One of the quickest ways to start keyword research is to look at what terms are working for your competitors (i.e., competitive keywords ).
In our opinion, time is never wasted conducting a competitive analysis.
Analyze your own domain (and that of your key competitors) with Semrush’s Domain Overview tool . It will help you quickly identify competitors who are competing for the same space as you and how your visibility compares.
9. Find the most profitable keywords
The most profitable keywords are those that telegram data will generate more leads, sales and conversions.
You will also find them defined as target terms or keywords for pillar pages .
These are generally high-volume, high-competition keywords that really sum up what you offer, both at the topic and category level. For example, the term “Hotels” is considered a root keyword.
You can use the Keyword Overview tool to conduct keyword research on your products or services and identify your root terms.
If you’re looking for a comprehensive guide to learn how to unify a content strategy based on priority terms, check out this complete guide .
10. Find variations of long-tail keywords
A keyword strategy without long-tail terms isn’t really a strategy.
In fact, long-tail keywords typically have less volume than root terms and a higher conversion rate.
You need to make sure that your SEO strategy includes long-tail variations as well as root terms.
It can be helpful to find which terms to focus on and then select long-tail variations that get more traffic.
You can use the Keyword Magic Tool to find long-tail keywords.
Simply enter your main keywords, choose the country, and the tool will return a list of terms. You can also modify the keyword match to broad, phrase, exact, or related match.
11. Create a keyword map
Once you have identified your target keywords, you need to place them on your website pages and identify any gaps.
Our keyword mapping guide defines it like this:
In its simplest form, keyword mapping is a framework for the keywords you’ve chosen to target that reflects the structure of your site. Generated through research, the ultimate goals of mapping are to help you figure out where to optimize, what content to create, and where you can add new pages to attract more traffic.
It’s important to make sure you’re targeting the right pages with the right keywords. The guide can help you get it right the first time and use it to boost your strategy.
12. Analyze the intention of the positioned pages
You need to make sure that the content on your page matches the intent of searchers.
Therefore, you need to spend time analyzing the pages ranking for your target terms and make sure your content fits.
Let’s say you’re looking to rank for a term nationally. You’ll get keywords with high volume and realistic difficulty, but if the search results return local results, you’re not going to rank high.
If you don’t understand the intent of the content Google is ranking, you won’t be able to make sure it fits.
Learn more in this guide on how to identify search intent . You can also use this framework as a starting point to categorize searches by intent type:
You can also use Semrush Keyword Research tools to identify keyword intent.
The options will help you determine the user’s position in the consumer journey. Keywords are labeled as Navigational, Informational, Commercial, or Transactional.
13. Identify questions that are being asked
Knowing the questions your audience is asking can help you better answer them through your site’s content.
You can find a list of questions related to any keyword in the Keyword Magic Tool . Enter a keyword and filter the results by “questions.”
It’s a good starting point that can provide a lot of inspiration, especially if you start with specific keywords.
Additionally, you can use a tool like AlsoAsked.com that searches “Other people also searched” results to find more ideas and questions to include in your content.
14. Understand the difficulty of ranking for your target keywords
A new website has to fight to rank for guaranteed pix: a modality that promises to replace the credit card competitive keywords until it gains authority.
For that reason, you need to understand the difficulty of ranking for your target keywords, and thus set your priorities. It can help you manage your expectations (and those of your clients) when you start your SEO strategy.
For example, a new dealership website won’t be able to rank for the term “toyota camry.” Instead, it’s better to target specific long-tail keywords, such as “toyota camry for sale san diego.”
Head over to the Keyword Overview tool and enter your target keywords. There you’ll be able to see the Keyword Difficulty. That is, how difficult it will be for a new website to rank on the first page.
Technical SEO Checklist
Technical SEO helps you build a solid foundation and ensure your site can be crawled and indexed.
These are the most common areas you should pay attention to.
15. Make sure you are using
It’s 2020 and has been a ranking factor since 2014 .
There is no excuse not to use encryption on your site and if you are still using an version, it is time to migrate .
You can easily confirm if your site has an version by looking at the URL bar in your browser.
If you see a padlock, you’re using . If not, you’re not using it.
If you want a detailed report on potential errors, head over to the dedicated report in the Site Audit tool.
16. Check for duplicate versions of your site in the Google index
It is very important that you only school email list allow Google to index one version of your site.
There are many different versions of your site and they should all point to a single version.