1 April 2022
How to Do Keyword Research for a Blog Post
Do you want to do keyword research for your new blog? If so, you’ve landed in the right place.
Keyword research helps you generate better content ideas that will help you increase traffic and build highly engaging content that people will like.
Assume you’ve recently started a blog, and you’re not getting any traffic from search engines because no one is searching for whatever you’re writing about.
Don’t worry; we won’t allow this to happen to you. In this guide, we’ll cover
- how to find the best keywords for a blog
- how to use keyword research tools
- how to select the right keywords
And almost everything that you need to know about how to do keyword research for a blog post.
So, if you’re looking for more traffic and better rankings, this guide is for you.
Let’s start with the basics before showing you how to do keyword research for a blog post.
What are Keywords?
Keywords are short phrases that you include in your blog posts and website in order to attract visitors from Google and other internet sources.
For example, a WordPress blogger writing about the best ways to make money might use keywords in their content like:
- Make money blogging
- Make money online
- Earn money from home
By targeting such keywords, when someone searches those terms on Google, the WordPress blogger’s content is more likely to show at the top of search results.
Previously, content creators used to stuff keywords inside their content in order to rank high on Google. However, Google has recently started to penalize content that contains too many stuff keywords.
When it comes to keyword optimization, there are a few guidelines to follow:
- Your content should be simple and easy to read. Write for your readers first, then for SEO.
- Don’t stuff keywords in your text; they should only be 2% of all your content.
- Ensure your keywords are used naturally and properly throughout your content.
- Use your keywords within the body of your blog posts, page title, headings, and meta description.
Using keywords is one of the most effective ways to get more traffic to your blog.
However, you have to figure out which keywords are the best to use if you want them to work. This is where keyword research comes in.
What is Keyword Research?
Keyword research is the way of identifying the specific words and phrases that people use in search engines and other platforms like YouTube.
After you’ve created a list of keywords, you’ll need to analyze and compare them to decide which are the most effective. Then you include those keywords into your content in order to rank better in search results.
In terms of SEO, keyword research is one of the most crucial tasks that help in the ranking of your website.
Why is Keyword Research Important?
The most crucial aim for each blogger is to rank their site on Google and increase traffic to it. Keyword research helps you by providing useful information about what your potential users are looking for and the specific words and phrases they use to find it.
Once you’ve identified which keywords to target, you can optimize your blog with those keywords and start driving traffic to your blog.
Keyword research is the first point in every SEO strategy since it directly influences all of the other tasks you do for your blog or website. Finding ideas for your content, email outreach, and content promotion all rely on effective keyword research to be properly done.
Keyword research provides direction, advises you where to go, and helps you better understand your target audience.
How to do Keyword Research for Blog
After knowing what keyword research is and why it is essential, we’ll go through how to do proper keyword research.
The first step is to keyword ideas.
Step 1: Brainstorm Keyword Ideas
Start your keyword research by creating a list of possible keywords for your blog.
Assuming you have a WordPress blog, you should analyze what keywords your target audience would use to find your content.
Some of the ideas, also known as seed keywords, that come to mind are:
These are your seed keywords, which are too broad to be targeted on their own. You’ll need to cut them down to more particular keywords to make them simpler to target.
And that’s exactly what we’ll do, using a variety of websites and resources.
Searches Related To
Would it not be good if you could get keyword ideas from Google?
You can, and you don’t have to look very hard to find it!
For example, in Google, search for any keyword related to your niche, as seen in the example below.
Go to the bottom of the search results page to the searches related to section, where you’ll see eight keywords that are closely related to your search phrase.
These ideas come directly from Google, indicating that they are popular searches with many people searching for them. You shouldn’t bother to include these on your list.
If you click on one of the related keywords, you will be sent to a different page. Scroll down to the searches related to the section to see a list of new keywords. Rinse and repeat until you’ve run out of keyword suggestions.
Google and YouTube AutoSuggest
When you enter a keyword into Google, you will see that it will start providing keyword suggestions using the autosuggest feature.
These are useful keywords because Google suggests them based on how many people are searching for them worldwide.
You can use the same tactic to find keywords on YouTube:
This is one of the easiest methods for adding keywords to your list.
People Also Ask
The good part about Google is that they don’t hold back when it comes to suggesting keywords.
On almost every Google search page, there is a section called People Also Ask. This section contains a list of questions relating to the search term you just searched for.
As a result, if you search for “make money blogging” you’ll come across questions related to make money blogging.
You may make use of these questions by answering them on your blog. This will make it simpler for you to rank on Google, as Google prefers content that completely meets the searcher’s intent.
Analyze Your Competition
Another useful keyword research technique is to analyze your competitors. It may provide you with a lot of keyword suggestions for your blog and help you outrank your main competitors in search results.
This method requires using a keyword research tool such as SEMRush or Ahrefs.
Step 2: Use Keyword Research Tools
We’ve discussed several practical ways for doing manual keyword research.
This section will cover how you may save time by using various keyword research tools.
We’ll go through them one by one.
Ahrefs
Ahrefs is a well-known SEO tool mostly used for link building and keyword research.
Their keyword research tool is one of the most powerful on the market, providing many data. This data might help you decide whether or not to pursue a keyword.
For newcomers, the amount of available data might be overwhelming. This is why, to prevent confusion, we recommend that you solely focus on the Keyword Ideas section.
Each item on the menu will provide you with keyword suggestions that are closely related to the one you’ve chosen.
SEMRush
SEMRush is another excellent SEO tool that may save you a lot of time. It has many features that are similar to Ahrefs.
One of its features is that it may help you in stealing your competitor’s keyword by just entering the URL into the main search box.
Once you’ve hit the Start Now button, go to the left and select the Organic Search option.
It will then display all of the specific terms for which your competitor ranks. You may look over them and make a list of the keywords that you believe have the most value.
UberSuggest
Manually scraping Google autocomplete suggestions might be time-consuming. Fortunately, you can use UberSuggest, a free tool that scrapes Google autocomplete suggestions for you.
Not only that, but UberSuggest also provides you with useful information such as keyword search volume, keyword difficulty, CPC, and more.
Enter your keyword phrase in the search field and hit the Search button.
Then, click on Keyword Ideas, and you’ll get a list of keywords that you may use.
AnswerThePublic
AnswerThePublic is free visual keyword research and content idea tool. It uses the auto-suggest feature of Google and Bing and provides the facts in a more understandable visual format.
Just go to the website and enter a keyword or phrase. After that, the tool will load keywords and display them as visual maps. Reports are divided into questions, prepositions, comparisons, alphabetical order, and related keywords.
If you click on any keyword, Google search results will be displayed in a new browser tab. This helps you to immediately see what people are looking for and how you might respond with relevant content.
Google Keyword Planner
Another useful tool for finding keyword ideas is Google Keyword Planner. However, its sole disadvantage is that it does not display specific search volumes. To get exact search volumes figures, you will have to spend money on Google Ad campaigns.
To generate keywords, go to Google Keyword Planner and click on Discover new keywords.
Then, enter the topic for which you want to generate keywords and click on Get Results.
You will now see a variety of keywords related to your main topic.
Step 3: How to Find the Best Keywords
Now that you have learned how to generate a good amount of keyword ideas, it’s time to review them to see whether they’re worth your time. Because if a keyword is too difficult to rank for, you won’t be able to get past Google’s third page, which is something no blogger wants.
You also can’t concentrate on all of the keywords in your list at the same time. You must prioritize and select the best keywords that will deliver the best results.
You will need to rank each keyword based on a variety of factors. Then, choose the ideal keywords for your site, which we’ll show you how to do in this part.
Analyze the Search Intent of the Keyword
Analyzing the search intent of the keyword might helps in knowing what the searchers are looking for. Once you know the searcher’s intent, you can quickly answer their question and satisfy their search intent.
There are four types of search intent:
- Informational Intent: The searcher needs information, such as cricket scores.
- Navigational Intent: The searcher is looking for a specific website, such as Facebook.
- Transactional Intent: The searcher is trying to complete a specific action like buying a MacBook pro.
- Commercial Intent: The searcher is trying to learn more before making a purchase.
Understanding the search intent of users can help you target the proper keywords and provide relevant content to readers.
Google wants to rank sites that match the search term and the search intent, so keep this in mind while conducting keyword research and creating content.
Keyword Search Volume
Keyword search volume measures the number of times a keyword gets searched over the year. Almost every SEO tool we’ve covered in this guide displays the keyword search volume.
Why is it an important factor? It’s pretty straightforward, and the more people search for a keyword, the more traffic you can get from it.
Keyword Trends
Before you finalize your keywords, you should check to see if they are trending.
The best way to analyze keyword trends is through Google Trends.
Why is it vital to look at keyword trends? Because certain keywords are only available during specific times of the year.
For example, any keyword relating to Black Friday sales would have high search traffic once a year in November but little search volume on other days.
Targeting such keywords can have a big impact, but only if the terms are popular. If you’re just getting started, it’s smart to concentrate on keywords that will bring you traffic all year.
Traffic Potential
Keyword search volumes and keyword trends only tell half of the picture. To get an accurate estimate of how much traffic you will receive from ranking on the first page of Google, you must examine the keyword’s traffic potential.
The best way to analyze the traffic potential is by looking at the organic CTR (click-through rate). The organic click-through rate (CTR) is a measure that indicates how many times a searcher clicks on the search results after searching for the target keyword.
If the CTR is higher than 50%, it’s worth working on ranking for.
Keyword Difficulty
Ranking for high-difficulty keywords would be near impossible for someone who has just started a blog. To rank for such keywords, you must obtain many backlinks and increase your site authority.
We suggest you target keywords with low keyword difficulty at first and then target more competitive keywords as your authority increases. Focus on long-tail keywords, which are significantly simpler to rank for.
Read our beginner guide on what long-tail keywords are and how to find them.
Final Thought on Keyword Research
After you’ve done all of the steps listed above, you may start working on your keyword strategy, but that doesn’t imply your job is done. Good keyword research requires proper follow-up, which involves continuous monitoring and tweaking.
These are the most vital things to consider when developing a keyword strategy for your site. Remember that picking the right keywords is crucial for a blog’s success, but it’s only one of many aspects to consider; you can’t ignore the others.
We hope this post helps you learn how to do keyword research for a blog. If you like this post, you might be also want to read:
