Why you need keyword research
Emily Walker - 9 June 2020
Why You Need to be doing Keyword Research
What have you been Googling the past couple of months? We’re almost certain it’s included topics and phrases you’d never even thought about before, let alone considered putting into Google’s search engine.
There’s no doubt that the current situation we find ourselves in has thrown up a number of questions that we’re keen to find out the answers to. Like;
“What does furloughing mean?”
“Can I still ask my gardener to come round?”
And best yet…
“How do I make banana bread?”
The trend towards specific Google searches over the past couple of months has been fascinating to analyse. What spikes have there been within each industry? What do people want to know? But more importantly, how can we make sure we are the ones providing them with the answers?
As a digital marketing agency, Keyword Research is our bread and butter. We know that the difference between developing a website page which attracts high volumes of organic search, and one that falls flat, often comes down to the keywords used. This always rings true, but now more than ever.
Let’s take banana bread as an example…
According to one of our favourite tools, KWfinder, banana bread had an average search volume of around 150 thousand searches per month. However, the number of searches for banana bread in March alone stood at a whopping 2.7 million!
What does that tell us? People are searching for banana bread close to 20x more than they usually would. For all those bakers out there, now must be your time to start shouting about your famous banana bread and unbeatable recipes!
How do I make sure my website ranks for the right keywords?
Just because you have a delicious banana bread recipe and you’ve included these as keywords all over your page, you cannot guarantee that the 2.7 million people are going to choose your site over Joe Bloggs’. However, don’t give up hope, as there are certain tactics you can implement to increase the likelihood. The key is in understanding exactly what keywords to be targeting.
Short-tail versus long-tail keywords
Short tail keywords are search phrases with only one or two words. Their length makes them less specific than searches with more words.
These phrases are often ‘top of the sales funnel’, where users are broadly searching for a topic or theme – they are not necessarily looking for detailed information, and they are not often ready to convert.
Long–tail keywords are keywords or key phrases that are more specific – and usually longer – than more commonly searched for keywords.
Long-tail keywords get less search traffic, but will usually have a higher conversion value, as they are more specific. In fact, 70% of searches include long-tail words.
So, to put that into a context, searching for banana bread could throw up information about its history, Wikipedia articles, what is etc. We are most probably looking to target users further down the sales funnel i.e. best banana bread near me, how to make banana bread etc. We’d be better off using a more specific, longer phrase in order to match the correct user intent and engage with the target audience.
What is Keyword SEO Difficulty?
Keyword Difficulty (KD) is a measure provided by KWFinder – one of our favourite industry tools – which has been calculated from the Link Profile Strength of your URL. Giving you a figure from 1-100, it shows you exactly how difficult it would be to rank for each search term. As the number increases, the harder standing out becomes.
How can I use this knowledge to my advantage?
Knowing that banana bread is such a high search term currently, you can afford to take a cut on the search volume in preference of standing out.
As such, you could consider using a similar phrase, just with a better KD. For example, the KD for ‘banana bread’ stands at 63, ‘healthy banana cake’ drops to 51, ‘healthy banana bread’ is down at 45 and ‘easy banana cake’ is 43… You see where we are going with this one. Whilst of course ‘easy banana cake’ does not have 2.7 million searches, there are still 27 thousand individuals looking up that term – and all with a greater likelihood of stumbling across your page.
How can I make keyword research work for my business?
Just because you are not the ‘easy banana cake recipe’ queen, doesn’t mean you can’t use the same tools to hone in on your niche.
If you’re working in family law, are wills and probate being searched more than adoption right now? If you work in recruitment, what job sectors are people most commonly looking into? If you’re a fitness distributor, what types of equipment are you seeing the most interest in? By understanding what people are looking for right now, you can tailor your business to provide the answers – be that through useful blog content, ad spend, sales and distribution, discounts and offers etc.
Find out more
There are multiple SEO based tools to help ensure you and your business are incorporating the best tactics to get recognised by potential customers. Google Rank Brain, SEM Rush, Google Trends to name a few. At Wagada, we use these tools (and more!) on a day to day basis for keyword mapping activities. This enables us to deliver impactful results for all our client. Long tail versus short tail and KD only scratch the surface of some of the tactics we can implement to support your ability to be found online.
Every business can benefit greatly from doing Keyword Research. Understanding the nuances around what is trending and popular right now, and thus, where is best to focus attention. It is the businesses that can show that they are providing support in the areas their clients need today, that will continue being the ‘go-to’ brands well into the future.
If you’re looking to understand more about how effective Keyword Research can help you to determine a profitable niche, rank well in searches and drive traffic to your site, we’d love to help. Get in touch with the team today.
