5 SEO Tips for Finding Keywords for Your Website
Long-tail keywords. SEO experts talk about it, but how do you find the best ones for your site that will increase traffic?
Searching for the right keywords can be a long, tiresome process. Luckily, it doesn’t have to be that way, and can actually be kinda interesting and dare I say, fun. With these 5 simple tips, you can easily find the right keywords for your blog or website to improve your search engine optimization (SEO) ranking and drive organic traffic. If you want to get traffic from organic search, then keywords are a critical component of your marketing strategy.
1. Identify your marketing goals
Start by identifying your overall marketing goals. SEO is part of the bigger marketing picture and shouldn’t be siloed. So, before you start looking at keywords, think about what the overarching goals of your site are and how they fit into your overall business strategy. For example, maybe one goal is to get more leads for your sales team. Or maybe you want to increase people’s awareness of your brand.
Don’t just think about how keywords will affect search results—consider how they’ll affect other areas like paid ads, social media campaigns, and content development too. This will ensure that your keyword strategy is integrated into all aspects of your marketing plan and isn’t just focused on search engine optimization alone.
Once you know what your overall marketing goals are, it’s easier to figure out which keywords matter most in accomplishing those objectives. If you’re a marketer, you probably already know how important it is to use keywords in your marketing materials. It’s one of the first steps in creating an SEO-friendly website. However, not all marketers have the same goals when it comes to their SEO efforts. Some are looking for more traffic to their site, while others are trying to increase conversions on specific pages.
2. Research what your customers are searching for.
Understand your customers and what they are searching for. This may seem obvious, but it’s important to remember that there isn’t just one way to go about this. It can be helpful to think about what kinds of searches would make sense for your business and how customers might find you. For example, if you run a blog about gardening, you may get more visitors to a page if someone searches “how to keep squirrels from eating my tomatoes” and you have a blog about keeping squirrels out of your tomatoes than if they search “gardening blog.”
You probably already know what products or services you offer, but do you know which ones your audience is searching for? If not, start by doing some keyword research using tools like SEMrush or ahrefs. These tools will show you which terms people use when searching for products like yours. (More on those later.)
When you know who your customers are and what they’re looking for, it’s easier to determine which words or phrases are likely to trigger a click on your listing. If you sell products or services directly to consumers, research what people ask when they’re looking for information about your industry or product type.
3. Do some research on your competitors’ websites.
Do some research on your competitors’ websites. What are they ranking for? What terms do they use in their title tags and meta descriptions? What do their pages look like? This can give you valuable insight into what people are searching for online right now and what they want from a business like yours.
If the traffic numbers are high, those keywords may be worth targeting. The higher the traffic, the more likely it is that someone will buy from you if you rank well for those terms.
Do some research into how other businesses in your industry are using keywords on their website, and see if there are any surprising trends or commonalities among them all. This can help get your brain thinking in new ways about how you should structure your website for optimal results.
Search engines like Google and Bing keep track of what websites are popular with users and what they’re searching for. The more popular a site is with users, the higher it will rank in search results.
If you can’t find any relevant data on your competitors’ websites, try doing some keyword research using Google Adwords Keyword Planner or other tools like it. This will give you an idea of what people are searching for, but keep in mind that there’s no guarantee people will click on your ad if you include those terms in your ad copy.
4. Use tools like SEMRush and ahrefs
One way to find keyword ideas is by using tools like SEMrush and ahrefs. These tools provide data on how much traffic websites get from specific search terms. You can use this data to see which terms are popular and which terms aren’t getting much traffic at all. That will help you determine whether or not a particular keyword is worth pursuing with your content marketing efforts. Most tools such as these, have a free, or trial version to test out what they can do for you. If you are interested in SEO, I recommend investing time into researching which one works best for you. Each one has a bit of a learning curve, but these tools can really be helpful for not only finding keywords, but conducting site audits, tracking backlinks, and more.
Another way to find keyword ideas that I previously mentioned is by using the Google AdWords Keyword Planner tool. This free tool allows you to enter several different keywords at once and receive suggestions based on the search terms that generate the most amount of clicks from users who visit Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs).
5. Look at your own website analytics.
If you’ve already built a website and started publishing content on it, then you probably have some data about how many people visit each page on your site and where they’re coming from (i.e., what keyword brought them there). Look at these website analytics (I recommend Google Analytics or Search Console) to see what pages are currently attracting the most traffic. This will give you an idea of popular and high-quality keywords relevant to your site, and help you to create content around those topics.
For example, if you find your high traffic landing pages are using keywords like “best MCM bookcases” or “how to mix furniture styles” if you feel these are relevant to your brand and your marketing goals, you may want to create additional content around these subjects. You’ll just need to check out these keywords against related keywords using your SEO tool of choice for the keyword with the highest search volume and lowest difficulty rating.
Search engine optimization is important. The better your SEO, the higher it will rank in search results. In this case, keywords are critical to the SEO process. If you can rank highly for appropriate keywords in search results, you’ll get more traffic to your site and convert more of those visitors into leads or sales. Optimizing your pages’ content with targeted keywords based on research and long-tail searches is a good place to start.
As you can see, finding keywords to create content for your website can be a huge task. It’s one that requires plenty of research and a lot of time. Don’t be afraid to try out several keywords in order to find the ones that work best for you and your site. And remember: these tips are only an introduction for beginners. If you want help learning more about choosing good keywords for your site, you can always consult an SEO expert (if you’re running an e-commerce site it may be vital).
About the author
Victoria Temiz is the founder of Vita Digital, an independent SEO consultancy based in Minneapolis. She is certified in Digital Marketing and in Project Management from the University of St. Thomas, and holds an SEO credential from UC Davis Extension. She has been building and running her own websites since 2007 and has focused specifically on SEO and search since 2020. She is also a working jazz vocalist. More about her work.
