Starting keyword research can often seem overwhelming, but by following a few simple steps, you can keep the process streamlined and stress-free. These steps include:
If you would like more information on the hows and whys for executing successful keyword research that results in high-performing content, read on.
Knowing where to start with your keyword research can seem like a daunting task but there are a few simple steps I like to follow to keep the process streamlined and stress-free.
I like to start by mind-mapping out any ideas or key business focuses (note: I would approach a competitor analysis or keyword gap analysis very differently!). For example, if I - or my client - were a Flooring Company, I would start by mapping some variation of the following: "Laminate Flooring", "Hardwood Flooring", "Carpets" and "Carpet Fitters near me", and this is what the search return would look like:
This gives you an overview of volume, user intent and overall difficulty. If you are a household name, government site or highly established in your sector, you are more likely to rank for higher difficulty keywords. In this case, a brand like Carpetright would find ranking for ‘carpets’ much easier than the local flooring store. From here you will want to get more relevant/tailored keywords for each of these seed keywords - this can easily be done by using the Keyword Magic Tool (or equivalent if you’re not using Semrush).
The Keyword Magic Tool is great at helping us find matching keyword inspirations. You can even put your domain into an AI-powered cell on Semrush to get personalised estimates (specifically for how difficult your domain may find certain keywords to rank for). Depending on what keywords and how many you choose to target - you may need to tailor your keywords so that they don’t cannibalise your other content.
Keyword Cannibalisation is when multiple pages on the same site are targeting or ranking for the same keywords, effectively making them their own competition. This can be indicative of poor keyword mapping (which we will cover in point 3) and subpar content which will in turn lead to lower authority ratings and keyword rankings as well as leading to user confusion or a poor user experience.
To optimise, consider answering more niche questions with detailed specifics, such as ‘herringbone vs parquet flooring’ for one blog, rather than trying to target everything with a single ‘herringbone hardwood flooring’ article.
You can learn How To Avoid Keyword Cannibalisation further here.
If you’re looking to build a detailed site structure that works for humans (whether that is as a new domain or as a site migration project) consider whether you will be targeting longtail keywords and providing users a more detailed/informative blog area on the site - or if you will be keeping the site stripped back and targeting keywords on the main landing pages. If your strategy follows the latter, your pages will need to work harder. Keyword Mapping should then be a crucial part of the plan.
Keyword Mapping is essentially the process of selecting specific keywords for the most appropriate pages on your website to optimise their visibility. This process helps to:
Below is a plan of how I prefer to map my keywords. I find this covers all important bases for me and helps manage expectations for the above.
You may wish to add FAQ sections or further content details to target the long-tail keywords (if your budget and time allow for a full blog area, I would incorporate this into the ‘blog or supporting content’ section of the plan, whereas if you are sticking only to focus landing pages, I would add FAQ’s and aim to thoroughly cover the target keywords. Be sure to cover any PAA and FAQ questions and use your keywords in metadata and titles - remember that your customers will have many entry points from many different keywords!
Depending on the intricacy and size of your site, you may wish to hand-select the most appropriate keywords by filtering (volume, difficulty and intent) and scrolling via the Keyword Magic Tool or using the Keyword Overview page.
There are two template concepts I swear by when looking to build a keyword strategy/ content plan, depending on the site size and expected outcome. The basic template would be something like the image below, which uses the same Flooring example as above - to build page authority and reach a wider organic audience using primary keyword & secondary keywords.
If you wanted to be a really detailed, blog-heavy site, you could take one of the Secondary or Longtail Keywords and create a blog or page with them in the Heading, making them their own Primary Keywords with Supporting Keywords - this is great for targeting very niche topics and showing expertise in wider topics. For example:
You may have noticed that ‘how to lay laminate flooring pattern’ has been crossed out, although it has reasonable search volume. That is due to intent, if the client is a Flooring Fitter and Retailing Store, they will most likely offer fitting services and supplying Do It Yourself content detracts from their services and may impact their conversions. However, if the client was a DIY Blogger or even a site such as Homebase or B&Q, that keyword might be appropriate.
These processes can be repeated to build entire spreadsheet docs with keywords in a plan that is then easily applied or moulded into a Content Plan. Working like this also allows you to spot Internal Linking Opportunities, Keyword Tracking (we can cover this another time!) Content Gaps (or Seasonal Content Ops).
So, we have a better understanding of how to use keyword searching tools to find what’s appropriate and works for us (or our clients), and we know how to start to pull this into a keyword-led content plan. But, there are other areas to consider when delving into keyword research. This includes:
Current rankings
When starting Keyword Research, consider the depth that you wish to go:
For a list of our SEO services or more information on how we can help you, please call or email Reflect Digital today.
Dani is one of the SEO executives within Reflect Digital, she loves to problem solve any changes on page sessions and site health, as well as discovering more about Keyword Demographics and creative strategies around huma online behaviour. She hopes to bring uplifting energy to the team and develop a more rounded knowledge of the part SEO plays in the growth of users across a variety of industries.
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