Keywords are the starting point for any SEO or PPC campaign. So it's okay to get a little bit obsessed with uncovering fresh new keyword opportunities.
There's no shortage of articles telling you how to optimise for these opportunities, but what about finding the keywords? This blog will explore how to start your search for new keywords and how to qualify them.
SEO Scout makes it easy to find new keyword opportunities and ideas by scraping Google Keyword Planner, the Google SERP, Quora and more. It's a comprehensive SEO tool that will guide you through the optimisation process from start to finish.
Our keyword research tools will allow you to organise your keywords into lists and track your progress. Once you have a target keyword in mind, SEO Scout will show you how to optimise your content for that keyword. And finally, the on-site tracking tools will show you how your keywords are performing and what steps you need to take to improve them.
What makes a great keyword?
This all depends on your goals and objectives. For example, if you want to break new ground and discover new audiences, a great keyword is a departure from your current strategy. But if you want to guarantee rankings, a great keyword is one with high volume and low competition.
If you search for a keyword and there are already 5+ pages of identical blogs on the topic, it might not be the best keyword. Unless, of course, you can provide unique insight that solves the problem better than anything that has been shared before.
Regular keyword research might feel repetitive, but there are always new avenues to explore. These are just some of the methods you can use to uncover incredible keyword opportunities using SEO Scout.
Using the Keyword Golden Ratio to qualify keywords
The Keyword Golden Ratio is an old strategy that might still hold some relevance today. It offers a simple way to check if your topic idea has been done to death.
This method uses the search modifier allintitle: to find pages that are also targeting the keyword. You then divide the total number of search results by the search volume to get your ratio. Anything below 0.25 is considered the sweet spot.
For example, the phrase "find competitor SEO keywords" has a search volume of 50 and there are 90 pages with this in the title, giving us a ratio of 1.8. This suggests that there is already plenty of information out there about this topic. You can still target this keyword, particularly if you can add something new to the pot, but don't expect fast results.
Compare this to the keyphrase "do internal links help SEO". This phrase gets an average of 260 searches per month in the UK, but there are just 28 results with this phrase in the title. This gives us a ratio of 0.1.
Obviously, this is not an exact science, but it does offer some guidance on which topics might not have
Think about intent
Perhaps the easiest way to qualify a keyword in your content strategy is by thinking about the intent.
When you understand the intent, you can do a better job of giving website visitors exactly what they are looking for.
There are high intent keywords and low intent keywords. High intent keywords are used by searchers ready to make a purchase. When they are simply searching for the best deal, they might use keywords such as:
- Buy
- Discount code
- Deals
- Coupons
- Free shipping
Product-specific keywords are also high intent. These include:
- Branded searched
- Product searches
- Product categories
- Affordable
- Cheap
- Best
- Review
- Top
- Comparison
When a user searches "iPhone 12 Review", they don't want to land on a product page with marketing copy. They want an independent review or an aggregated review site. Likewise, when a user searches "buy iPhone 12 near me" they don't want a review, they want to know which shops in the local area stock the thing they need.
By understanding the intent of a keyword and making sure you provide content that matches the searcher's intent, you can increase your chances of ranking, improve the UX, and drive more high intent traffic to your site.
Ok, so now we know what makes a good keyword, how on earth do we go about finding them?
Brainstorm keywords related to your company or product:
This is the most basic method of keyword research, but one that you should never skip. When you want to discover new ways to apply keywords relevant to your business, your imagination if your only limit.
Think about the topics that matter the most to your customers and start researching. Run through support emails for reoccurring themes, phrases and words. And look for the unique ways your customers talk about your products. For example, they might use different terms and phrases that you had never considered.
For example, you might refer to a deep cleaning as a dental hygienist visit in the dental sector, but some patients will still search for a scale and polish. While 'dental hygienist' gets 12,100 searches per month in the UK, 'scale and polish' still gets an average of 4,400 searches per month.
Try to get outside of your perspective to identify new seed keywords. When you find a potential fit, create a new keyword list.
Look for trending keywords on Google Trends
Getting ahead of a trend is an excellent way to dominate the SERP. Use Google Trends to identify breakout topics related to your seed keyword. This can also save you from throwing resources after topics that are trending down.
Head to trends.google.com and enter your target keyword. You can then sort the related queries section by "rising" to give you an idea of topics that are increasing in popularity.
Enter these search terms into SEO Scout keyword research to learn the average search volume and to discover related keywords. Add these keywords to a list.
Check out what your competitors are doing
Competitor keyword research is an excellent way to uncover keywords you might have missed. SEO Scout makes it easy to look up who you are competing with for organic search traffic and see the keywords that your competitors are using.
Head to your SEO Scout dashboard and click on Competing Domains. Enter your website URL and select your target territory, then hit Research. You can learn more about how to filter these domains to find your direct competitors here.
You might uncover new, indirect competitors that are ranking for keywords that you haven't thought to target. Or you might discover direct competitors that are increasing their search marketing efforts.
When you have finished these steps, you should have an extensive list of new keywords to explore.
Start with a seed keyword
Once you have identified a strong seed keyword, it's time to dig down deep. Start a new topic research for your keyword and wait for SEO Scout to do the heavy lifting.
On your topic dashboard, you should see the Supporting Content Ideas tab. This tool will help you expand your content ideas and provide additional context to the reader.
For example, the keyword "check competitor keywords" offers many different avenues to explore. There are 34 keyword groups for this phrase, and each group could be expanded into a valuable piece of content. Linking between the content will help to provide additional context to the reader; not to mention this is best practice for SEO.
Use the topic research tool to plan your content and ensure you're including the content that your readers expect to find. By including semantically related words and phrases, you can increase the chances that your content will meet the user's expectations and match their search intent.
