If you have ever tried starting a blog, launching a personal brand, or posting something you hoped would go viral, this is the blog for you. I’m sure by now you’ve already run into the term “keyword research” or at least heard of it. When I first heard it, it sounded super technical, like a concept I wouldn’t be able to understand. It’s some of the most useful information for putting yourself out on the internet. It’s used in almost every style of advertising and helps gain popularity on websites and online products. It’s basically how you make sure you’re not writing for no one to see. It helps your content gain traction and find its rightful place on the internet.
Keyword research is the process of studying and learning about what people type into search engines like Google, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, X, and many more. More specifically, it’s researching word and phrase usage and connecting the dots on people’s interests. Terms are most frequently repeated when people are searching for content, such as answers, inspiration, or simply products they want to buy. Every company has its own set of keywords it has claimed for its websites. I’ll provide some basic examples to help paint a clearer picture.
Tesla: electric cars, solar power, charging stations, Model 3
IKEA: affordable furniture, swedish products, buy furniture online
The examples I provided show that keywords can be either specific or broad. It truly depends on what you want to accomplish and who you want to reach.
Keyword research is important in marketing because it’s not just guessing what people might say or search; it’s using real data collected to determine how often certain things are searched. You could write the most interesting blog post ever, but if no one can find it, you might as well have never posted it. Keyword searches bring people to your work by growing your content visibility to show up on front pages or at least not page 100 on search results. When pages or websites appear on the front page rather than further back pages, it means the page or website has much higher visibility. This, of course, means you’ll reach more people.
One thing I specifically learned and took away from my digital marketing class is that with keywords, you don’t always want to be specific. Rather than just linking “model 3 tesla” to the product page, it would make more sense to also link “electric cars”. This is because one keyword search is specific, such as someone looking for the Tesla product rather than searching for electric cars as a whole.
Here’s how you can attempt keyword research without losing your mind.
- Start with your topic.
- For example, if you decide to write about skincare, your general topic could be “acne treatment.”
- Type your topic into Google (for this blog, I will refer to the search engine as Google; you can use any search engine, such as Firefox or Edge, but be warned, the process may be slightly different visually).
- Scroll to the bottom of the page where it says “People also search for.” Those are all examples of search terms people have commonly used in the past.
- When you can, use tools!
- Free or inexpensive tools can be extremely helpful to your entire keyword experience. The one I recommend is Google Keyword Planner. GKP is a free tool that helps you find keyword ideas and see their search volumes.
- Check what is already ranking.
- Look at the top results on Google and try to figure out what they are doing and what information they are covering. Sometimes you can use that to improve your own content by making it more specific.
Now that I’ve explained the process of keyword research, I want to make a big point that not all keywords are good choices; some keywords are rarely searched or may not correctly connect to your content. Once you start using broader keywords, you have to deal with the fact that huge companies essentially own those keywords. That’s why it’s important to research first to try out other options besides the basic keywords. AND on top of that, some keywords may just be irrelevant or not searched often. That’s where the term “Long tail keywords” comes in. Long-tail keywords are simply longer, more specific phrases, such as “best acne treatment for sensitive skin,” rather than just “acne.” Most of the time, if not always, these long-tail keywords have significantly less search traffic, but if someone does come across your content through a search, they are more likely to stay.
Once you pick your keywords, do your best not to shove them into your writing randomly. I say this because search engines are not dumb; they can tell when something feels fake or forced. Try to include your keywords in
- The title of your blog post (THIS ONE IS THE MOST IMPORTANT!)
- The first paragraph
- Headings or subheadings
- Image descriptions
In the end, don’t think that keyword research is something above your intellect.
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