Keyword research is a topic that comes up time and again in the digital marketing world, and it’s something that we view as imperative when it comes to carrying out an effective content marketing strategy.
In fact, it should be the core of your plan, so you know exactly what you’re writing about and who you are targeting, with some clear goals set to measure success.
A person landing onto your content from their search query on Google will decide from the first few lines of your copy whether they want to stick around and read until the end.
It’s your job to grasp their attention in the first couple of seconds so that they don’t leave and head to a new destination.
Your content should be well thought out, and well written however. There’s no use in popping loads of the same keywords into a 300 word blog that is typed badly; littered with grammatical errors, spelling mistakes or misinformed information.
Plan your content, and ensure that your target audience is front of mind at all times. If you are not even thinking about your audience when you’re putting your fingers to the keyboard, then it is highly likely that your SEO efforts will be a little lacklustre and not return the type of results that you want.
So, what exactly goes into content planning? And how can you prepare your content marketing plan so that it doesn’t fail? Well, both keyword research and analysis of your audience is paramount here.
Using keywords correctly, in a human-friendly way, ensuring you don’t stuff them into every sentence, while also using the tone of voice of your desired customers and target audience, will help you achieve your goals in a more focused way. Keyword research allows you to target your message and stand out amongst your competitors.
What is Keyword Research?
Keyword research all begins with words typed into a search engine, most often than not, Google. It’s probably one of the most important and valuable elements of search engine marketing. This is fundamentally because ranking for the right keywords can either make or break your website.
Keyword research is so important so that you’re not haphazardly writing content with no idea of what your target audience is actually searching for.
By researching your market’s keyword volumes, you can get into the mindset of your audience, finding out what they search for on a regular basis and will know exactly what terms and phrases to target with Search Engine Optimisation. Not only this, but you can also learn a hell of a lot about your customers, too.
What tools are out there?
Keyword research is not as scary as it sounds, and there are plenty of tools out there to help you navigate your way through the billions of words and search terms on the internet.
Search engines themselves are the most reliable tool you will have access to.
Using Google Predictive Search is your best bet, as it autocompletes and gives you the most popular search terms for that word or phrase. KeywordTool, Google Trends and the tried and trusted Google Keyword Planner are all free tools that you can use to your advantage. Helping you to learn about interests, problems and needs, so that you can serve them with the right answer via a well-researched and written piece of content.
Understanding your target market
It’s obvious that unless you include keyword research, planning and analysis into your content marketing plan, then it is very unlikely that you will achieve anything. Having strong keyword data increases how you’re able to communicate with your audience. It also gives you the opportunity to prioritise different blogs or articles depending on your audience’s requirements at any given time.
This means that the content you are serving will be more likely to convert.
By conversion we mean no matter whether your goal is an increase in sales, or whether it’s to prompt them to pick up the phone to arrange a consultation for your services; this will help you get the job done.
People who visit your website in the event of clicking on a link from a search engine will have found an answer to a question that they’ve typed into the search bar, meaning that they are more likely to read your content and can be influenced more.
This is the power that keyword research provides you with.
Communication is key
Probably one of the most significant benefits of keyword research is how much more your communications are clearer, more specific and better targeted than they were before. This means that the content you are putting out into the digital ether will speak to your audience in a way that it never did previously. You are much more able to reach your audience at the right time, educating, convincing and guiding them towards a certain path.
Why?
It is crucial to understand that if you don’t have this type of data, then you will probably have a lot of misguided and wasted time on your hands, meaning that the content you have written can’t be used or doesn’t work, and your business goals are not met. Therefore, you should not take any chances when it comes to content marketing.
Conclusion
While keyword research is always going to be an extremely vital factor for SEO, it has changed significantly over the last decade, and will continue to change going forward.
Marketers should be wise to the fact that they shouldn’t focus too heavily on strict keyword phrases, but more on the intention and context of the content they are writing. Thus creating a more varied keyword strategy that will go hand in hand with writing up top quality blogs and articles that both humans and search engines will fall in love with.
Get to grips with the best tools on the market. There are plenty out there, so find the one you like the most, and most-importantly, ensure that you keep abreast of the latest trends when it comes to content marketing.
Need help writing really great, SEO-friendly content? We have a team of in-house journalists and content marketers that will help take your business to the next level.
Contact us on 01642 989158 or drop us an email to arrange a chat.
