What is Keyword Research and Analysis?

So you’ve been asked to do keyword research and analysis to improve search engine rankings — now what? 

• What is keyword research? 
• Why is it necessary? 
• What are you analyzing? 
• Where do you start? 

In this article, we’ll break it down for you step-by-step. Get tips on how to conduct keyword research properly to get your content ranking well and increase organic traffic.

What Is Keyword Research? 

Keyword research is an important part of content marketing. It involves finding out which words and phrases people use in search engines like Google to understand what they’re searching for (search intent).

When you adjust your content to rank well for keywords, you’re able to drive more organic traffic to your site from search engines. 

Continuing to optimize and rank for different keywords helps your site appear in the results for a wider variety of searches. 

What’s Involved in Keyword Research?

Keyword research involves finding out not only which keywords people are searching for, but finding words or phrases that are: 

1. Relevant to your audience and business goals — For example, an organic skincare brand might want to rank for “clear skin remedies,” but not “clear skin home remedies,” because they want people with a search intent to buy their product.
2. Popular enough to be searched often — Trying to rank for something highly specific (long tail keywords) like “DIY clear skin remedies made with organic shea butter” could rank a site higher; however, the volume (number of people searching) may be so low that it won’t boost traffic.
3. Possible to rank for with your brand’s budget — Trying to rank for generic keywords and phrases like ‘skin care’ could be incredibly costly (if you incorporate PPC or pay-per-click marketing into your content strategy), and it’s likely that major brands (with large budgets) have already positioned themselves for this ultra-competitive keyword. 

In a snapshot, it’s best to aim for specific, popular, and relevant searches because that’s what your target audience is looking for. 

So, how do you go about doing keyword research?

How to Research Keywords

The great part about keyword research is that there are a variety of free and paid tools available to help. Here’s how to research keywords step by step:

Step 1: Start by brainstorming

The first step in keyword research is creating a list of the keywords or phrases related to your brand, service or product. However, you don’t just have to stop there. Think about the problem(s) your audience has and what kind of solution(s) they’re looking for. 

Step 2: Do a competitor analysis

Before you can level the playing field with your competition, you have to know who you’re playing against. 

There are both free and paid tools available that tell you which keywords competitors are ranking for. This can open up areas where you can carve out a keyword niche and own it. 

If you are reviewing content as part of the competitor analysis, try the Originality.ai Content Optimizer to analyze content and compare it with up to 10 competing URLs for a specific keyword.

Step 3: Use keyword research tools

Some popular keyword tools include:

• Google Keyword Planner
• Ahrefs
• SEMrush 

Using keyword research tools can help you pinpoint specific keywords and phrases and give you basic data on search volume. 

They can also tell you how many people (approximately) search for that keyword over the course of a month. Some tools also include a difficulty percentage in terms of how difficult it is to rank for that word or phrase. 

Step 4: Focus on long-tail keywords

Long-tail keywords are longer phrases that are highly targeted. 

Keep in mind that something like the previous example of “DIY clear skin remedies made with organic shea butter” may not rank well because, although it’s a long-tail keyword, it may not have high conversion rates or sufficient search volume.

The difference with long-tail keywords that could rank well is that certain long-tail keywords have higher conversion rates and search volumes.

Someone searching for “best organic facial moisturizer for sensitive skin” is searching for that exact product and is likely looking to make a purchase. 

Step 5: Understand search intent

Let’s revisit the previous example for an organic moisturizer, in this case, the person wants a specific type of skin care, and they have a specific concern (they need something for sensitive skin). 

They’ve made their search intent clear. As a result, if your product comes up at or near the top, they’ll likely make a purchase because you matched for those long-tail keywords. 

What Is Keyword Analysis?

Once you have a list of keywords, it’s time to narrow it down and start keyword analysis. 

Keyword analysis uses metrics to determine which keywords to focus on, including: 

• Search Volume: How often the keyword is searched.
• Keyword Difficulty: How hard it is to rank for the keyword, especially if your site is new or you haven’t built up much authority yet.
• Cost-per-click (CPC): A metric for paid ads that tells you how much other advertisers are paying per click for a particular keyword. 
• Relevance: How relevant the keyword is to what you offer.
• Competition: How hard it is to rank for that keyword.

Depending on your market or offer, you might even check metrics like historic or seasonal searches as well.

Free vs. paid keyword research and analysis tools

Using Google’s free keyword tool can tell you about the points above, but it does so broadly and is tailored for paid ad campaigns. As a result, its data may also include competition levels (how much an advertiser pays to appear in search results for that keyword) instead of how hard it is to rank for it organically. 

Paid keyword research and analysis tools, on the other hand, offer more accurate, specialized estimates on things like search volume and organic ranking difficulty. What’s more, they can often tell you what keywords your competitors are ranking for.  

How to Use Keywords in Your Content

Once you’ve done your keyword research and analysis, the next step is to use the keywords intelligently in your content. 

Incorporate keywords into:

• Titles
• Meta descriptions
• Headlines
• Throughout content

Be careful to avoid keyword stuffing as you do this. Keyword stuffing involves using a keyword too many times in a piece of content. 

How do you know if you’re using a keyword too often? You check for keyword density. If the density is too low, you may not rank for the keyword you’re aiming for. If it’s too high, you may be overdoing it.

Final Thoughts

As you write, keep an eye on the performance of the keywords you’ve chosen. Search engine optimization, especially keyword research and analysis, is not a “once and done” thing. 

Using tools like Originality.ai's Content Optimizer can help you continue to optimize your content and compare it with competitors to get insights that can boost your rankings.