How to Find Keywords that Drive SEO Traffic

Search engine optimization should be a central component of your marketing strategy if you want to be competitive online. After all, research has shown that websites ranking on the first page of Google search results for a target keyword achieve an average click-through rate of 71.3%, compared to just 5.6% for results on pages two and three combined.

So how can you get SEO right and maximize the likelihood of your efforts in this space generating results? There are many possible answers to this question, but one of the most important and valuable steps any marketer can take is to conduct keyword research to identify the most relevant and productive search terms.

What is keyword research and why is it important?

Keyword research is the process of identifying and analyzing the various terms and phrases your target customers are most likely to enter into search engines. Once you have a good idea of the most important keywords for your audience, you can start to incorporate them in your copywriting and other optimization techniques across your website.

Your keyword research projects are likely to involve:

• Listing the most important and relevant topics for your business, based on what you do and how you can help your customers
• Identifying specific search terms to target within each topic area
• Coming up with a mix of head terms and long-tail keywords
• Looking at how your competitors are ranking for certain keywords

It's important to dedicate time and resources to finding the right search terms for your SEO strategy because keywords remain an important search ranking factor. Google uses them to gauge searcher intent, to understand what your content is about and to deliver the most relevant and accurate results to its users.

Furthermore, keyword research can play a valuable role in your wider marketing strategy because it strengthens your understanding of your target audience's needs and problems. Knowing what your customers are searching for will make it easier to plan everything from blogs and content creation to email marketing and pay-per-click advertising.

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Finding keyword ideas and free tools

One of the fundamental elements of keyword research is identifying the search terms that make the most sense to your audience and will consequently deliver the best results for you.

The first step in this process is brainstorming a list of general topics that are relevant to the products and services you offer. This involves thinking about the information your customers need at particular points along their purchasing journey and how this translates into search queries. It can be useful to put yourself in the customer's shoes and think about their key questions and needs.

This can help you identify your seed keywords - the basic building blocks of your list, which can be modified and extended to create related long-tail keywords and entirely new search terms.

One useful way of broadening your list is by plugging one of your seed keywords into Google and scrolling to the bottom of the first results page, where you'll see a 'Related searches' section. This can be an excellent source of new ideas and inspiration.

For example, a Google search for 'email marketing' yields the following suggestions:

Other ways to expand your keyword list is to look at the terms your competitors are prioritizing - either to get some inspiration or to distinguish your efforts from theirs - and use techniques like social listening to track the topics that are capturing the interest of your audience.

It's also worth getting as much benefit as possible from the range of free keyword research tools available, such as:

• Google Keyword Planner - This tool may be designed to help users with their Google ad campaigns, but it's still an extremely useful source of information for keyword research. It can suggest new ideas related to your existing keywords and provide valuable data such as average monthly searches and level of competition.
• Answer the Public - A useful platform where you can enter a general topic or brand to see a long list of common searches, sorted and categorized in different ways.
• Soovle - This free tool is based on autocomplete suggestions, taken from Google and other sources like Yahoo, Bing, YouTube and Wikipedia.
• Google Trends - Another handy resource from Google that lets you see the relative search popularity of a particular keyword over time.

Why you should target long-tail keywords

There are many ways to approach SEO and search engine marketing, but one method you can feel fairly confident about is using long-tail keywords.

Targeting long-tail keywords - generally defined as four words or more - tends to deliver better results due to their specificity. Using long-tail keywords allows you to be more specific in the customer requirement or question you're focusing on, which will help you bring in more relevant, sales-ready leads with a genuine need for your product.

Furthermore, longer and more detailed search terms yield fewer results, which means less competition and a higher likelihood of success, as this graphic from Backlinko illustrates:

Despite being highly specific, long-tail keywords still generate plenty of traffic online. In fact, research by Ahrefs has shown that detailed terms consisting of four words or more account for 92% of all keywords people type into search engines.

Developing a strong list of long-tail keywords, which reflect your customers' needs and give an accurate representation of your content and product offering, will make a big difference to your SEO efforts and drive valuable traffic to your website.