The truth is that there are hundreds of factors that affect how pages rank within Google’s search results. For an in depth piece on keyword research, check out our blog piece Keywords 101: A Beginner’s Guide.

• 1. Identify Search Terms with Enough Search Volume
• 2. Narrow in on Terms with Commercial Intent
• 3. Filter by Keyword Difficulty
• 4. Select Terms Specific to Your Core Business

Your keyword research journey should begin with the keyword volume metric. Start with keyword ideas you think potential customers would use when looking for your products or services and check that keyword’s search volume. If there’s no search volume, your target audience may be thinking of your business in a different way.

As the old adage goes, it's a good idea to “use the same language as your clients." This is especially true with searchers. Search volume is a great indicator for how the general population thinks about your business. Natural language processing and synonym vector correlations are continually advancing, but there’s still a substantial direct correlation to the search terms entered into browsers and page content.

Once you understand which queries are actually being used by searchers, you’ll want to narrow in on specific keywords that have commercial intent.ere’s still a substantial direct correlation to the search terms entered into browsers and page content.

The first thing you can do is sort your potential keyword list by CPC. CPC is a great indicator of how the market views a search query. High CPCs mean that the market has determined that searchers using that query have high commercial value (aka are likely to lead to a purchase). These terms are likely to be converting for the internet as a whole.

Now filter the list by keyword difficulty. The higher a particular keyword’s difficulty is, the more work you will need to do to reach the first page of search for your primary keyword. If you have a brand new site and you’re competing with massive well-established sites, you’ll have more success targeting long-tailed keywords than competitor keywords. These terms tend to have lower overall search volume, but also less competition. If you’re just starting out, target these easier to reach terms first.

This SEO strategy also has an added benefit – the more specific a search-query is, the more likely the user is to take action based on their search. Specific search queries are often called long-tail keywords. Long-tail keywords are made up of multiple words, usually including modifier terms such as location, size, shipping speed, price, color, etc. Here are a few long-tail keyword examples:

• red polka dot midi dress $50
• used 2012 Toyota camry
• dentist in south slope, brooklyn
• google’s 2012 algorithm update
• best sites for creating a free website
• where to donate to 2020 environmental candidates

Keyword research can help you identify related topics to blog about as well as particular keywords to target for landing pages. If you run a tourism site and want to generate higher traffic to your pieces, ditch the simple seed keywords like “best restaurants” and focus instead on more specific terms like “Wednesday restaurant specials NYC”.

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