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How to effectively implement keyword research in your content marketing

Today, content marketing has become one of the top priorities of businesses around the world to aid them in lead generation and increasing conversions, to name a few benefits. Businesses of different types and sizes have now realised the value that good quality content brings to their website. There are a number of ways in which good quality content can enhance the overall sales of any business organisation, however, to get the most out of content marketing, businesses need to implement a strong SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) and content marketing strategy.

SEO helps marketers broaden their market reach and market share. By following the basic principles of SEO they can successfully use digital content to make their business widely available for untapped audiences and potential customers. 

As keyword research is the foundation of every SEO content strategy, it plays a crucial role in improving the online visibility of any business. From increasing the search engine rankings of the content to improving content engagement, good keyword research can make a significant difference in the overall content marketing strategy. 

Since implementing keyword research in content marketing can be a challenging task for new marketers, here is a complete guide to explain the process of keyword research and enhance your content marketing strategy.

 

What is keyword research?

The process of finding and evaluating the actual combination of words that people enter in any search engine to discover their preferred content is known as keyword research. Keyword research gives marketers an insight into the actual search terms and helps them create content with the natural flow of keywords. As keyword research is a never-ending process, marketers need to regularly update themselves with the latest and most trending keywords in their niche.

 

Why is keyword research important?

Any professional SEO company will tell you that keyword research plays a crucial role in growing the amount of organic traffic for a business. When backed with proper research and implementation, keywords not only improve the search engine rankings but also drive more traffic and conversions. With the help of keyword research, you can create content which addresses the specific needs of the customers. It is also helpful in understanding the audience and creating content which meets the needs of the audience as well as the business goals.

 

Where to begin?

Now that you have understood the basic terms and use of keyword research, it is time to learn how keyword research works. 

• Know your audience

Before you start selecting the keywords for your website, you must understand the audience for whom you are creating and optimising the content. This might be the most important step to help improve your content marketing.

To narrow down your keyword research, you can start by learning about the topics that are important from the customer’s point of view. Your audience will only visit your website when they find some relevant information based on their interests. 

Once you know your audience, you can simultaneously research the terms that they might be searching for. Additionally, you will also have to determine which keywords will bring more value to your website. Here, your main motive should be to address the search queries of your audience, improve visibility, drive traffic and increase conversions.

• Business-related keywords

When you are starting a new website the most important step is that you should begin with the information you have in hand. As a business or website owner, you will be very well aware of the things which you have to offer your customers. 

So, make a list of all your products and services. You can start by creating a list of popular or common knowledge terms which revolve around your business.  Once your basic list of core terms is ready, you can use different keyword research tools which will modify your core terms and generate various combinations of keyword suggestions.

• Explore different areas

To broaden your keyword research, you can also check out the locally and globally used keywords in your niche. For example, small businesses can get higher rankings on search engines when they focus on localised keywords. A small business can target local buyers using local keywords based on store location and bring in nearby consumers. On the other hand, large businesses can use a combination of local and global keywords depending on the different locations of their customers. 

Furthermore, you can also use keywords that your competitors are using to target their audiences. By using similar keywords, you can target your competitor’s customers and make your business or content visible to them. 

You can also focus on some of the widely used long-tail keywords. While these keywords do not draw much traffic, they are known to have less competition. This makes it easier for marketers to rank their content based on long-tail keywords. Additionally, as long-tail keywords focus on a specific topic or product they have a high conversion value. For example, instead of using only ‘restaurant’ as your keyword, you can make it a long-tail keyword by specifying the type of restaurant such as ‘authentic Italian restaurant’.

• Use keyword research tools

Several free and paid keyword research tools are available online that help marketers in identifying popular key phrases and keywords. Some of the widely used keyword research tools include Google Trends, Google Keyword Planner, Google Search Console, etc. These tools will make it easier for you to discover trending topics and queries in your niche. 

From finding how often a keyword is used to understanding the demographics of the audience, their monthly searches, search volume trends and competition for a particular keyword, these tools will also help you understand the analytics of different keywords. Furthermore, you can also analyse your existing content and find out which keywords in different search queries are driving traffic towards your website.

 

Conclusion

Once you are done researching keywords, you can start creating content around these keywords. However, to make your content more readable, ensure that it is informative and does not focus only on SEO. Moreover, as keyword research is a never-ending process, you will have to constantly reevaluate your keywords after every two to three months. This will help you stay updated with the latest, most trending and widely used keywords and will increase the reach of your content in new areas.