The Guide To Keyword Research Lalon Media

The Guide To Keyword Research Lalon Media

Keyword research should be the basis of any online marketing campaign.The simple goal of keyword research is to find out what your target audience is searching and what it will take to actually rank for those keywords.

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Without knowing what keywords you should be targeting, how will you effectively optimize your website, target phrases for link building, or know what content to develop for your audience?

This post is a three-part series that will cover everything you need to know about keyword research.

In this first section, we’ll go through setting up a spreadsheet for your keyword research and discover the best keywords for both your main website’s search engine optimization and topics for content development.

In the next section, we’ll discuss what data will help you choose the best keywords to target.

The final section will be a compilation of the top posts on keyword research.

Spreadsheet Set Up

The first thing you will want to do is set up a spreadsheet to record your data within.

I’ve set up a basic spreadsheet that you can access. This document has columns for data using all tools mentioned in the first two parts of this blog post.

You can add or delete columns as you wish in order to match your keyword research needs. The columns included are as follows.

Keyword

GAKT – Competition (Google AdWords Keyword Planner)

GAKT – Global Monthly Searches (Google AdWords Keyword Planner)

GAKT – Local Monthly Searches (Google AdWords Keyword Planner)

GAKT – Approximate CPC (Google AdWords Keyword Planner)

SEOmoz KA – Difficulty (Moz Keyword Explorer)

SEOmoz KA – Competitor 1 (Moz Keyword Explorer)

SEOmoz KA – Competitor 1 DA (Moz Keyword Explorer)

SEOmoz KA – Competitor 1 RDLRD (Moz Keyword Explorer)

SEOmoz KA – Competitor 2 (Moz Keyword Explorer)

SEOmoz KA – Competitor 2 DA (Moz Keyword Explorer)

SEOmoz KA – Competitor 2 RDLRD (Moz Keyword Explorer)

SEOmoz KA – Competitor 3 (Moz Keyword Explorer)

SEOmoz KA – Competitor 3 DA (Moz Keyword Explorer)

SEOmoz KA – Competitor 3 RDLRD (Moz Keyword Explorer)

In this section, we’ll cover filling up the columns with keyword and Google AdWords Keyword Tool data.

In the following section, we’ll look at how to narrow down those keywords using the Moz Keyword Analysis tool (or some alternative methods if you are not a Pro member).

Saving the Google Docs Version

If you are signed into your Google account, simply use the File > Save option to save the spreadsheet to your documents and start filling it in with your information.

Downloading Excel and Open Office Versions

If you don’t have Google Docs, or would prefer to save it on your local machine, go to the Google Docs version and use the File > Download As to save it as your desired file type. I’d suggest Excel for best possible functionality.

download as microsoft excel

Section I: Keyword Discovery

The first phase of keyword research involves coming up with new keyword ideas.

Sometimes this is the most difficult part of the process as many people unfamiliar with keyword competition will select very broad words to target such as pizza, hotel, or Los Angeles.

Others will pick obscure phrases that no one will likely search such as SEO/Link Building/Social Media (yes, I’ve seen people trying to similarly over-punctuated phrases).

So the first thing you will need to do is find suitable, related phrases for their business.

You can always start with some simple brainstorming. Look at what the main focuses are on the website and jotting down keywords.

I would suggest doing so in Microsoft Excel or another spreadsheet application.

Then, whenever you’re ready to expand on those ideas, continue to some great keyword tools.

Keyword Discovery Tools

The following are a great collection of free and premium tools that will help you discover new keywords related to your website or business.

Ubersuggest

The free tool from Neil Patel Digital, Ubersuggest, is great for helping you discover new keywords.