3 Super Easy and Free Ways to do Keyword Research

Keyword research is a fundamental part of SEO. It’s via keywords that search engines retrieve information they’ve indexed on the web. Like when you go to the bookstore to find a certain book and beeline to a particular category, search engines work in the same way. They store pages in keyword based indexes to keep things organized.

Rather than storing every single web page in one single database, by categorizing pages into smaller databases centered on a particular search term or phrase – the search engines can then retrieve the data they need in milliseconds and present it to you the searcher.  

Whether you own a blog, an e-commerce store, or want to position yourself as a thought leader in your industry, determining the keywords that people are searching for when looking for your business is a vital part of developing an effective marketing strategy. If your marketing isn’t effectively targeting the people who are searching for what you offer, how will they find you and how will you find success.

You want your website to rank for the words that potential customers and your competitors are using. Keyword research allows you find out what terms you should be using to optimize your website’s copy, title tags and meta tags, so that when people search for said terms, your website shows up. Driving search traffic to your website is the goal, because that’s the first part in the buyer’s journey.

As the internet becomes increasingly competitive, it’s important to outwit and outsmart your online competition and keyword research is one way to do so. Here are 3 super easy ways for you to perform keyword research so that you can gain the insight needed to optimize your website to boost your SEO, traffic and sales:

Search for your phrase in all the major search engines

You know how when you start to type into Google or Bing a term and then a drop down unfolds with a list of suggestions that attempt to finish your inquiry for you. Well that feature, the suggestion tool allows you to gain valuable insight into what people are looking for. The engines have basically stored in their databases previous inquiries surrounding the term or phrase that you’ve typed in. The suggestions provided are basically past search terms that other people have entered.

By taking note of what other people have searched for you can create content or reword content on your own site that addresses what searchers in the past and potential searchers of the future are looking for.

YouTube

The wonderful thing about YouTube is that people have made videos about everything. If you want to figure out how to fold a shirt in one move or install a particular model of a garage door opener, chances are someone out there has made a video explaining how to do so. In the same way that you’d type a search term into a search engine, you can do the same with YouTube. The suggestions that drop down in YouTube again provide a wealth of insightful information. From this information you can create blog posts and/or incorporate the phrases that people are looking into your website’s copy. You can also make your own videos to demonstrate your expertise in your field and help someone out.

Google Adwords Tool

Google Adwords is used by SEO experts, bloggers, and curious folks to see how much keywords in any given field work. Because of their analytics and of course, their paid Adwords accounts, Google is able to give you the goods on how much terms cost, how many monthly searches are performed for particular words and terms and also, it is able to supply you with a list of related keywords. By accessing these related keywords you gain insight into how people are searching for things related to your industry. Utilizing this list of keywords, you can then craft content that addresses the concerns of your intended audience. By logging into you Adwords account, you’ll also be able to see cost-per-click (CPC) data and use that information to again create content related to highly searched terms.

Now it is important to note that there are a plentitude of online tools to help you conduct keyword research and that this list is far from exhaustive. But the point of this list is to get you started and to reiterate the importance of actually researching who your consumer is. By knowing what your consumer wants, you can provide them with what they’re looking for. And of course, in turn, make a sale.