{"id":935,"date":"2013-03-22T10:39:50","date_gmt":"2013-03-22T10:39:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.adlift.com\/?post_type=blog_post&#038;p=935"},"modified":"2022-10-18T06:53:11","modified_gmt":"2022-10-18T06:53:11","slug":"laying-groundwork-keys-keyword-research","status":"publish","type":"blog_post","link":"https:\/\/www.adlift.com\/in\/blog\/laying-groundwork-keys-keyword-research\/","title":{"rendered":"Laying the Groundwork: The Keys to Keyword Research"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_66_1 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title \" >Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=https:\/\/www.adlift.com\/in\/blog\/laying-groundwork-keys-keyword-research\/#Be_As_Comprehensive_As_Possible title=\"Be As Comprehensive As Possible\">Be As Comprehensive As Possible<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=https:\/\/www.adlift.com\/in\/blog\/laying-groundwork-keys-keyword-research\/#Put_Yourself_In_the_Mind_Of_The_User title=\"Put Yourself In the Mind Of The User\">Put Yourself In the Mind Of The User<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=https:\/\/www.adlift.com\/in\/blog\/laying-groundwork-keys-keyword-research\/#Use_Every_Tool_You_Can title=\"Use Every Tool You Can\">Use Every Tool You Can<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=https:\/\/www.adlift.com\/in\/blog\/laying-groundwork-keys-keyword-research\/#Dont_Forget_Competitive_Analysis title=\"Don\u2019t Forget Competitive Analysis\">Don\u2019t Forget Competitive Analysis<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=https:\/\/www.adlift.com\/in\/blog\/laying-groundwork-keys-keyword-research\/#Make_Sure_To_Manually_Check_The_Search_Results title=\"Make Sure To Manually Check The Search Results\">Make Sure To Manually Check The Search Results<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-213\" style=\"line-height: 22.5px\" src=\"https:\/\/www.adlift.com\/in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/keyword-research-500x500-1-150x150-1.jpg\" alt=\"keyword-research-500x500 (1)\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Keyword research may not be the most exciting or sexiest part of an SEO strategy, but you also can\u2019t build an effective SEO strategy without it. Detailed and in-depth keyword research is the foundation upon which the rest of your plan is built and while it may seem simple (and it is) there are still best practices you should follow to ensure you are making the most out of all those hours spent thinking up different ways people might ask about \u201cgetting more blog traffic\u201d, or something like that.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Be_As_Comprehensive_As_Possible\"><\/span>Be As Comprehensive As Possible<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>We know, chasing down every keyword and phrase that is relevant to your product, service, and brand is going to be exhausting and tedious. But remember that the rest of your SEO strategy \u2013 interlinking, link-building, content creation, and meta title and description optimization \u2013 will rely on accurate and highly-targeted keyword research for its success. Google\u2019s suggestions will gift you some of the easy variations on the words or phrases, but don\u2019t solely rely on Google\u2019s suggestions. Use other suggestion tools, ask others for help, and add \u201cs\u201d to the end of every singular noun in the phrase. It sounds dumb but any experienced keyword researcher will tell you of times they unearthed a few gems almost by accident and it is because they understood that there really is no limit to the depths of your keyword research.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Put_Yourself_In_the_Mind_Of_The_User\"><\/span>Put Yourself In the Mind Of The User<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>It seems obvious but it is always good to remind yourself that you aren&#8217;t trying to target yourself, you are trying to target \u201cthe average search engine user\u201d. Of course there is no stereotype for the average search engine user, but if you are constantly asking yourself \u201cOkay, if I was the user and potential customer, what would terms would I search?\u201d you will almost always find that your list of potentially fruitful terms is longer. Weird tricks like purposefully rearranging letters or leaving out a word can occasionally help you find hidden opportunity. And thinking about what someone less web-savvy than yourself might search can be a good way to find odd turns of phrase and terms you never would have thought of.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Use_Every_Tool_You_Can\"><\/span>Use Every Tool You Can<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-large wp-image-210 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.adlift.com\/in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Google-AdWords-Keyword-Tool1-1024x493-1.png\" alt=\"Google AdWords Keyword Tool\" width=\"620\" height=\"298\" \/><\/p>\n<p>While the Google Keyword Tool may be the most popular by a wide margin, it is not without its faults and tools like WordTracker, WordStream, Keyword Blaze, and Keyword Elite offer features that Google\u2019s tool doesn&#8217;t. It sounds like a redundant use of your time and its possible the efforts will be fruitless, but consider it an extension of being comprehensive. The most accurate research in any field or space always comes from those with the most information, and using all the tools at your fingertips ensures that you will have all of the information available to you when you start selecting terms to target.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Dont_Forget_Competitive_Analysis\"><\/span>Don\u2019t Forget Competitive Analysis<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>When it comes to keyword research, competitive analysis really takes on two distinct forms. The first type of competitive analysis is studying the efforts of your competitors in the space, and this should be done before you even start keyword research. Look at their website, see what terms they are going after, see what phrases they link to, find out what words they use in their H1 tags, and study what type of titles and descriptions they are using. This will not only help you build a base list of low-hanging fruit to use, but might also give you ideas on what words and phrases you hadn&#8217;t thought to branch off into. Then, make sure to include branded competitor keyword search volume in your research if only because it will give you more data in that marketing channel. Don\u2019t get silly and try to target their branded keywords, but it\u2019s always nice to know where you stand.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Make_Sure_To_Manually_Check_The_Search_Results\"><\/span>Make Sure To Manually Check The Search Results<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>In reality, checking to see who ranks for the key terms you are targeting is more important competitive analysis than studying your business competitors. These are your real competitors, at least when it comes to optimizing your website for certain terms, and while some tools give you a rough estimate of the competition for terms, nothing beats spending a little time looking for yourself. This will help improve the effectiveness of your SEO tactics and will also refine your list of words to target. For example, you are unlikely to ever outrank .gov or .edu domains, so it is not necessarily a good use of your time to target key terms dominated by those types of sites, even if the search volume looks almost too juicy to pass up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Keyword research may not be the most exciting or sexiest part of an SEO strategy, but you also can\u2019t build an effective SEO strategy without it. Detailed and in-depth keyword research is the foundation upon which the rest of your plan is built and while it may seem simple (and it is) there are still &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.adlift.com\/in\/blog\/laying-groundwork-keys-keyword-research\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Laying the Groundwork: The Keys to Keyword Research&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":2137,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"post-tag":[],"blog-category":[87],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v17.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Laying the Groundwork: The Keys to Keyword Research - AdLift India<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Keyword research may not be the most exciting or sexiest part of an SEO strategy, but you also can\u2019t build an effective SEO strategy without it. 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