Keyword research is a vital factor in search engine optimization (SEO). You might be working on kickstarting an old blog, or perhaps you’re developing brand-new content. In either case, high-quality keywords will efficiently help you attract consistent, relevant traffic to your pages.
Of course, plenty of flashy, fancy tools on the market will help you conduct keyword research, but an often-overlooked tool is right at your fingertips: Google. Google allows you to conduct content, topic, and keyword research easily without necessitating the integration of other platforms. Don’t forget — Google is the world’s most sophisticated content database, which houses all the information you need to gain insight into your industry, competitors, and customers. When used correctly, Google can help you transform your content marketing efforts into well-researched strategies that always hit the mark.
What is a Keyword Research Tool?
A keyword research tool assists you in finding topic ideas your audience members are searching for when using search engines such as Google and Bing. When you have a product or service that you want to promote (and you likely do if you’re a business!), you need to understand the phrases people are plugging into the search engines to arrive at the types of results that include your offerings.
Using Google for research is a pretty straightforward, seamless process because most people are already familiar with the platform’s interface.
So, what do you look for when you’re searching for a keyword research tool? Google, just like the other best tools for keyword research, is a pretty robust no-cost option.
A Google research tool works just like it’s described above, except rather than paying for an expensive license to use the product, it’s available to you anytime, anywhere. Google’s Keyword Planner assists you in finding keywords for your search campaigns. Using this tool, you’ll be able to dive into in-depth keyword research that:
- Let’s you discover new keywords
- Gives you insight into monthly searches
- Allows you to organize keywords
- Helps you create new campaigns that are centered on well-planned keyword research
What to Look for When Performing Keyword Research
As you’re learning how to generate keywords for content, it’s important to consider your brand’s ultimate goals so you can create content around search terms that make sense for the actions you want users to take.
SEO keyword research tools will help you examine several factors, including:
1. Volume
Monthly search volume (or MSV) is the average amount of searches a platform sees for a specific keyword. Using your keyword research tools, you can analyze the worldwide MSV of particular terms or phrases or even narrow it down to a specific region. While higher MSVs do sometimes offer more potential traffic, it’s essential to understand where the opportunity lies, and so does the competition. These highly sought-after keywords can be incredibly difficult to gain traction on, mainly if you’re competing against big brands with a ton of link equity.
With that said, you don’t want to use phrases with absolutely no volume because, for obvious reasons, a search term with little or no volume will not likely bring you many results, no matter how great your content is.
2. Difficulty
Keyword difficulty (KD) is an SEO metric that estimates how problematic it would be for a company to rank on the first page of Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs) for a given keyword.
A KD score between 30% and 70% is typically defined as “moderate difficulty keywords.” These are great search terms to integrate into your content because they usually have fair search volumes (hence the difficulty), but they’re a little removed from the competition, making it impossible to rank against the big guys. These are often your best options when it comes to selecting the proper keywords that’ll give you the most realistic chance of competing for prime Google real estate.
3. Traffic
A great free keyword research tool will still provide you with ample amounts of information, including recommendations for attracting highly convertible organic traffic.
Keyword traffic analysis will assist you in identifying content themes your audience will find useful and informative. When you find the best-fitting keywords for the content you create, your site will start going higher and higher in the SERPs, thereby driving more and more traffic to your site.
4. User/Search Intent
Research tools for keywords will help you determine the phrases people with the highest intent to purchase are using. In other words, these tools will help you figure out where to concentrate your content efforts so you can create content that converts people from visitors into paying customers.
5. Conversion-Based Keywords
Speaking of conversions, when you understand how your searchers’ intentions impact your content, you can then create videos, blogs, and landing pages that speak directly to those users’ needs, ensuring they rank highest in the SERPs and giving you the best chance of converting random visitors into loyal customers.
Why Google is the Best Keyword Research Tool
We could go on and on about why Google is the best keyword research tool, but here are a few of our favorite reasons:
- It’s free
- It offers search suggestions
- It provides you with related searches
- It has a People Also Ask section
- You can advertise through search ads
- It constantly provides fresh content
Contact ZGM to Handle Your Keyword Research So You Can Create Award-Winning Content!
Our team at Zero Gravity Marketing loves to dive into the science of keyword research. When you have us on your side, you’ll have access to all the keywords you need to get your brand noticed by search engines and potential customers.
Schedule a call with us today to learn how we can help you!
