7 Ways

To Master Keyword
Research for SEO
7 Ways to Master
Keyword Research for SEO
Organic keyword research is an ongoing process, but it doesn’t have to be an uphill battle the entire time.

Keyword research is critical for ranking content well both organically and for paid services like Google or
Bing Ads. When leads and conversions are on the line, it’s important to take the time to figure out which
keywords have the highest likelihood of attracting the right visitors to your site at the right time.

Why Is Keyword Research

Important for SEO?
Before we dig into the tools and methodologies of keyword research, let’s take a step back to examine
why exactly keyword research is important from an SEO perspective.
It’s important to understand which keywords you’ll be targeting well before ever beginning to write a
piece of content. Your targeted keywords help to give your content focus, and will serve as a guide for
your writing. Content that’s clearly and concisely written, and that has a clear focus, tends to rank better
on Google and other search engines than content that jumps all over the place.
Since the main objective of an SEO campaign is to increase both the quantity and quality of the traffic
and leads that you’re generating, it’s important that the keywords that you’re targeting are highly relevant
to your business and what your potential customers are actually searching.
Commonly Used Keyword Research
Tools & Methods
There are so many tools that can help with keyword research that at times it may seem overwhelming.
We’ve aggregated a list of what we feel are some of the top free (& paid) keyword research tools that you
should be aware of in 2020 and beyond.

1. Google AutoComplete
What better place to start looking for keyword ideas than with the #1 search engine in the world?
After you’ve determined the topics that you want to rank for, head to Google to determine what users are
searching for relating to the topic. The autofill option on Google will provide you with insight into what
others are searching for, and can help to determine additional topics.

How to use it:

This is by far one of the most simple keyword research methods thanks to Google’s simplistic nature.
All you need to do is navigate to Google.com and begin typing a topic or phrase that you’d like additional
keyword information on - Google will handle the rest by auto-populating a list of related queries.
Additionally, Google provides related search queries at the bottom of the search results page:
2. Google Search Console
While it may not be a traditional keyword research tool, Google’s Search Console sheds light on
potentially hundreds of opportunity keywords.
Once you get it set up with your website, you’ll be able to see every public page on your website, and the
exact keywords each is ranking for via the performance report section.
With the performance report, you’ll be able to see which pages on your site are generating the most
clicks, what search queries those pages are ranking for, and exactly what users are typing into Google to
reach your page through organic search.
You’ll also be able to see the average position that your content is ranking for any available search term,
so you’ll know which pages you might need to revise in order to rank higher for a chosen keyword.

How to use it:

After you’ve set up Google Search Console, you’ll have access to a wide array of tools.
To begin with the performance report section:

1. Select your desired property on the left-hand side of the page

2. In the navigation panel to the left of the page, select “Search Results” under the “Performance”
section

Once the search results data loads, you’ll be able to select which metrics you’d like to see, a time frame
for the data, and whether you’d like to see:

• Data related to the keywords that you’re ranking for

• The pages on your domain
• The countries that you’re showing results in
• The devices that people are using
• How your content shows in organic search results.
3. Google Trends
Google Trends is a great way to find new keywords and see which keywords are trending. It also
provides valuable insight into the geographic performance of keywords, which can be helpful
when it comes to local SEO or geotargeting campaigns.
This Google tool is extremely valuable not only for the additional keywords that it provides, but also for
the trend data that it shows.
Knowing which keywords have been trending upward and which have been losing monthly search
volume helps you plan for future content and determine what existing content may need to be revised
or rewritten to fit new search trends.

How to use it:

There are two main ways to use Google Trends.
1. The first way is to search for a term, and then take a look at the “related queries” section. This
section should contain keywords or phrases that relate closely to the initial search query.
It is worth noting, though, that not every search term will generate a list of related queries. You
might have to try a few variations of your target keyword to come up with a comprehensive list.
For example, at the time of writing, the query “SEO & PPC” generates no related queries, while the
phrase “SEO and PPC” does.
2. The second way to make use of this tool is by analyzing the search trends for different keywords
to determine which to target.
In the example above, you can see that the keyword “Digital Marketing” has been trending
upwards in recent months, as has “Content Marketing”.
This isn’t to suggest that the other keywords aren’t worth targeting, but the frequency of search
should be taken into consideration when determining target keywords.
4. Answer the Public
Answer the Public is an extremely powerful keyword research tool that shows questions,
prepositions, and comparisons that relate to the targeted keyword.
It visualizes search queries and suggested autocomplete searches for users in an easy-to-understand
image called a search cloud. These search clouds are typically made up of the 5 Ws, as well as “how”,
“can”, “which”, and “will.” They’re often followed by an alphabetically sorted list of related keywords.

How to use it:

To get started with Answer the Public, search for a topic or phrase relevant to your business.
The tool will provide you with a fairly comprehensive analysis of related keywords and questions related
to the topic that you searched for. As a bonus, the information is presented in a unique, easy-to-parse
way that makes keyword research more interesting!
5. KeywordTools.io
KeywordTools.io aggregates autocomplete keywords from major sources like Google, Bing, and
YouTube, and puts them in one easy-to-access place.
A single search with this tool can yield hundreds of keyword ideas. With the option to further filter results
or add negative keywords to the search results, this tool becomes even more powerful, combining
autocomplete keywords from major sources in one place.

How to use it:

Using KeywordTool.io is straightforward and easy.
Simply select the search engine or platform that you’d like to see results from, enter your target keyword,
and hit Enter! From there, you’ll be greeted with potentially hundreds of results that relate to the phrase
that you searched.
You can add negative keywords or additional phrases to further refine the results, sort by ascending or
descending alphabetical order, or sort by related questions or prepositions.
6. SEMrush
SEMrush is an extremely diverse and useful tool for anyone working in inbound or content
marketing.
While the entire suite offers valuable insight into how to rank your website higher in organic search, there
are a few tool sets definitely worth noting in regards to keyword research.

Keyword Magic Tool

The Keyword Magic Tool provides you with hundreds (or thousands) of keywords. Simply type in a
keyword, and you’ll see every related keyword people are actually typing into Google.
The tool provides information on keywords pertaining to:

• The average monthly search volume

• The keyword search trend (similar to Google Trends)
• The expected difficulty to rank for that keyword
• The average competition for the keyword
• Any known SERP features (featured snippet, image pack, knowledge panel, etc.)
• The average total results for the keyword

Content Planner Tool

The content planner tool will aggregate existing content surrounding a topic in one place.

This tool shows the article’s title, how well the article is ranking, and the domain it belongs to. This is
extremely useful because you can determine which domains are ranking for specific queries and see all
of the content that they have created for the query.
Keyword Gap Tool
The Keyword Gap Tool shows you what keyword opportunities you have compared against a
competitor of your choosing.
Similar to Keyword Magic, this tool shows every keyword that a competitor is ranking for -- and that you
aren’t ranking for (yet). It also provides information on the keyword, such as:

• Monthly search volume

• The difficulty to rank for the keyword
• The keyword’s search trend
7. Google Keyword Planner (Google Ads)
Although this tool is technically designed for use with Google Ads, Google’s Keyword Planner
tool offers great insight into keywords that you can target organically.
By entering a single query (or domain) into the Keyword Planner tool, Google will show you (potentially)
hundreds of related keywords that other people and organizations are actively bidding on.
By searching the list, you can determine new keywords to target. You’ll also be shown the average
monthly search volumes for each keyword as well as the average competition level.

How to use it:

You don’t have to actively run ads on Google to make use of Keyword Planner. All you need to do is
create a free Google Ads account.
Once the account has been created:

1. Click “Tools & Settings” in the top-right corner

2. From the drop-down menu, select “Keyword Planner” on the left-most column
3. Select the option to “Discover new keywords”

From there, you’ll be able to enter different topics or domains to receive keyword recommendations
from.
8. Review Competitor Content & Rankings
One of the best ways to find new keywords and topics is to see what your competitors are
already ranking for.
Once you’ve determined new topics and keywords based on your competitor’s content, create your own
unique -- and superior -- version. While it’s OK to get inspiration from your competitors’ content, never
copy it verbatim. If Google determines that you’re guilty of this, your search rankings may be penalized.

How to do this:
If you have a concise list of competitors, this task is relatively straightforward, though it can be pretty
time consuming depending on how granular you get with your analysis.
Start off by going to google.com and searching “site:YourCompetitor’sDomain.com”. This will show you
Google’s index of the competitor’s website. Note: Replace “YourCompetitor’sDomain.com” with the actual
URL for your competitor.
From there, you can add topics or keywords to the end of the domain query to see which of the
competitor’s pages rank for that topic.
For example, you could append “SEO” to the end of an indexed domain search to see which pages on that
domain are ranking for the term “SEO.”