A Practical Guide to Keyword Research

KEYWORD
RESEARCHPresented by Rebecca Gill

RULE #1
Don’t be greedy when
selecting keywords.

KEYWORD RESEARCH
1.  Create list of “seed words” using a variety of sources and data points
2.  Remove any branded keywords (we don’t optimize for those)
3.  Plug seed word list into your favorite tool to obtain additional options
and monthly search volumes
4.  Extract reports in batches and create one uniform report
5.  Remove unnecessary data columns so you can focus on the right data
6.  Remove duplicate entries
7.  Remove branded keywords (yep we’re doing this again)
8.  Remove keywords that are known to be incorrect (spelling errors)
9.  Remove keywords that seem to be outside your target demographic
and market
10. Sort the report by volumes and remove phrases that have very large
volumes (generally broad and difficult to achieve)
Copyright © 2017 RebeccaGill.com, All Rights Reserved
My keyword research formula is ten steps that are entirely focused on getting
your brain focused on the right content to help your visitors.

RULE #2
Don’t rely on Google
to brainstorm YOUR
keyword phrases.

KEYWORD EXAMPLE
hos$ng
website
hos$ng
web hos$ng
WordPress
hos$ng
managed
WordPress
hos$ng
hos$ng
WordPress
WooComerce
shared
hos$ng
web hos$ng
services
hos$ng
services
buy web
hos$ng
what is web
hos$ng
best hos$ng
for WordPress
hos$ng a
website
WordPress
servers
hos$ng
reviews

RULE #3
Keywords should equal
your customers’ verbiage
and should not
be industry jargon.

BUILDING THE SEED LIST
Keywords are everywhere so keep your eyes and your mind open.
Once you start thinking about keywords, you’ll see endless possibilities.
§  Your own ideas
§  Manual variations of initial search phrases
§  Reports, presentations, emails
§  Google Search Console’s Search Analytics
§  Google Analytics reports
§  Google Adwords reports (advertisers only)
§  Google auto suggest and related searches
§  Bing Webmaster Tools
§  Competitors’ visual content and sitemaps (HTML & XML)
§  Competitors’ meta titles and descriptions
§  Keywords found in SpyFu or SEMrush (you & your competitors)
§  Suggestions from tools like KW Finder

RULE #4
Pick your battles!
You can’t win every keyword
phrase so don’t waste
valuable time trying.

DIGGING INTO DATA
There are lots of places to grab monthly search volumes.
Pick your favorite, but stay with one tool so volumes are consistent.

Since Google Adwords
has limited data to
non-advertisers,
I now use KW Finder.
This tool is inexpensive
and full of great data
options for both search
volumes and offering
alternative keywords in
the form of suggestions,
auto complete, and
questions.
DIGGING INTO DATA

REAL WORLD EXAMPLES
Let’s jump into KW Finder and
look at a real example of data.

NARROWING YOUR FOCUS
Which is better: small business website hosting or WooCommerce hosting?
§  Which one best fits your target demographic?
§  Which one matches your target demographics' vocabulary?
§  Review difficulty
§  Review traffic trends
§  Consider PPC amounts
§  Now dig deeper…

DIGGING DEEPER

DIGGING EVEN DEEPER
Which results in SERPs can you beat for
WooCommerce hosting?
§  Pagely has a small sales page with
limited content.
§  WinningWP has a larger page, but it’s
just a recommended provider page
and lacks really solid information.
§  Chris Lema has a much larger article
with solid information and lots of
user interaction.

RULE #5
Know your competition!
This includes direct
competitors and
competitors in SERPs.

KEY POINTS TO REMEMBER
1.  Don’t optimize for branded search
terms, because Google already
knows this is you.
2.  Don’t optimize for spelling errors,
because it degrades your authority
with Google.
3.  Zero search volumes isn’t always
zero. Google will show this even
when we know searches have
occurred for actual client websites.
4.  Low volume searches are still good
searches, because they:
§  Make great blog posts
§  Are easier to rank on in the short
term
§  Help support cornerstone
content
§  Provide options for fresh content

5.  PPC dollar should be reviewed
because they help provide insight on
search terms that convert into sales.
A term with lower search volume and
higher PPC amounts is always of
interest.
6.  Remember to consider all locations
as you look at the phrases and think
about where we could apply these to
actual content:
§  Cornerstone pages
§  Supporting pages
§  Products
§  Blog posts
§  Training or resource materials
§  White papers or eBooks
§  Categories and tags

7.  Don’t lose sight of your target
market, their needs, and the verbiage
they use in search.
8.  Look beyond search volumes and
consider other factors such as:
§  Trends
§  Domain authority
§  Inbound links
§  Social shares
§  Content length and quality
§  Estimated visits
9.  Never give up! You can beat the big
guys if you really want.
10. You’re not done with this process.
Your next step is creating a solid site
map for you to follow.

Rebecca GillWordPress Agency Owner & SEO Instructor
@rebeccagill
RebeccaGill.com
Three days of SEO training in a virtual classroom. Taking place in
April of 2017. Learn my SEO process from the comfort of your own
home or office. ithemes.com/seo-summit/
The To the Top course is an eight hour online course for DIY SEO
education. Course includes videos, how-to tutorials, template
downloads, and quizzes. diySEOcourses.com
Three day intensive SEO training workshop taking place in May of
2017. Learn my SEO process from start to finish in an interactive
classroom setting. SEObootcamp.com
seosummit

A Practical Guide to Keyword Research

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