Do you want to take your SEO strategy to a new level and reach more customers or more through the organic channel?

Then you should work with the right keyword research strategy because a lasting success in search engine optimization stands or falls with careful research. In this article, I’ll show you how I do my keyword research strategy for clients or my projects and which aspects I pay particular attention to.

This guide is very profound and detailed, so if you want to skip the theoretical background, at the end of the video I will also put together a concise screencast that explains exactly my process and in which I will work through some examples.

The Essentials In Brief

• Detailed and properly conducted keyword research is instrumental in the long-term and above all sustainable success of an SEO campaign.
• The most important components of keyword research are above all the search intention, the search volume as well and the competition.
• Several SEO tools can help you with keyword research. However, you should also use the so-called reverse engineering, for which you do not need any special tools.

Related: 10 Best Website Content & Keyword Analysis Tools

What is meant by keyword research?

Search engine optimization is not a special art or something that you have to study for years. It is relatively simple. Nevertheless, there are differences in the implementation – that is, you can do keyword research or so and just that is where the professional differs from the beginner.

The goal of SEO optimization is to create content that is structured and optimized to be later found by the user. One also likes to talk about so-called SEO texts.

The goal of keyword research is primarily to determine the search volume of individual keywords (or even search terms). Only in this way can I determine the demand – that is, how many people are looking for a keyword by a month?

But there are other goals as well. For example, I can use keyword research to determine the semantics between individual keywords – so I can identify topics and sub-topics as well as the relationships between the individual topic areas and then later replicate them to my page and text structure.

Read Also: Master the Art of Crafting Powerful Eye-catching Headlines for Your Blog Posts

Backgrounds: Everything you need to know about keyword research

In the following, I want to explain to you all the theoretical background of keyword research. The better you understand the context of search engine optimization, the easier it will be for you to use it.

What is a keyword?

As already briefly indicated, a keyword is nothing more than a search term. Users use search engines, such as Google, to perform a specific action. This can be a problem or a question, for example. But we’ll come back to that later, especially when talking about the so-called search intention.

Each keyword has a monthly search volume, which indicates how often users search for this term on average. These values ​​can be read out with different tools and should serve as a guideline.

The keywords are mainly divided into two parameters: the number of word strings and the search volume. Keywords with a relatively lower search volume and a word string of 2+ words are usually referred to as long-tail keywords.

Keywords that consist of one or two words and that have a high search volume (for example, 1000+) are called short-tail keywords. Some also say Head Keywords. But a big part is the keywords between the two extremes, the so-called mid-tail keywords.

An important rule that you should remember at this point is the following: The more specific a search query is, in other words, the lower the search volume, and the larger the word string (long tail), the higher the later conversion.

This relationship is quite easy to understand because shorter keywords such as e.g. “Slimming” are very broad and there is not one intention (see next point) behind the keyword.

What is meant by the search intention?

The search intention is certainly one of the most important concepts in the field of search engines. I try to explain this very complex construct in this article as simply as possible – after all, you do not have to understand all the backgrounds, but only those aspects that are immediately necessary for keyword research.

Later, I will also make a separate article about the search intention and link it to you as soon as it’s online.

As I mentioned before, the user follows a specific goal with his search on Google or any other search engine. If we stop for a moment and think about what we’ve been looking for on the Internet all of the last time, we’ll probably think of the following situations:

• Information about a specific topic searched
• Looking for a particular café or café near us
• We wanted to buy something specific
• We just used Google to call amazon.de

Most of all searches are associated with an informative user intent – that is, the user uses the search engine Google to get to the information.

Google itself defines the user intent in the detailed Google Quality Rater Guidelines as follows:

So if we want to write about a specific topic (meaning keyword), we always have to look for the search intent behind it. A simple example shows how crucial the search intention can be:

Suppose we run a financial side and come across the subject: interest calculator. We check the keyword with an arbitrary tool and find that there is quite an attractive search volume. Does that mean, then, that we have a chance to rank at Google with an in-depth article on “Interest Calculator” or “Calculate Interest”?

No. Why? Very easily! The search intention for this keyword is clear users want to see Google a simple and compact interest calculator – no guidebook or explanatory video, but a very simple interest calculator.

What does that mean in concrete terms?

You should always think about users’ intentions when doing keyword research. What does the user pursue when he types in a specific keyword on Google? What does he want to achieve with it? What kind of result does he want to see?

The whole thing is unfortunately not always so easy to determine – by the way also for the complex and intelligent algorithm of Google not. In the practical part, I will give you a few tips and tricks on how you can get relatively reliable results in the analysis of search intention.

At this point, you should already remember the following: Several keywords can have the same search intention. The reader has a specific goal and can achieve this goal with different search terms. As a result, a topic page can rank for multiple keywords – it’s not uncommon for a detailed subpage to appear on Google for up to 2,000 or even more keywords.

What kind of content do I need to make a ranking likely?

In this section, I would like to specify the topic of search intention again. In the first part, I showed you how to recognize the search intent of a keyword with the help of Google itself. Now I want to give you a few tips regarding the content.

To boost your chances of ranking high, leverage the power of content analysis. Create valuable, informative, and engaging content that aligns with your target audience’s needs. Utilize keyword research and analyze competitor content to identify gaps and opportunities. Aim for relevance and quality, and keep updating and optimizing your content for better rankings.

Most of the user already has a rough idea of ​​what kind of result he wants to see on Google. We can take advantage of this and analyze the top 3 or top 5 results with the help of so-called “reverse engineering”.

Let’s say we want to create an asset-building article. For this, we enter our keyword as usual in Google and take a look at the first 3 or first 5 search results – the ads except sometimes.

As we can see, we already find some similarities in the SERPs (search results). All articles refer to specific tips, strategies, or rules for asset accumulation. This is already a relatively clear indication of which direction our article should take later.

Who do we write for? Target Group and Buyer Journey

Another component of keyword research, which one can easily put into the field of search intention, is the so-called target group analysis. Put simply, it is about having a concrete face of the future reader in mind.

In principle, you can divide the information-driven search queries into 3 rough patterns:

• Troubleshooting
• Doubt-clean
• definition

Take the keyword “drain clogged” as an example. Users searching for Google right then usually have a problem. Most likely they are in an urgent situation and want to know how to clear their clogged drain.

If we look at this situation from the perspective of a purchase process, the user is just at the beginning of his journey. He reminds himself that he has a problem and needs a solution.

In this situation, it is therefore clever to pick up the user with his problem and first explain why drains clog up at all.

The next step in the buyer journey could be for the user to come across a solution in our article, e.g. a pipe cleaner. He considers buying such a pipe cleaner and is suddenly in the process of considering it.

The next step is, therefore, to convince him of the positive aspects of a pipe cleaner, so that his decision becomes a decision.

The three phases of the Buyer Journey are summarized:

• awareness
• consideration
• decision

Keyword research: Practical application, instructions, and tips

In this part we go through the process of keyword research strategy together – let’s forget the whole theoretical stuff and focus on the process. I will gradually supplement the individual steps with suitable videos.

I would like to play through the process on the example of some keywords, but the first hint: It should not be exact step-by-step instructions. I’ll just try to explain my approach and explain each step of what I do specifically and what I respect.

Step # 1: Seed keywords as a starting point

The first step in the keyword research strategy is to identify so-called seed keywords. These serve as the starting point for your further research. In principle, you can find seed keywords in two different ways (ideally you apply both methods):

Option 1 – Brainstorming: Think about which keywords your potential customers might enter on Google. As a rule, you will already find some approaches and can derive seed keywords from these approaches.

Option 2 – Competition-Based Research: In this method, you analyze with the help of an SEO tool, such as Sistrix or Ahrefs the Google rankings of your immediate competitors. This will let you see which keywords are working for your competitors and also get seed keywords.

In turn, you use the identified seed keywords as a starting point in your keyword tool, e.g. the KW finder. If you enter a seed keyword in the KW Finder, it will generate further keyword suggestions matching your search query.

The goal of this first process step is to differentiate your topic. You succeed in that you find out all the relevant cornerstone keywords and notes. Instead of the KW-Finder (paid tool), you can also use free alternatives like Ubersuggest.

At the end of this step, you will usually get a very detailed list of keywords and keyword ideas. But if you think the Keyword Research strategy would have been completed at this point, I’ll have to disappoint you. Now the right work begins.

Step # 2: Find search suggestions and sub-topics

After we’ve been able to fill our list of keywords well, let’s take a look at the so-called search suggestions and sub-topics in this step. Anyone who has already worked cleanly (and with a good tool) in the first step will not have that much work left in this step.

However, I have outsourced this step separately in this article, because in practice I also work with other tools as in step 1.

First, let’s take advantage of more search suggestions from Google. Just enter one of our seed keywords and scroll to the bottom of the first page of search results. There Google shows us more search suggestions.

For larger topics, these search suggestions give hints to search refinements – i.e. those searches that users are looking for after they have already Googled our seed keywords. For larger topics, it may make sense to later target some of these aspects on their subpages (pillar cluster content).

For smaller topics, the search suggestions are an indication of sub-topics, if we can include these keywords directly in our article. We match these suggestions from Google with our existing keyword list and supplement it if necessary or useful.

Step # 3: W questions, keyword grouping, and structure

In the third step, we take a look at W-questions, which are searched by the users for our topic. We can do that either with a tool like the KW-Finder or using the free tool AnswerThePublic

The W questions help us with the later structure of the article. The best practice is to use questions as a heading in an article and then answer them in the following paragraph.

Next, let’s start by grouping now very likely extremely detailed keyword list. We select suitable keywords according to the following criteria:

• Which keywords have the same search intent?
• Which keywords do not fit thematically?
• What are the individual keywords about each other?
• Which keywords can easily be on a page?

I always make such a grouping in Google spreadsheets and work very intensively with different shades.

It’s important to note that keywords like “clogged drain” or “clogged drain” are usually keyword-it will make your list extremely short.

Keyword Research Strategy: The Best Resources and Entry Opportunities

Develop a robust keyword research strategy as part of your SEO checklist. Utilize top resources to uncover valuable keywords and identify entry points for optimizing content and boosting website visibility.

Which SEO tools are best for successful keyword research?

In this section, I would like to introduce you explicitly to my current favorite tools in the field of keyword research. I use both free and paid tools in my everyday life, which is why I want to show a good mix here as well. For each of the featured tools, I’ll give you a short introduction video and imagine the features.

Tool # 1: The KW Finder

The KW Finder from Mangools was one of my first paid SEO tools and I still use it almost daily. Above all, the KW Finder has strengths in finding synonyms and related keywords. I use the KW Finder mainly in the first steps of keyword research, just to get an overview of all the keywords.

Incidentally, with the help of the tool you can also determine W-questions and autosuggestions – the functions are well thought out and helpful, but I usually use other tools or just Google for that.

Tool # 2: Ahrefs

Right at the beginning of the note: I’ve done more or less professional search engine optimization for over 2 years and was too stingy to finally get the tool. But I was able to try it out for free and was always enthusiastic. Ahrefs owns the largest keyword databases of all SEO tools and also the largest backlink record.

Still, I have to confess that I rarely use Ahrefs for keyword research. The only exception – and that’s the main reason why I have it now – is competitive keyword research.

This is done in such a way that one looks at his best competitors and with the help of Ahrefs can determine their organic keyword rankings. I will write a little more about that in the next section.

Read Also: Best 8 Keyword Tracking Tools for SEO Excellence

Trivia: Everything else you need to know about keyword research

In this last section of the article, I answer all open questions about keyword research. In the future, I will also be adding additional reader questions to this part.

How much does professional keyword research cost?

If you as a solo or marketing manager still have the feeling that the keyword research strategy is too complex for you or you feel that you just do not have time, you can of course also have a professional keyword research strategy done. The number of providers in the market is not exactly small due to the high demand.

I would like to give you a few tips regarding the price at this point. I’m a big fan of offering keyword research strategy as a service in conjunction with a kind of SEO approach – just listing keywords does not help most people, honestly.

This concept not only contains the keyword clusters or topics and sub-topics but also tells you specifically which sub-pages will be available later on your website and in which silos the content will be arranged.

Such an SEO concept is ideal for those who do not have the time to think strategically about the SEO strategy. It saves a lot of time – the implementation can then be done easily in-house or just on your own time.

In the following table, you will find a few hints on the price of keyword research strategy – something like this I also offer to my customers.

Conclusion

The art of keyword research strategy is to delve deeply into the subject, so you can assign all the different terms to each other and understand exactly what kind of intentions of the requested user. There are a variety of approaches and tools to perform professional keyword research strategy – but the theoretical aspects remain the same.

In the current era of search engine optimization, it’s all about worrying about its content and its future visitors. Who already has a lead over the competition? Outdated concepts such as keyword density, headlines, and the targeted placement of keywords play a subordinate role today.