a fast editing service.
Dream List:
Fast editing service
editing service for college papers
24 hour editing service
professional editing services
university editing
college essay paper editing
dissertation editor
same day editing
These are the big volume keywords that our site will (with some hard work)
get some traffic from.
We then make another list, the more practical set of keywords that we can
see some traffic from right away.
Practical List
Editing for psychology papers hire an editor?
Editing services for academic entrance letters to medical school
university editing is it plagiarism to have an editor?
resume editing for first internship
proof-reading for my doctoral thesis humanities editor
dissertation editing for science thesis
As you might have noticed, the main difference between our “dream list”
and our “practical list” is the length of the keyword phrases.
Typically, the shorter the phrase, the more competition and bigger search
volume. For example, millions of people search for the word “buy wedding
dress.” If you can put your site at the top of the pile for that keyword, you
could potentially make a ton of money from the people visiting your site. But
a longer phrase such as “buy green-blue hemp wedding dress online” is a
much more specific, longer phrase. It will typically have only a handful of
searches per month (maybe 10 or 20).
If you don’t have a massive site, you want to start small and work towards
the big goals. So you start with your practical list (the keyword phrases that
you have a chance at ranking for) and then begin to work toward your
dream list.
The less the competition, the better the chance you have of owning that
little piece of real estate.
For example, some of the first keywords I tried to rank for in my personal
site were “best non academic blogs” and “non academic careers for MA's and
PhDs.” These are small volume keywords and not that hard to rank for. As I
continue to write, I will find similar little keyword opportunities (keyword
phrases that not many people are targeting), working towards my goal of
owning some bigger real estate such as “careers for English majors.”
So remember: think big. But execute in small steps.
5 Now Check Your List.
You have a picture of your ideal customer or reader. You have a list of about
20 dream keywords and 20 practical keywords. You’ve brainstormed all the
different ways people might use a search engine to find your site. Now it is
time to move from creative thinking into analysis.
Once you have your two lists, then you can use Google’s Keyword Research
Tool to figure out the exact number of people using those terms. The goal is
to eliminate some of the terms, and to find the best, most popular terms to
use.
For example, I recently was working for a client that sells outdoor wedding
packages (food, location, reception venue). On her current site, she was
calling her main offering “outdoor wedding reception.” However, only a
handful of people searched for “outdoor wedding reception” in the local area.
Keyword research revealed that “outdoor wedding venue” (most people just
assuming that the venue will have a place for a reception) was a much more
popular search.
That’s the value of keyword research as it allows you to see the exact
language your target audience uses to search for you. With this
intelligence, you can show them that you have exactly what they are looking
for.
The basic task goes like this.
Take your first list of keywords (it doesn’t matter which one you start with).
And then enter them all into Google’s Keyword Research Tool. (You can start
with 5 or 10 at once. It doesn’t really matter).
Now, the results will appear. Google will also present related searches based
on your keywords. The goal is to simply look for keywords that people are
using to find sites like yours. For example, you might think that “24 hour
editing service” is a good keyword, but research reveals that only 10 people
search for that every month. Surprisingly, 500 people search for “Fast
business editing.” That means, you will not use “24 hour editing service” and
use “fast business editing” instead.
A brief note about numbers. In America, there is the myth of the trickledown
effect. The more money the rich people have, the more this money
trickles down the line, giving everyone—from the maid to the waitress—a bit
of the pie.
A similar myth exists online. Many rookies believe that if a search has 5
million searches then even if you are the 200th site on the list, you are still
going to get some traffic, trickling down the pipe.
The reality is that most people, unless they are on some insane mission to
read every thing on a subject, don’t get past the 1st page of results, and
perhaps briefly dip into page 2.
That means, being first for a keyword phrase with 250 searches per month is
much more preferable than being 200th for a phrase with 5 million searches
per month. If you don’t have a high volume site, you aren’t going to
compete for the big phrases. You need to go after the smaller phrases.
So when looking at the data, don’t get greedy. Look for smaller numbers and
try to rank 1st for those phrases. After a few wins, you can start trying to
move up on the food chain.
In other words, be realistic. And ask yourself: Why should I have the #1
ranking for Weddings in Boston?
Because I post a crappy article once per month? Because I spent 20 dollars
on my site? Because nobody knows me offline, and I figured I could get
famous online?
The only reason why you should have the #1 ranking for a major keyword
phrase (like “Editing jobs” or “Wedding photographer”) is because you have
invested the time and energy to make your site the best possible resource
and deliver incredible value for your readers.
If you want the #1 ranking, then be the best site out there. Someone will
notice. Google will promote you.
But remember to be honest. If your site is a little thin right now, if you don’t
have time to publish amazing articles, then you don’t deserve the #1 prize
ranking, but you do deserve some smaller rankings for things you are good
at.
Be realistic. Work small. And then your dream keywords will slowly become a
reality.
6 Write. Then Optimize.
You’ve picked out your two lists of keywords. You’ve run them through the
Google Keyword Tool. You’ve made changes. Now, you should have two lists
of the major search terms people might use to find your site.
Put them away.
Now write your next post.
After you are done, it is time to optimize your post for your keywords that
you have on your list.
The goal is to just go through the post and see where your keywords can
naturally fit into your post.
The idea really is to just tweak. For example, you might start a post about
editing with:
“Last night, I was up late working. I had a deadline for a client and suddenly
I had this brilliant idea about my job.”
Now you go to your keyword list. Decide which keyword best fits the post
you are working on.
For example, while you don’t state explicitly above, the real topic you are
talking about is how to become a better editor. You check your list, and see
that 1,000 people search for that exact phrase “How to become a better
editor” every month and so you go back to your original post and optimize it
for your chosen keyword phrase.
And yes, it is a good idea to pick one central keyword phrase per post.
So, this is what that post looks like optimized:
BEFORE: “Last night, I was up late working. I had a deadline for a client and
suddenly I had this brilliant idea about my job.”
AFTER: “Last night, I was up late reading books about how to become a
better editor. I had an editing deadline for a client, and suddenly I
had this brilliant idea about how I could help other young writers
become better editors.
You don’t have to write like this the whole way through. Just give the search
engines and readers enough of a clue that this is what they are looking for.
Let’s review two things. One, this post has a clearly defined audience: young
editors looking to become better. And it has a clearly defined “search
problem” and “search answer.” At the end of all the data, someone is
searching for “How can I become a better editor”? And this writer has
anticipated this search query, and will provide an answer.
A few more things. You can either write posts around your keywords or you
can write first and then optimize later. I do a combination of both, depending
on my mood.
And you don’t need to only write posts about the keywords on your list. But
the idea is to have a thematic focus to your site, using your list as the
bedrock on which you will build the content of your site. So don’t write about
“my favorite types of shampoo” on a site about “professional editing
services.”
Finally, don’t hammer in your keywords like a demented robot. In the above
example, you will notice that I hit the main keyword and a slight variation
(How to become a better editor AND become better editors). This is a
key SEO technique, as search engines look for a semantic richness and
variations in order to determine good, human written content from spam
garbage, keyword stuffed nonsense.
So write like yourself. And then use the Keyword Tool to refine and tailor
your content to better reflect the language and search patterns of your
audience.